Building Business Acumen

Formats: 4-hour virtual course  |  1-day instructor-led onsite

Today’s modern employees are increasingly specialized to have the most impact, but with a focused skill set and educational background, they lose out on a deeper understanding of how organizations operate as a whole. We will teach you the fundamental aspects of business acumen and how to gear performance around organizational goals.

Learning Objectives »

  • Identify the essential elements of business.
  • Understand what creates growth and why.
  • Discuss mission, vision and strategic goals.
  • Learn how functions or departments of the business work together and impact each other.
  • Identify customer life-cycles.
  • Create a strategy for increasing business acumen.

Course Agenda »

Key Dimensions of Business Acumen

  1. Seeing the big picture of business
  2. Mission, vision and strategic goals
  3. Influencing others
  4. Collaborating, Managing, and Leading
  5. Managing up and across

Leveraging Process to Get Work Done

  1. Processes contribute and goal attainment
  2. Processes interconnectivity
  3. Analyzing and improving processes
  4. Identifying and solving problems

Product and Service Knowledge

  1. Customers and customer needs
  2. Showing how products solve problems
  3. Positioning products
  4. Conducting a make-vs-buy analysis

Financial Understanding

  1. Understanding financial statements
  2. Applying essential budgeting techniques
  3. Analyzing a P&L

Strategy and Performance

  1. Strategy and strategic thinking
  2. Identifying strategic opportunities
  3. Achieving results
  4. Utilizing tracking metrics
  5. Financial and strategic impacts of decisions
  6. Developing a professional action plan
Shot of a group of businesspeople having a meeting in a modern office - problem solving and decision-making

Building Business Acumen

Formats: 4-hour virtual course  |  1-day instructor-led onsite

Today’s modern employees are increasingly specialized to have the most impact, but with a focused skill set and educational background, they lose out on a deeper understanding of how organizations operate as a whole. We will teach you the fundamental aspects of business acumen and how to gear performance around organizational goals.

Learning Objectives »

  • Identify the essential elements of business.
  • Understand what creates growth and why.
  • Discuss mission, vision and strategic goals.
  • Learn how functions or departments of the business work together and impact each other.
  • Identify customer life-cycles.
  • Create a strategy for increasing business acumen.

Course Agenda »

Key Dimensions of Business Acumen

  1. Seeing the big picture of business
  2. Mission, vision and strategic goals
  3. Influencing others
  4. Collaborating, Managing, and Leading
  5. Managing up and across

Leveraging Process to Get Work Done

  1. Processes contribute and goal attainment
  2. Processes interconnectivity
  3. Analyzing and improving processes
  4. Identifying and solving problems

Product and Service Knowledge

  1. Customers and customer needs
  2. Showing how products solve problems
  3. Positioning products
  4. Conducting a make-vs-buy analysis

Financial Understanding

  1. Understanding financial statements
  2. Applying essential budgeting techniques
  3. Analyzing a P&L

Strategy and Performance

  1. Strategy and strategic thinking
  2. Identifying strategic opportunities
  3. Achieving results
  4. Utilizing tracking metrics
  5. Financial and strategic impacts of decisions
  6. Developing a professional action plan