7 Ways to Show Business Acumen in Your Day-to-Day Work
Elizabeth is a freelance writer and project manager living and working in London. She runs The Otobos Group, a project communications consultancy specializing in project management.
Business acumen can feel abstract. We see it in job descriptions, and your manager might have mentioned how important it is to you. But what does it actually look like?
It’s about how you think, what you prioritize, and the questions you ask. And you don’t need a finance qualification or senior title to demonstrate it. Business acumen shows up as small shifts in meetings, reports and decisions, and below I’ll share seven ways that you can bring your skills into your everyday project work.
1. Bring the “why”
When you talk to stakeholders, don’t jump straight into tasks or timelines. Link the conversation back to the project’s goals, or the customer impact, or the organization’s priorities. You’re setting whatever it is you’re talking to them about in the context of the why for the project—why the company has invested time and effort into doing this work.
This hook for your discussions can be simple, and you definitely don’t want it to feel forced. For example, at the beginning of a project kick-off meeting, talk about the impact and the rationale for doing the project before you get into the deliverables and who is doing what. That’s all you need to do. If you have a one-line value statement or elevator pitch for your project, use that!
2. Translate status into impact
So your project …
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"Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils." - Berlioz |
