Leadership & Management Training
Leadership and management training is well understood in the UK with many fantastic providers who deliver outstanding results in this field for their clients.
Leaders and managers can have the best inter-personal skills in the world, with the ability to motivate and inspire masses, whilst also being brilliant at what they do, be that sales, operations, HR, etc. However, what if they don’t really understand the numbers? And what if they’re not sure what the ‘right’ questions are to challenge their finance function? How well will their organisation fare then? Could it perform considerably better?
Financial Skills & Knowledge
Financial skills and knowledge are often considered to be purely the domain of the finance department. For any non-financial directors reading this, please note you have exactly the same amount of responsibility for the financial health and well-being of your organisation as your finance director. Ignorance is no defense. I’ve personally helped rescue companies that wouldn’t have been going into administration if the Board had had some basic financial skills and known what questions to ask.
Understanding the Financials
Understanding and interpreting the financials, in order, to run your business better needn’t be technical or complex. Indeed, leave the technical aspects to your well-trained finance professionals. Empowering yourself with some basic financial skills and knowledge can even be enjoyable! Understanding ‘the story’ behind the numbers will enable you to make better business decisions which will ultimately improve the financial health and performance of your organisation.
Evidence shows that more leaders and managers than ever before are taking responsibility to enhance their understanding of business finance and budgeting, thereby improving their professional effectiveness.
Help Seeking Financial Training
Here are some pointers to help you:
- What are the credentials of the financial trainer?
- Are they a fully qualified accountant?
- What is their background and experience?
- Can they bring practical, commercial experience to bring their training to life?
- Have they worked at Board level for that broader business & commercial experience?
- Can they speak in plain English, avoiding or explaining financial jargon?
- What evidence is there of enjoyable & memorable training that is embedded in the organisation and used on a day to day basis?
- How does their training get results?
How do you find out the above?
- Ask your training provider who will be carrying out their training and ask for their credentials
- Look the trainer up online, particularly LinkedIn to learn about their background & experience
- Review testimonials and case studies – what results is this financial trainer getting?
- Word of mouth – has someone referred you to this financial trainer? Do you know someone who has worked with them previously?
In conclusion, it can be seen that financial training is a critical element of strong leadership and management training. We hope the above tips assist in your search for a first-class financial trainer.
Blog written by Mike Smith
