Are you an aspiring project manager? If so, you surely will be keen to know the basics about your success in Project Management. But, in addition, you must surely have the proper project management certifications to have a firm footing in the field. So, you need to be PMP certified; if you are not, you need to get trained in the right PMP Exam Prep course to clear the PMP exam. But along with that, you need some additional skills, too and business acumen has to be which must be at the top of the requirement list. 

Business Acumen: What is it about?

If you are wondering what business acumen is all about, you need to know it is one of those crucial skills you see on job role profiles. If you observe, you will also find it is generally mentioned in the standards for professional project management bodies. As already mentioned, it is an essential ingredient you need to have to make it big in project management too.

As a project manager, you also need to note that in 2022, PMI updated the Talent Triangle. It includes business acumen too. It used to be called ‘strategic and business management. So how is business acumen different? It is a core skill for project managers. 

Putting it in simple language, business acumen refers primarily to the ability to see the bigger picture. It also involves understanding and being able to respond to how your work contributes to organizational strategy. Finally, it means giving the influence in the organization and the industry, and the global world of work as a whole.

Do you have business acumen?

If you are wondering whether you have business acumen, you need to ask yourself some specific questions. 

To find out, you need to know how your company makes money? Project Management Experts claim they carry out inductions for several new project managers. But it seemed many of them could not tell how their new company made money. That’s fine, but if you aspire to be a successful project manager, you are not expected to know everything on the first day. But you do need to work it out pretty quickly.

For this, you need to talk to your boss about the company’s income streams. How many main customer groups? How do you balance their needs? These are some of the information you need to become a successful project management career.

Knowing where your company invests in

Along with the above point, for you to have the right business acumen, you also need to know where your company invests. But, again, these avenues will likely give the company’s business an edge over the competitors. 

Another vital piece of information you need to keep in mind is finding out whether the company is dealing with something likely to saturate over the tenure of the business operations.

Conclusion

To sum up, we can say that having the right qualifications is suitable for successful project management. But, make sure you also can develop your business acumen for success in the profession.