CFO's need to develop "Business Acumen" to be a great Business Leader

A CFO with business acumen can see the big picture of your business and link their actions to the overall company’s success. They also have a good understanding of how a business makes money and continues to prosper in changing times.

Isn’t this the kind of Strategic CFO you want in your organisation?

Business acumen is talked about a lot but is often poorly understood, narrowly defined and has been hard to measure. Quad Assessment has spent several years extensively reviewing and researching business acumen and has now developed an assessment called the Business Acumen Gauge which measures 11 capabilities with regards to their importance and demonstration.

This assessment process – delivered online – is now available as part of CFO Accelerators suite of assessment products and it has already produced insightful and valuable information to many of our clients, and interesting insights into what is regarded as important in certain roles. The report, which is produced for each person assessed, is based on a validated benchmark across the 11 elements of business acumen with a number of sub categories as defined in the assessment method. Those elements are:

Mindsets These are your mental attitudes or predispositions. These determine your responses to and interpretations of situations. They are also indicators of your inclinations and habits. They are the ways you think as a predictor of how you might act in demonstrating business acumen.

Foresight This is your ability to step back to get a total picture of the business and envisioning its future.

Broad Scanning This is your ability to acquire and use information about trends, events, possibilities and relationships in the external environment.

Strategic Alignment This is your ability to create and set strategic direction designed to improve business performance.

Collaborative This is your ability to engage in teamwork and collaboration: working with others towards common objectives.

Resource Management This is your ability to optimally ration resources; materials, people, time and finance.

Systems and Process This is your ability to efficiently identify, develop and use management information systems and technology.

Decision Making This is your ability to make sound choices from among the available options, then identify the necessary actions and share your insights with others.

Talent Development This is your ability to assess and develop key talent to meet business needs.

Duty of Care This is your ability to take responsibility for present and future well being of staff and the organisation – economic, social and environmental.

Financial Literacy This is your ability to understand, interpret and apply financial data.

The report is a 360 review of importance and demonstration and can be provided for an individual or an organisation, at a business unit, divisional, geographical regional or organisational level.

 All individual assessment reports are delivered with a one on one debrief with one of our experienced and accredited providers. This debrief is preferably conducted face to face but can be delivered via telephone or teleconference. An online development guide is available to provide support to the ongoing development journey.

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 James O'Brien is the  Founder of CFO Accelerator which offers exclusive mentoring and coaching to CFO’s across Asia Pacific. Book a FREE CFO Power Up Session to see how the Business Acumen Gauge can assist you in your leadership journey.

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James is accredited in the Business Acumen Gauge from Quad Assessments