BUSINESS LITERACY:
Business Literacy is today's cutting edge approach for running an enterprise.
Why have corporate leaders insisted on teaching their employees the financial basics of
business? Because they have to trust them to make good decisions based on their
knowledge . . . because business is moving so fast in the new economy that the only
people strategy is to enable employees and to treat them as responsible stake holders in
the venture. Having business literate people in the organization is a must to survive in
an ever-changing global economy.
Enterprises need the full participation of their people to passionately execute their part
of the strategy with high intelligence. Both passion and intelligence is curtailed when
large knowledge gaps exist about how a business and an industry make money.
It was cutting edge thinking in the 90's to teach employees exactly how they impact the
bottom line and the customer. It is becoming standard operating procedure in the
2000's.
Why? Because making the organization and the processes that add value totally
transparent is part of where the New Economy and the information age is taking us, no
organization can afford to have employees as passengers, blindly riding the decisions of
upper management.
Everyone needs to know where he or she is going and how to get there. Everyone needs
to know the business model they are a part of in order to participate at a high level.
As many learned in their jobs, empowerment is a sham if the business model is not clear.
People need line of sight from their daily outputs to the big picture and the big
measures of the organization.
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_ Do you know how knowledgeable you and the people around you are about the
business you are in?
_ Do you understand and can you articulate, in simple but powerful cost
accounting terms, how each person's job connects to profits and cash flow?
_ Can your teams change workflow processes quickly to meet the demand of the
market place because they are process literate and know the business.
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