Supply Chain Management, Procurement, and other operational functions that are critical to the success of a business are more strategic and more important than ever. In the new realities of the post-pandemic world, the skill profiles of people in these functions have changed dramatically and talent development professionals are struggling to identify, assess, and develop the skills critical for success.

Analytical skills are always important, especially when we live in a world of seemingly infinite data. The need to analyze data to make the best decisions for the company is a core competency that needs to be constantly nurtured and developed. However, there is an emerging skill in the world of Supply Chain management that is even more critical: Business Acumen.

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As long as I can remember, corporate talent development strategies were designed and forged by natural limiters such as the time, money, and resources required to bring employees in to attend stand-up, face-to-face learning events. As a result, when talent development professionals looked at their organizations, they were faced with the choice of the bell curve: either focus on the “far right side” of the curve, those defined as strong, high potential performers, and let the rest of curve fend for themselves. I recall one client say many years ago that the cost justification analysis of moving the far right a fraction further to the right was far more effective than moving the rest of the curve to the right.

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It will be years or even decades before we fully understand the profound impacts the COVID pandemic has had on businesses and the way we work. Earlier today, I was having a great discussion with one of our clients about observations and learnings we had from a recent 5-connection virtual Business Acumen and Business Leadership workshop we conducted for senior leaders.

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 Leanne Hainsby is a fantastic athlete and an even better trainer. She effortlessly motivates thousands of her students every day with innovative Peloton workouts and during the past several months it’s been a pleasure training with her. Leanne of course has no idea who I, or the other 100,000 riders who take her classes are, but through the magic of Peloton it feels like she is giving me personal training and coaching.

Leanne and the team of Peloton trainers all follow a basic template of mixing music, motivation, and intense training that help train more than 2 million subscribers. One of the most interesting techniques that they use is something called the “Active Recovery.”

In physical training, Active Recovery is the engagement of low-intensity exercise after completing a heavy workout or athletic event. As contradictory as it may seem, the best way to recover from running a 26-mile marathon or other sports competition is to exercise at a lower intensity rather than staying in bed resting.

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This past Tuesday, I woke up and went for a run in the calm, brisk spring air in a Chicago suburb. I don’t live in Illinois but was ‘on the road’ for the first time in over a year to facilitate an executive business acumen offsite workshop in person.

As so many people these days, I had a lot of concern about if this is a smart idea given Covid. Our organization has spent the last year perfecting our delivery of virtual training and executive facilitation sessions using digital business simulations. We have been very fortunate as our virtual business is booming.  So now that I, along with 80 million Americans, are fully vaccinated, the question is when and IF we return to the various Conference properties all over the world to meet in person.

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