HR Business Acumen Skills for Internal HR Professionals

HR Business Acumen Skills

Description
Even though ATD reports that 87 percent of human resource professionals believe that is it critical to have business acumen, most HR professionals find it difficult to effectively influence business unit executives. Our research shows that three-quarters of business unit leaders perceive HR to be lacking in basic HR Business Acumen Skills.

Unfortunately, most line leaders view HR and HR professionals as transactional and administrative workers incapable of helping them with their strategic priorities.

Before executives or senior directors will be open to partnering with an HR professional on significant business initiatives, they need to understand how the project will specifically impact their overall corporate goals.

Before you arrive at the HR Business Acumen Skills for Internal HR Professionals workshop, you prepare information on an actual business unit or executive that you would like to strategically influence. Then, you spend two or three days with a former corporate officer (e.g., CEO, CFO, CIO) who consults on the current state of the business and on the specific strategies needed going forward. The strategies include three key phases:

Identify your target customer’s goals, objectives, and strategies including the operating issues that constrain the achievement of their market and business performance.
Link a unique, Human Resources solution to your target partner’s business issues, strategy, and financial goals to provide compelling internal business value.
Articulate the unique and compelling business value of your solution to business unit leaders and executives.

Our executive facilitator serves as “the client” throughout the Business Acumen Skills for Internal HR Professionals workshop. Together, you analyze your company’s annual report, financial reports, and industry analyst reports to identify crucial issues affecting your potential business partner.

You get an in-depth look at financial concepts such as ROI, time to market, and the time value of money. After analyzing your customized case, you prepare for and practice conducting executive level meetings using your target business partner.

Outline
While Business Acumen Skills for Internal HR Professionals workshop is customized for each client, the general outline is as follows:

Review your internal customer’s point of view, the pressures they are under, and how they make decisions.
Review key financial statements and how they interact with a particular focus on the competitive landscape and trend analysis.
Review secondary research sources for both public and private companies.
Generate questions that you can use to move horizontally and vertically throughout the organization.
Practice primary research questioning to validate your financial and secondary research with a CXO leader.
Use comparative analysis and ratios to help identify business issues and solution opportunities.
Role play live opportunities with our CXO leaders.

Outcomes
As a result of attending the Business Acumen Skills for Internal HR Professionals workshop, you will master strategies for developing relationships with internal business units and internal executive decision-makers as you learn to:

View the customer (both external and internal) customer from a business perspective to identify and solve critical business issues.
Identify a broader range of opportunities/needs based on your business based value proposition.
Create business value for your ideas through an analysis and application of financial and business information.
Understand how to maximize the business and financial value of your solution.
Identify and justify the financial impact of your solution.
Position your solution as part of a strategic investment that supports executive-level needs, such as increased revenue, greater profitability, greater inventory controls, and higher return on assets.

Target Audience
Human Resource professionals who need increased business acumen skills to understand business drivers to more effectively influence executives and senior management to be successful.

To speak with an LSA Expert to learn about HR Business Acumen Skills program customization and delivery options onsite at your company, please contact us.

Related Information

We engaged LSA to design and deliver a 6-month custom executive coaching program to help a core group of senior leaders to leverage previous investments in management training, to ensure the engagement and retention of key employees, and to push critical strategic initiatives forward.

Even with the high expectations of our senior people, LSA has completely exceeded our expectations. You can’t go wrong with LSA.

Ivan Fukumoto
Senior HR Manager - Staffing, Training, & Development

We partnered with LSA Global to help us invest in our people. LSA custom designed an impactful management curriculum to help upskill our key managers and leaders.

We consider LSA to be our trusted learning and development partner and a valued extension of our team as we rapidly scale. Thank you LSA!

Lisa Bruun
SVP Human Resources

LSA understands our business, has deep expertise in content areas, and customizes their approach to deliver great results.

The facilitator was extremely knowledgeable about working virtually across cultures. The passion, practices, and tools made the session interesting, fun, and highly valuable.

I highly recommend LSA Global to any company that has global partners or offices.

Glenn McGillivray
Human Resources Business Partner

Harmonic has worked with LSA for over 8 years. We have found their partnership extremely beneficial.

We recently implemented customized Management Development Programs designed to support our company’s strategic initiative of hiring, building, and retaining key intellectual property and human talent. It has had the greatest impact.

I would recommend LSA to any company that’s looking for a trusted training and development partner to take their leaders and managers to the next level.

Janice Passarello
Director of Human Resources

I continue to be impressed by the level of leadership development training and management expertise and quality of advice and facilitation that LSA has to offer.

What a smart and client-centric group of great people who really know how to help assess and develop high performing leaders.

Tracy Esposito
Director

Here’s a token of my appreciation for ALL your efforts. I’m offering my most sincere thanks, and it extends to all the folks who made our customized management development programs such a great success.

Susan Anderson
Workforce Planning Bureau

LSA helped us with leadership development by designing a solution to match our unique needs and culture.

It was a huge success. I would highly recommend LSA to help take leaders and managers to the next level.

Karen King, SPHR
Manager, Human Resources

LSA custom designed a Management Development program that is absolutely “on target” for our technical managers .

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I regard LSA as an excellent partner that understands our business needs and an important virtual member of our HR department.

Judith Onton
Vice President Human Resources

The customized Managing Virtual Teams program was extremely valuable for our managers and leaders.

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Our teams walked away walked away with highly useful insights, practices, and tools. It was excellent.

Debra Martucci
Vice President, Information Technology

We turned to LSA to customize and deliver a leadership solution to meet our unique needs.

LSA delivered the exact top quality solution that we wanted. I’d recommend LSA Global to any company looking for a best-in-class management training and consulting partner that always focuses on what matters most to your people AND your business.

Kortney Riddle
HR Manager

LSA has become the gold standard for team building and management training programs at Genomic Health!

I have not found companies that come close to their level of customization, impact, expertise, and experience.

Emily Couey
Director of Human Resources

For our go to training outsourcing partner, LSA provides exactly what we want and need – which is not an easy task.

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Elizabeth Siebert
Director, Organizational Excellence & Development

I am very impressed with the quality of work and talent. LSA did a great job of listening to my needs and providing the exact management training program expertise we needed to get the job done.

Don Pryor
Director, Business Planning & Analysis

I appreciate that each management development program is preceded by a thorough training needs assessment of the participants that informs a design to fit the specific parameters and needs of the group.

The highly interactive delivery is provided by recognized experts in their fields. On the spot coaching is provided during the program and each participant receives individual follow-up after the course.

Courses can be delivered in-person or virtually.

Given the nature of Cisco’s business and the way we operate, these remote workshops are a must for anyone who joins our company. Their work is eye opening. Great content and fantastic delivery.

Frank J. Kuypers
Business Development Manager

LSA helped change our entire culture around meetings, making them more effective and efficient, thus enabling our leaders, managers, and teams to concentrate on driving more business.

Thank you!

Terry Wassman
VP of Human Resources

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HR Business Acumen Skills for Internal HR Professionals