MDA Training

Tag: Commercial awareness

  • The importance of commercial skills in management development

    The importance of commercial skills in management development

    Commercial skills and awareness are often considered essential by employers but are not always a measurable skill.

    Commercial awareness is classed as the ability to develop an understanding of what makes organisations successful. This can include the process of buying or selling products or the supply of services to a specific market.

    How can you teach commercial skills?

    It is vital for all members of an organisation, from the interns to the CEOs, to develop a strong skill set, to promote commercial awareness within every process. Due to the increasing competition and saturated markets, commercial skills are now more valuable than ever to a business.

    Commercial skills can be developed through a number of routes, from every day learning to formal training materials.

    However, it is recommended that anyone looking to improve their commercial awareness should aim to read the news and business pages regularly. General interest and knowledge of the economy can offer a good grounding when it comes to understanding the financial state of the world.

    Learning about stocks and shares, particularly those of your company and your competitors can offer an insight into the business is considered valuable.

    Identifying any significant peaks and troughs in the value of stocks, aligned with recent activity and the state of the economy, will help to build commercial skills and understand the business performance in the market.

    Separating sector issues from company issues can allow you to identify problems that might be halting your business from further success, or if a problem is significantly stifling a whole industry. This information can be used to become more commercially competitive and benefit business growth.

    Commercial skills within management development

    It is critical for managers to develop their commercials awareness, in order to recognise strengths and weaknesses within teams and the business. Strong commercial acumen within management can be the difference between failure and success, in the current business climate.

    Management development programmes should look to incorporate key commercial skills, such as sales, customer service and relationship management and negotiation tactics.

    Learning and management development often does not incorporate commercial skills training in a large enough capacity, essentially creating a skill gap within the workforce.

    Disregarding commercial skills training can neglect an area of development that can bring about a significant commercial advantage above competitors.

    Through setting objectives that require management to improve their commercial skills, particularly within their teams, they are more likely to strive to meet these objectives.

    This could be as simple as restructuring a team or retraining individuals to ensure that strengths are utilised for commercial success and weaknesses are used as a basis for learning and improving.

    The commercial skills gap

    The term skills gap has been used more and more frequently throughout the business world recently, this refers to areas of the UK talent pool that are lacking in prospective candidates possessing a particular set of skills.

    Commercial awareness is no exception, with many graduates leaving education with little to no understanding of the market, alongside long term workers failing to progress any further due to a knowledge gap.

    It is important for all employees to continuously immerse themselves in news and to reassure their employers that they have a strong commercial understanding of the business.

    FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE COMMERCIAL SKILLS TRAINING PROGRAMMES WE PROVIDE, CONTACT MDA TODAY.

  • The 5 key benefits of commercial skills training

    The 5 key benefits of commercial skills training

    You may think ‘commercial skills training’ is just the latest buzzword amongst HR and training professionals, but in essence, commercial skills training is a fundamental part of ensuring your employees have the commercial acumen needed to benefit the key functions of the business.

    Commercial skills training provides each employee with insights into how the business makes money, the non-financial Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and also where the particular employee plays a part in organisational success.

    All commercial skills training is customised in terms of each person’s job role, skill set and any succession plans in place within the business, in order to create maximum impact.

    Commercial skills training is particularly relevant but not exclusive to the Millennial demographic. This group are set to make up over 75% of the average workforce by 2025, and good commercial skills are notably lacking generation wise.

    The questions to ask here are, will your business be ready? “Does every member of my organisation understand their role in the business?” and “Is every member of the workforce equipped with the commercial skills they need to be effective, and empowered, in their role?”

    Prioritising developing commercial skills early on allows the Millennial generation to familiarise themselves with the company’s missions and aims in a commercial context, early on – meaning when the time comes for them to take the ropes and make commercial decisions for the business, you have nothing to worry about. So, what are the 5 key benefits of commercial skills training?

    Empower your workforce and retain your staff

    Making your staff an integral part of the business can have great positive effects – giving staff training and ensuring they understand their value to you will see them stay, work hard and put the business first. Empowering your workforce with commercial skills and knowledge sharing is a great way to see a return on development.

    Drive change

    If you are looking to change the focus of your business, and get your teams to change their approach within it – commercial skills training can contribute to this process. With focused training, new ways of working can be instilled across an entire workforce and be used transformatively.

    Improve reporting

    How many employees truly understand the reporting you currently use in meetings, for weekly conference calls, daily team briefs or management meetings? If your workforce doesn’t truly grasp the figures, or KPIs being discussed, they will lack the confidence and insights to help drive performance.

    Gain financial awareness

    Commercial skills training explores each employee’s day-to-day activities in terms of how they impact the business financially, both positively and negatively.

    By adding this transparency, employees are able to understand the drivers of financial performance in the business and gain an understanding of how they personally can drive financial performance.

    Improve competitor awareness

    Commercial skills training focuses on competitor awareness and how this can be used to make sound commercial decisions. Understanding the marketplace means knowing your competition, who they are, what they do and why.

    An employee that understands the competition can positively impact business performance by adapting their activities or making suggestions about positive change and adaption.

    All elements of commercial skills training help to add value to your business, and your employees. Could your employees benefit from understanding all the elements that make up your business? We can help! Experiential training, fully immersed in your commercial context and management information will support your people with skills, knowledge and insights to better understand where they can add value and achieve organisational goals. 

    FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE COMMERCIAL SKILLS TRAINING PROGRAMMES WE PROVIDE, CONTACT MDA TODAY.

  • Return on development (ROD) as an alternative to return on investment (ROI)

    Return on development (ROD) as an alternative to return on investment (ROI)

    Return on investment (ROI) is considered a vital aspect of workplace training and business operations as a whole.

    In order to guarantee ROI, businesses need to be proactive and ensure that their employees are working at optimum levels to achieve success. Return on development (ROD) is something that businesses also need to pay attention to in order to succeed long term.

    Return on investment

    The term ‘return on investment’ is a popular business term used to define a particular investment’s profitability. This investment itself could be in the form of a physical, technical or personal investment with an aim of having a positive impact on an overall business goal. The ‘return’ in question is usually financial but could relate to a number of things, again dependant on the business goal in question.

    Calculating the return on investment on a physical thing, such as a new piece of software or property is relatively straightforward. But when it comes to people, talent and training – we prefer to look at this in terms of return on development as an alternative to return on investment.

    Return on development

    When factoring people, talent and training into your measurement strategies, it makes sense to look at return on development as opposed to return on investment. This is mainly due to the fact calculating return on investment relates closely to a set time period in which to see a return, which is not always appropriate when it comes down to people, talent and training.

    It’s fundamental to invest in training employees at every stage of their career progression in order to continue to see a positive impact on your business. It’s good to evaluate the following in order to ensure a return on development:

    Engagement

    How do the employees feel about the training they are completing or have completed? Do they feel it is relevant and beneficial? Have you taken into account their preferred learning style or tried to optimise their training based on their demographic group? (See our blogs on training different demographic groups for more on this)

    Learning or understanding

    Has their new training resulted in the development of new knowledge and skills? Would they be able to share this and pass it on to other members of the team? Has this training given them the confidence to apply these new skills or processes into practice?

    Application/Implementation

    Have the new skills and processes been actioned? Are they having a direct impact on their job role and responsibilities? Are they utilising new skills learned and forward planning?

    Impact on the business

    Have these new skills or training made a positive, measurable impact on the business? This could relate to anything from employee productivity through to direct positive financial gains or even new strategic insights that could be of benefit in the future.

    FOR BESPOKE WORKPLACE TRAINING SOLUTIONS THAT ENSURE ROI AND ROD, CONTACT MDA TODAY.

  • What is a commercial decision?

    What is a commercial decision?

    Commercial decision making is one of the current business buzzwords surrounding HR, recruitment and training. But what is a commercial decision, and why should organisations, regardless of whether they are a commercial enterprise, government department or not-for-profit charity take an interest?

    What is a commercial decision?

    A commercial decision is any decision that creates value for an organisation helping to achieve its underlying strategy, mission and aims.

    A commercial decision does not have to be a ‘big’ decision, but the person in the position of making the decision must be able to adopt a logical step-by-step approach and be able to evaluate the likely outcomes through a well-rounded consideration of all possible options.

    Making commercial decisions

    The key to making commercial decisions is to follow these six steps:

    Gather information

    Firstly, what do you know about the situation at hand? Do you have any experience in this area that could be of benefit? Or maybe a colleague has dealt with something similar in the past? Utilise any relevant data and analyse the information in front of you.

    And, if necessary, share this information with relevant colleagues to ensure you gain fresh perspectives you may not have otherwise considered.

    Generate ideas

    No idea should be ignored. Even if the idea is not right for the task at hand, it may prove useful for future problems or issues. With this in mind, and based on the analysis of the data gathered, you should look to brainstorm and generate the widest range of options for consideration.

    At this stage, it is important to keep on task as it is quite common to ‘do nothing’ given the all the options on the table or take an easier way out with a ‘halfway house’ option instead of implementing a considered, commercially viable solution.

    Set a deadline

    Is there an external deadline? Or is an immediate decision needed? Understanding the timeframe in which you are to make decisions is half of the battle. For larger or more difficult decisions, having the ability to ‘sleep on it’ can really help, but more time is not always ‘better’! Setting a personal deadline can help to get things done and reduce the risk of dragging things out unnecessarily.

    Efficiency is key and with some commercial decisions, implementing an idea quickly could be the difference in creating a competitive advantage or implementing a process that minimises waste and ultimately saves money.

    Step back

    What are the possible implications of your decision? Take yourself out of the situation, and try to see the decision from all angles and explore the possible implications for the organisation’s stakeholders. This approach will help to prevent decisions made in haste you would later come to regret.

    Weigh up the risk versus reward

    Identify and evaluate the risks associated with the preferred options by drawing up a list (be that physical or mental) of the pros and cons. When making ‘big’ decisions, it is essential to conduct a thorough appraisal, both financial and non-financial, to ensure you have a full understanding of the possible implications and likely outcomes. When in doubt, get the opinions of others in a similar position. Sometimes, all you need is a slightly different perspective to ensure you are making the right choice.

    Have a backup plan

    There is no fool-proof guide here, having a backup plan is a part and parcel of making commercial decisions. The key here is good planning and good planning involves organisation. Put a contingency in place, and be prepared to execute ‘plan B’, should you need to.

    An employee with a good level of commercial awareness is more likely to make sound commercial decisions on behalf of your organisation. The ability to weigh up the pros and cons of each situation, and make a decision based on what is best for the business is essential, but in turn, employees must be able to work collaboratively too to potentially arrive at a more robust decision and in turn share responsibility.

    Commercial awareness among millennials

    One of the key issues raised among graduate recruiters in recent years is the lack of commercial awareness among millennial applicants, but now that almost 35% of the average businesses workforce is made up of millennials, how can you improve this situation?

    Commercial awareness, decision and skills training

    Commercial awareness and making commercial decisions go hand in hand. However, the focus can vary from organisation to organisation.

    This doesn’t always come naturally to your employees, which is where training comes in. Commercial skills training enables employees to be flexible, knowledgeable and proactive when it comes to moving with current market trends.

    The term ‘commercial awareness’ can vary from organisation to organisation and is driven by internal and external factors. As such, commerciality can be quite fluid and can change as the organisation evolves and responds to developments in the marketplace, industry, technological advances, customers etc.

    As such, employees also need a commercial skillset that will allow them to adapt to changes and apply these robust skills to make commercially viable decisions.

    A commercial skillset goes beyond financial skills that it is typically associated with, including a wide range of interpersonal skills too in areas such as customer service, project management and effective communication.

    Do you think your organisation could benefit from commercial awareness, commercial decision making or commercial skills training? Contact us at MDA Training today!

  • Why commercial skills training is essential to the success of your business

    Large or small, business is about making money, no matter what is chosen to be done with it. Invested, distributed to shareholders, used for social projects or philanthropy – making money is at the root of all businesses.

    It is for this reason that strong commercial skills are embedded throughout; from the ground up, a team with a knowledge of commercial acumen will add value and increase the growth of any business or organisation.

    Commercial skills training to enhance growth

    Undoubtedly commercial skills can be learned and enhanced through experience, but underpinning experience with robust commercial skills training will only act to further enhance growth potential.

    Commercial skills training promotes good judgement and decision making through a sound understanding of the marketplace within which a business operates.

    A workforce that understands the marketplace in which they exist are better at spotting opportunities, driving out waste and increasing efficiency.

    Having a commercial mindset

    Feeding the ‘business brain’ as part of a commercial skills training programme nurtures a sense of responsibility as well as an understanding of the outside forces that can affect the goals of the business; be it political or economic, at a global, regional or local level.

    This commercial mindset throughout an organisation makes for a better team ethic and impacts morale at every level, increasing the bottom line through increased productivity.

    Aside from the financial aspect, commercial skills training focuses too on the mission and aims of the business and how these impact company-wide in a commercial context, exploring not just the ‘what we do’ but also the ‘why we do it’.

    Understanding the purpose of the business in an ethical sense adds value and emotional buy-in. Commercial skills training gets to the very heart of a business and what makes it tick.

    Commercial skills training enhances communication both internally and externally and makes the workforce able to talk with confidence about the organisation and sector within which they work.

    The ability to fully understand and communicate the marketplace means employees are able to spot trends and flex and adapt accordingly to these.

    Making commercial decisions

    Understanding the marketplace means knowing your competition too. Knowing who they are, what they do and why they do it.

    Commercial skills training focuses on competitor awareness and how this can be used to make sound commercial decisions based on what they are doing and how it might impact on the business.

    A workforce that understands the competition can better add value on a day-to-day basis through changing behaviour or process to positively impact financial performance.

    FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE COMMERCIAL SKILLS PROGRAMMES WE PROVIDE, CONTACT MDA TRAINING TODAY.

  • Developing commercial awareness and improving commercial skills

    Commercial awareness is the buzzword of the modern day recruiter and HR professional.

    Many employers regularly cite it as essential to the employability of a candidate, but all too often candidates have no idea how to demonstrate their commercial awareness.

    So if employees can’t demonstrate it, how can you recognise it? And once you have recognised it, how do you hone those skills in your workforce? To understand commercial acumen you must first understand what commercial awareness is…

    So, what is commercial awareness?

    “Commercial awareness is the ability to understand what makes a business or organisation successful, through either buying or selling products or supplying services to a market.”

    This simple definition might summarise commercial awareness but in reality, the concept encompasses a wide range of skills and understanding, most obviously an understanding of the business staff are working in and its market or sector.

    Equally, it is necessary to recognise that commercial awareness and commercial skills are not just important for those working, or wanting to work, in the commercial or business sector.

    Everyone from those working in journalism, the arts or for charities need to be able to demonstrate that they are commercially aware – in short, staff need to be able to demonstrate that they are good value for money to their employers.

    What commercial skills should you be looking out for?

    Many people come undone when it comes to demonstrating their commercial awareness. While they might understand the premise, they’re not sure how to ensure employers know they do. Below are the key things to look for in commercially aware employees:

    Communication

    It is important that employees can communicate confidently with colleagues at all levels and, moreover, they can speak with confidence about the business in which they work, the business sector they are in and their target market.

    Being perceptive

    -Employees who keep a firm eye on the climate of their market and react accordingly are invaluable. It is key to have employees who are flexible, knowledgeable and proactive when it comes to moving with current trends.

    Know the competition

     Another part of being commercially aware is knowing what competitors are doing so that employees can offer up suggestions accordingly, be that subtle changes to current activity or deciding to go head to head.

    Prioritise 

    Marrying up priorities between staff your business will go a long way and demonstrates that employees understand fully the goals of the business and are dedicated to helping to reach them.  

    Financial awareness 

    Understanding the drivers of financial performance in the business and more importantly understanding how an employee can drive performance in their day-to-day activities.

    Developing commercial skills

    Above are just a few core examples of the types of commercial skills that are key to businesses in every sector. If you’re reading this and are struggling to think of any employees who regularly demonstrate these skills, or can see that these skills need to be developed in your staff,

    there are a few things you can do. Simple ways to develop commercial skills include encouraging staff to read and follow relevant sector-specific news and publications, equally encouraging staff to regularly brush up on key basic skills such as numeracy can really help when it comes to relaying sales projections and growth figures.

    If you want to go one step further we can help to develop the personal commercial skills of your people in their genuine work environment, covering everything from effective business writing, pitching and negotiation through to risk management. 

    FOR BESPOKE WORKPLACE TRAINING COURSES THAT DEVELOP THE COMMERCIAL SKILLS OF YOUR EMPLOYEES, CONTACT MDA TODAY.

  • Developing commercial skills in the workplace

    Developing commercial skills in the workplace

    Increasingly, we are seeing more and more business leaders talking about their people needing to think and act more commercially.

    However, what are ‘Commercial skills’? And how can they be developed in the workplace through effective workplace training? Broadly speaking, commercial skills refers to an individual’s knowledge and insights of:

    • Their business and industry
    • An understanding of the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of their business
    • How they can actually add value and influence the performance of the business.

    Commercial skills can cover a wide range of skills, from financial to interpersonal skills, and by-and-large will vary from role to role in an organisation.

    However, in essence, in developing commercial skills, the learning should be focused on improving the way an individual delivers their responsibilities to the business.

    And a broader range of commercial skills offers a wider choice of actions when deciding how to be most effective at work.

    Key to developing these essential skills is grounding the learning within the specific context of your business and industry.

    This helps ensure your people understand how to respond to the genuine business challenges and to contribute to the success of your organisation.

    The focus must always be on supporting people within their genuine work environment and facilitating the effective transfer of learning to the workplace.

    As an example, many companies come to us and ask whether we deliver off-the-shelf solutions such as ‘finance for non-financial managers’.

    However, we find this is no longer an adequate way to address financial and commercial awareness in a business, and quite often, with a little research amongst the intended population, reveals the key issues that are driving the learning need in the first place.

    We believe that with ‘finance for non-financial managers’ type courses, the understanding, use and application of financial information has to be taken to the next level by ensuring the learning is developed around an organisation’s specific business context, KPIs and management information.

    Only then, can the learning be truly useful to helping participants come away with a clear and practical understanding of how to apply their new knowledge, skills and insights back in the workplace and ultimately drive commercial success.

    FOR BESPOKE WORKPLACE TRAINING SOLUTIONS THAT DEVELOP THE COMMERCIAL SKILLS OF YOUR PEOPLE, CONTACT MDA TODAY.