Decision-making - it's a business acumen competency (2 of 4)

Getting Good Information & Making Smart Decisions

How do you ensure you’re getting good information? And how do you make strong decisions, especially when faced with conflicting data or forecasts?

You need three key things:

1. Business Literacy

A common language and understanding of finance—because finance is the language of business.

If you want to communicate a business idea, you must be able to express it in numbers so that everyone understands its importance.

2. A Holistic View of Business

Understanding how your work fits into the bigger picture allows you to:

• Provide useful and accurate information.
• Respond quickly to requests.
• See how decisions in one area impact the entire company.

3. A Culture of Decision-Making

A strong decision-making culture means:

• Authority → The right people can make decisions.
• Responsibility → People are accountable for results.
• Inclusion → The people implementing the decision are part of the process. (They’re your reality check!)

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The Problem: Not Everyone Wants to Provide Information

Many non-finance managers resist requests for data:

"Oh, that’s just Joe in Finance again—he always wants more numbers. But does he ever use the numbers I give him? No! I don’t have time today."

This disconnect hurts decision-making—and ultimately, business performance.

How Income|Outcome Bridges the Gap

In our Income|Outcome simulation, participants run all aspects of a business, making decisions such as:

• How much to borrow
• Whether to expand capacity
• Which customers to target
• What prices to set

This hands-on approach reveals a critical truth:

Every decision affects the bottom line, and every decision in one department affects decision-making in all other departments.

A Simple Example: Constraints in Action

Imagine this scenario inside the simulation:

1. The Finance team decides not to borrow money.
2. The Operations team now can’t expand capacity.
3. The Sales team is unable to pursue the largest prospects.
4. Those prospects go to a competitor instead.

This mirrors real-world competition—and shows that no decision exists in a vacuum.

The Finance decision wasn’t necessarily wrong, but everyone must understand how their choices impact others if the company is going to succeed.

Let us know how we can help your team make better business decisions!

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