Question: I work as a plant personnel manager and just had the annual interview with my boss. Management demands more business acumen from HR. What exactly is that and how can I develop this competence?
Many HR managers know this situation: You are technically strong, know processes, understand people – and yet you often have the feeling that you are not acting on an equal level with the business. Terms such as sales, margin or productivity come up in conversations, but the connection to your own HR work remains unclear.
What’s missing: Business Acumen – in German: business understanding. It describes the ability to understand a company’s business model, to classify economic relationships and to derive well-founded decisions and concrete contributions to the company’s success.
This topic is becoming more important right now. Companies expect HR not only to have good processes, but also to make clear contributions to business success. So the question is: How do you as an HR manager develop real business acumen – and not just a theoretical understanding?
Understanding the business – not just HR
The most important thing: Business Acumen is not created through a seminar, but through genuine interest in business. How does the company make money? Where are the biggest cost blocks? Which areas are growing – and which are under pressure?
In practice, this can mean seeking discussions with colleagues from sales, production or finance. Not from an HR perspective, but with genuine interest: What’s on your mind right now? What are your biggest challenges? If you understand these connections, you will recognize more quickly where HR can make a real contribution.
Be present in the right environment
Business Acumen comes not just from knowledge but from participating in the right discussions. If you want to grow more into the business as an HR manager or as an HR business partner, you should pay careful attention to which rounds you are present in. It is not HR-internal coordination that is crucial, but rather meetings in which business development, priorities and decisions are discussed. These include, for example, department management meetings, budget and planning meetings, sales or production meetings and strategic project committees.
Those who take part here regularly not only understand the topics better, but are also involved in decisions earlier. What is important is your own attitude: not to act as an “HR representative”, but as a real sparring partner who thinks about the business perspective and actively contributes ideas.
Targeted exchanges with customers
An often underestimated lever for greater business understanding is direct or indirect exchange with the company’s customers. If you understand what you really expect, you will recognize more quickly which skills, structures and behaviors are needed in the company.
In practice, this can mean having conversations with sales or account teams, evaluating customer feedback or – if possible – attending customer meetings yourself. Topics can include: Why do customers choose the company? Where is there dissatisfaction? Which requirements are currently changing?
In particular, exchanges with the customer’s human resources department can provide interesting insights. Where are the future core competencies seen and what do you want to purchase? This may even open up new approaches for advice or services that no other area has yet recognized.
Above all, however, such discussions help to align one’s own HR topics more closely with the market – for example in the development of skills, the design of role profiles or the prioritization of measures.
Working with numbers – even if it’s unusual
Many HR managers do not originally come from the world of numbers – and this is where there is often potential for development. You don’t have to become a controller. But a basic understanding of key figures, relationships and simple analyzes helps enormously.
For example:
Anyone who begins to ask and answer such questions will gradually develop a stronger understanding of business.
Think like an entrepreneur
A common stumbling block is communication. HR often argues in concepts, business in numbers. If you want to gain more influence, you should learn to translate HR topics into business contexts. For example, instead of talking about “employee satisfaction,” the connection is made to fluctuation, productivity or costs. Instead of describing a training program, the effect on performance or goal achievement is made clear. This changes the perception – from supporter to co-creator and entrepreneur.
Conclusion
Business Acumen does not happen overnight – and not through theory alone. It develops through proximity to the business, to the customer, through participation in the right decision-making rounds and through the willingness to take on different perspectives.
Anyone who speaks the language of business, actively participates in relevant committees and understands numbers will quickly notice: their own influence is growing. And with it your own role – away from pure HR expert to real sparring partner for management.
Info
Heike Gorges’ column provides answers to questions and tips for a career in HR. As an HRblue board member, she advises HR professionals on career topics.
HRblue website
To the column by Heike Gorges “HR Career Coach”.
As head of the online service, Gesine Wagner oversees the digital channels of human resources management and, as an editor, is primarily responsible for the topics of labor law, politics and regulation. She continues to be the contact person for everything that has to do with HR start-ups. She is also responsible for the CHRO Panel.
