According to a recent study, 20% to 40% of employees are ‘unconsciously incompetent in areas that are critical to their performance, and even more, are ‘consciously incompetent’ which means employees know that they lack some skills essential for their role.

The work culture of today is rapidly evolving and needs employees to be on their toes. One of the major drawbacks of this change is that a huge gap is created between what employees know and what they need to know to be successful. Business acumen is one of the most critical qualities that employees and managers at all levels mostly lack. A survey was conducted and over 65% of leaders surveyed said that there is a lack of strong business acumen and this proves to be a major impediment to their success.

Without proper business knowledge, training, and experiential learning activities for business acumen, it becomes difficult for employees to achieve success. There are high chances that they might fail to understand business strategies or to implement them effectively in real-world situations. These problems of business acumen skills can be further complicated when organizations are misaligned and fail to function to work together for a collective goal.

The most essential tool for an employee at all times is a proper understanding of business acumen. It provides a strong foundation for acquiring nearly all business skills. In most organizational cultures, business acumen is often at the last on the priority list for employee skill development, while it should be on the top for greater success. A major reason for this can be that building business acumen can be difficult. For example, when you learn a new language or learn to ride a bike unless you put those skills into practice the knowledge is wasted. The same holds true for business acumen skills as well. Unless you actually do it and put theory into practice, it will not work.

It is so important that managers and leaders across the organization have the right skill set to build business acumen for growth and success. Solid business skills form the basis of the strength of any organization. To build a high-performing culture and a team that’s committed and dedicated, you have to put into use experiential learning activities for business acumen. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be as successful as you should be.

Business acumen is the main driving force for employees’ understanding of both strategy and implementing it successfully. To be successful you need to ask yourself – do you have a business acumen gap in your company?

To help get the answer to this question, ask yourself how many of your leaders agree with the following statements –

• I understand the bigger picture of the organization and how we operate
• I have an in-depth understanding of our short-term as well as long-term goals and strategies
• I recognize how external marketplace realities have an effect on the organization’s capability to achieve high profits and revenue
• I understand how my organization delivers stakeholders' value
• I have a comprehensive understanding of levers that I can impact with my work and how it will have an effect on the organization’s overall performance
• I understand how all business decisions are inter-related, and what my impact on customer experience and brand value can be

Most organizations think that they have a business acumen gap at all levels of the workforce. These gaps are relatively easy and straightforward to identify. They can be addressed directly by leaders who can communicate in the right manner. But the one thing to keep in mind is – it doesn’t matter that you’re telling people the answers, what matters more is when you tell them how to act differently, support them to take risks, and gain their confidence to apply great business acumen skills into practice.

Experiential learning activities for business acumen are a great way to develop these skills among employees. It helps to create engaging experiences, bring a behavioral change, and have effective implementation.

Source - https://www.bts.com/blog-article/business-insight/do-you-have-a-business-acumen-gap-in-your-company