I had a recent experience with a client that reminded me it’s not just those of us that work in offices in metro areas that need business acumen training. This moment of realization happened – of all places – at a construction site. Why would the men and women working on a construction site need to increase their business acumen? It’s simple. Every organization no matter the industry benefits from increased business acumen. Construction workers need to understand why they’re working so hard, doing “back-breaking” work for the contractor in charge of the job.
Paradigm Learning is helping a group of experienced carpenters understand the plight of the contractor, the risk he or she assumes and the narrow margins they’re faced with. It’s easy to think a $50 million job automatically equates to a huge profit for the contractor, when one or two mishaps or setbacks could mean 1% profit, if that.
Needing help connecting every day job duties to the financials of the company is an epidemic; one that affects every company size, industry and location. If you were to poll your supervisors and front-line leaders, could they tell you how their daily activities relate to the 3 or 4 strategies their CEO lays out at the beginning of the year? If you’re part of a publicly traded company, have they read the annual report?
It is imperative every employee understand:
- How their company makes money?
- Why upper management make the decisions they do?
- How their decisions and actions impact the overall business?
If your organization faces a business acumen gap, you’re not alone. Less than half of all workers see the connection between their day-to-day duties and how they contribute to the company’s bottom line (Robert Half Survey). Paradigm Learning can help – read our business acumen anecdotes HERE.
