Tools to develop your business acumen competency.

This competency is considered very important for HR professionals by SHRM. It is one of the must have competency for HR professionals of the future. We couldn’t agree more.

But what is it and how to develop it?

Being business acumen means effectively making business decisions based on a good understanding of organization’s operations, functions and competitive environment.

As the definition states, developing your business acumen competency means gaining better understanding of the organization. An in-depth understanding of how the companies makes money, what are the things that keep business managers up at night, what is it’s strategy and competitive advantage, who are the key partners and resources, key financial aspects, etc.

This competency is mandatory if you want to be successful with HR / People Analytics. Developing your business know how will help you focus on the real problems of the company.

Actually, to be successful with HR Analytics you need People and Business skills. The technical data processing and manipulation skills are more easy to find then the 2 before mentioned.

A practical list of actions you can make in order to build your business know how consists on:

Educate yourself on business management
- Read books and articles
- Attend management courses, webinars and conferences
- Follow, subscribe to business newsletters of main advisory players
Educate yourself on financial analysis (same actions as above)
Educate yourself on statistics principles
Be aware of industry specificity – read, participate in industry benchmark metrics and statistics
Have regular discussions with business stakeholders on challenges and opportunities
Use specific tools to map the most important aspects of the business:
- SWOT Analysis
- PESTLE Analysis
- Business Model Canvas
- Constraints & Assumptions
- Industry Reports
- MOST Analysis
- McKInsey 7S

For more details on each method become a member of HR Analytics Library.

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