Last week, an accounting professional whose career turned into a business told me how easy it is to talk to clients about the value he can bring, because he really understands their numbers. He believes that game-based learning can increase accounting and finance students’ understanding of why finance really matters.
His advice rings true! We’ve recently seen huge demand for a virtual marketing event. The free course was offered to HR professionals and focused on finances in preparation for budget season. There’s no doubt that these professionals understand the value of speaking the most important language in the business world: finance.
There are several ways to improve one’s career. For example, communication and emotional intelligence are key, and both require practice and consistent effort. However, understanding how a company makes money is critical to supporting leaders, especially executives, in your organization. It’s worth investing your time (pun intended)!
Ditching your old college textbook is one way to remind yourself how to talk about finance. Taking an e-learning course is another. But these two methods can only get you so far. It is often dry and can cause stress if you think you have to develop the skill as a sole learner. Who do you ask when you ask questions? How does your company’s financial terminology differ from what is stated in these references? Are your assumptions correct? Most of us would benefit from taking that extra step and learning with others through a facilitated session.
The minimum role of financial management in any organization is to report on the success of the company. They do this through quarterly financial statements required by law for public companies. Private companies report news through internal financial documents, which may or may not be widely disseminated within the organization. In either case, HR professionals should review these documents for their own education. Executives provide a story to share their thoughts on why the numbers look the way they do. If it is an investment-heavy year, operating profits may decline. Thus, the executive shares the purpose of the investments and adds a timeline for when these investments should pay off for the company.
Networking with someone in finance can support your growth and influence within your role. Now, Finance is not just about “breaking the news”, it is helping you “spread the good news” through their advice, influence and application. If your trusted financial advisor understands the organization’s big picture, your shared interests can make an impact!
Gamification can help you understand the big picture of business from a financial and business strategy perspective. Running a simulation project that allows you to see how money flows through an organization from an aerial perspective is a game-changer for many professionals. I recently spoke with the Vice President of Human Resources at Wisconsin, who said, “I’m 58 years old and have many degrees. Why didn’t I really understand finance until I played this game?”
Gamification helps professionals understand business finance and many other categories of business acumen for several reasons:
- Healthy competition in the game creates an emotional response that consolidates learning into memory. This occurs in the hippocampus and is a complex neural response to stimuli.
- Healthy competition in the game also creates an incentive for comprehensive learning. If I want my team to win, I have to understand and act accordingly.
- A game board, whether digital or physical with an aerial view of the company, helps the learner visualize where their personal role is affected by moves in the game. This knowledge can be extrapolated into common everyday decisions made by the learner or colleagues.
- Group-based training allows colleagues to learn from each other. An HR professional and a finance expert playing on the same team must exchange views and come together to make a move on the board. Add someone from the commercial team and the operations team, and you have an integrated group that sees decisions very differently. Sharing knowledge and collaborating to arrive at the best decision requires a wide range of learning and understanding through play.
Communicating through the language of business and finance is a skill that provides confidence and influence in your daily negotiations and consultations in your organization. It may seem complicated at first. However, once you learn the basics, changes in economic conditions, technological advances, strategy, and regulations only require you to search for updated information from time to time. Plus, now that you’ve gathered a network of financial prowess seekers, you can connect with your team and collaborate to keep up with our Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous (VUCA) world!
In today’s fast-paced and competitive financial world, it’s essential to have a strong command of the language of finance. With the increasing demand for skilled financial professionals, mastering finance has never been more important. One innovative approach to mastering finance is through gamified learning. By combining the excitement and engagement of games with the educational content of finance, gamified learning offers a unique and effective way to build expertise in this field. Whether you’re a student, a young professional, or simply someone looking to enhance their financial knowledge, gamified learning can provide a fun and interactive way to master the language of finance.