Inspiration
I was struggling to find a topic to write a blog about, then something… popped. As it turns out, that popping sound was my ACL tearing. So, on the bright side, I have something to write about! After this horrific injury, the recovery and rehabilitation time, I thought about the similarities between this and implementing business acumen into an organization. Both processes take some time, involve hard work, and can be extremely painful.
First Step
Just like recovering from a major knee surgery, getting employees to see the big picture isn’t going to happen overnight. Steps need to be taken if you want to get everyone moving in the right direction. And before you can run, you need to relearn how to walk. Let me tell you it is not an easy process, I will never take something as simple as walking for granted ever again. Now, when it comes to business on the other hand (or foot), you need to understand how money flows throughout the organization. How does the organization generate cash? What’s a budget? How does a forecast work? For the financially illiterate, answering these questions is a difficult first step.
A Helping Hand
During rehabilitation, physical therapy is a HUGE part of the recovery process. Aided by my crutches and a walking brace, I was able to learn how to walk in a controlled environment.
The same was true for my experience with business acumen. I learned how money moves throughout an organization in a business simulation. I was free to make financial decisions without fearing the consequences. This freedom gave me the opportunity to see how each one of my actions had an impact on the big picture.
Just Do It
After putting in hours and hours upon hours of physical therapy, my knee strength felt close to 100%. I was ready to start walking on my own.
This is when I truly realized the parallels between my injury and business acumen. Just like in my recovery process, the hours that I spent learning by doing gave me the ability to actually do.
This may be an oversimplification of the healing and learning process, but the idea of learning what you need to know by doing it (even if in a controlled environment) holds true.
To explore the benefits of learning by doing, read our Experiential Learning eGuide HERE.
