Have you ever thought about your business knowledge and skills? To start the new year, here are two questions: what are the knowledge and skills you need for business – and which of those skills and knowledge do you have? asks Professor Simon Bridge.
Have you tried to learn business skills from a business school and, if so, what subjects did the business school try to cover? Typically a formal business syllabus might have included finance, accounting, economics, operations management, marketing (but does that include selling?) and organisational behaviour – plus possibly things like business strategy and internationalisation. And often business schools have been organised around those subjects as separate specialities.
Is such formal learning helpful and what about the other skills required for applying that business understanding in real situations? The ‘transversal’ skill sets needed, for instance, to understand and solve problems, to make decisions, to work with other people, to manage yourself, to be creative and innovative, to cope with uncertainty, to run meetings, to lead and to delegate, to think critically and to see things from different perspectives.
Take problem solving: in an exam, solving a problem generally means trying, as quickly as possible, to identify the right answer – and give reasons for it. But in real life often there isn’t a single right answer. For example in a new business situation, such as when facing unexpected new competition or a change in customer spending, how do you work out how to respond? Many people might go for the first apparently appropriate course that occurs to them because few seem to have been taught a deliberate process. But sometimes it is helpful first to analyse the problem, then to decide what your overall aim is in that situation – followed by analysing what are the key factors and identifying the realistic options, so that you are then in a position to make a decision and to plan and manage its implementation.
How many of those skills have you learnt from formal teaching and how many just from what you have been able to pick up? You can learn about some of the formal subjects in a classroom, primarily by absorbing knowledge – like many school lessons. But other things you need to learn by trying to do them, ideally while being coached – a bit like learning a sport.
And for which elements of this learning can you get a qualification or certificate, such as an MBA from a business school, and consequently get recognition for having it? Certificates of some sort are generally available for knowledge-based subjects which can be tested through written examination – so do the other skills can get ignored because there is no official way of recording such abilities?
All this suggests that talking about business skills is not simple – so how can you try to ensure that you have the skills you need? Also is ‘business skills’ actually the right label as many of the transversal skills sets are applicable, not just in ‘business’ (whether as an entrepreneur, an employer or an employee), but for many other situations in life? Take politics as just one case. When Boris Johnson’s government launched its ‘levelling up’ initiative, what was its aim (actually to make a difference or just to be seen to be trying in order to secure votes)? Then, if it was to make a difference, what were the issues (what were the problems actually holding back the ‘left behind’ areas) and what then were the options for addressing them and who was actually going to implement them? Or was the slogan together with some government funding thought (or just hoped) to be enough?
Unfortunately, therefore, asking about business skills is also a question for which there isn’t a simple obvious answer. But I suggest that is good reason to ask it.
