Business Literacy Spells SUCCESS! by Dan Trudell, Peak Performance, Inc.

Imagine for a moment that you are the proud owner of an NFL football team. You have a beautiful new stadium and training facility, excellent coaches and you are able to attract and sign top-notch players from all of the finest college football programs in the country.

These people are the best players and coaches, and everyone tries hard. In practice, they work hard on their own particular set of skills with their own coach. They are all smart and talented. Yet, even with all this organization has going for it, the team always finishes with about 8 wins and 8 losses each year…about average! Why don’t they do better?

Oh, I forgot to mention the one unique “quirk” about this team. No one really understands the rules of football very well. While each individual is outstanding, they can’t seem to put it all together as a team to succeed against the other teams they compete with. No wonder they don’t seem to be able to achieve better results.

You may think this is an exaggerated example and it is! However, in the vast majority of businesses, there is more truth than fiction in this scenario. What do I mean? Let me explain.

Often, companies we work with have great facilities, excellent managers and they work hard at attracting top quality, high potential talent to their organization. Everyone works hard, no “slackers,” and really tries to do the best in their area of responsibility.

I suggest that the reason both the football team and the example company have only mediocre performance is that both have a lack of what I call “literacy,” in the first case it is “football literacy” and in the second case it is “business literacy.”

Business literacy is, in my opinion, a fundamental requirement for high performance in today’s leaner organizations. In today’s environment, it is no longer sufficient that all you need to be is great within your specific area of responsibility. You must master a broader understanding of how the business you work in operates, how money flows through the organization AND how you and your department contributes to that result!

I wonder how many of the people in your company could give you a reasonably accurate description of how your organization functions. Do they understand how money flows and is used within the company? Do they understand what they can do within their area of responsibility to improve revenue, reduce expenses or increase throughput if you are a manufacturer or increase capacity utilization if you are a service company?

More importantly, do you understand these key factors?

Successful companies around the world realize that to rise above “average performance” requires that everyone in the company become capable of making intelligent decisions everyday within their zone of influence. Strong “business literacy” enables all of your people to make those local decisions that are truly in the best interest of the company. Companies like Siemens, Motorola, Cooper Tire and many others are achieving improved business results by developing business literacy at ALL levels in the organization.

Thanks to Dan Trudell of Peak Performance (www.peakperform.net) for this article.

Business Literacy Spells SUCCESS! by Dan Trudell, Peak Performance, Inc.

Imagine for a moment that you are the proud owner of an NFL football team. You have a beautiful new stadium and training facility, excellent coaches and you are able to attract and sign top-notch players from all of the finest college football programs in the country.

These people are the best players and coaches, and everyone tries hard. In practice, they work hard on their own particular set of skills with their own coach. They are all smart and talented. Yet, even with all this organization has going for it, the team always finishes with about 8 wins and 8 losses each year…about average! Why don’t they do better?

Oh, I forgot to mention the one unique “quirk” about this team. No one really understands the rules of football very well. While each individual is outstanding, they can’t seem to put it all together as a team to succeed against the other teams they compete with. No wonder they don’t seem to be able to achieve better results.

You may think this is an exaggerated example and it is! However, in the vast majority of businesses, there is more truth than fiction in this scenario. What do I mean? Let me explain.

Often, companies we work with have great facilities, excellent managers and they work hard at attracting top quality, high potential talent to their organization. Everyone works hard, no “slackers,” and really tries to do the best in their area of responsibility.

I suggest that the reason both the football team and the example company have only mediocre performance is that both have a lack of what I call “literacy,” in the first case it is “football literacy” and in the second case it is “business literacy.”

Business literacy is, in my opinion, a fundamental requirement for high performance in today’s leaner organizations. In today’s environment, it is no longer sufficient that all you need to be is great within your specific area of responsibility. You must master a broader understanding of how the business you work in operates, how money flows through the organization AND how you and your department contributes to that result!

I wonder how many of the people in your company could give you a reasonably accurate description of how your organization functions. Do they understand how money flows and is used within the company? Do they understand what they can do within their area of responsibility to improve revenue, reduce expenses or increase throughput if you are a manufacturer or increase capacity utilization if you are a service company?

More importantly, do you understand these key factors?

Successful companies around the world realize that to rise above “average performance” requires that everyone in the company become capable of making intelligent decisions everyday within their zone of influence. Strong “business literacy” enables all of your people to make those local decisions that are truly in the best interest of the company. Companies like Siemens, Motorola, Cooper Tire and many others are achieving improved business results by developing business literacy at ALL levels in the organization.

Thanks to Dan Trudell of Peak Performance (www.peakperform.net) for this article.