Are you Looking for these Benefits in Online Courses for Acquiring Financial Skills?
Do you seek the best benefits before choosing an online course for acquiring financial skills?
What is the single biggest benefit you as a hotel manager look for in an online course for acquiring financial skills?
And on the opposite side of that coin, what is the single biggest frustration with online courses for hotel managers?
Jargon infested content that is difficult to understand.
Jargon simply means unnecessary use of technical language.
Too many online courses peddle jargon in their content.
It is a major factor why non-financial background hotel managers think financial skills are difficult to acquire.
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Did you note that I said “single biggest frustration”?
There are other critical frustrations you find too in online courses for acquiring financial skills.
It looks like all is gloom and doom.
Is there a solution to this?
Can financial skills be acquired with simplicity and peace of mind?
Great questions.
Let me address these head on.
I will lay out a strong case for a solution that more than meets your situation.
However, you must make acquisition of financial skills a key element in your professional development.
Believe me, the benefits of that initiative for you will be a lifelong.
Ready, let us dive right in.
This blog post is about how you can build skills, knowledge and ability in you.
Without those frustrations I talked about and which I will explain shortly.
Yes, it will also address that biggest frustration of all - technical language that is difficult to understand.
This blog post will cover:
The Post Pandemic Era & Acquiring Financial Skills
Let us retrace our steps a bit.
It is a proven fact that without good financial skills, you cannot aspire to higher positions.
Positions which require financial decision making and analytical skills a great deal.
Moreover, in this post covid-19 era, where hotels are struggling to regain revenue levels, financial skills are critical.
Do not be left behind just because you are afraid of financial skills or think it is difficult to acquire.
Any skill is difficult to acquire in the beginning.
How many times did you fall off your bicycle until you learned the skill of balance?
Financial skills are no different.
As a professional finance person with 25 years of industry experience, I can confirm one fact to you.
Acquiring financial skills is not rocket science.
Far from it.
You can acquire it and become financial savvy if you commit yourself to it.
And I will show you how to achieve that.
What Most Online Courses for Financial Skills Lack in a Big Way
Having good financial skills is a strength.
However, the most frustrating part of learning a skill set is when it is either:
- difficult to understand or
- almost impossible to apply to your work situation or
- both.
Would you agree with me?
Sadly, many online courses carry this burden.
Financial Skills Academy courses remove these and many more frustrations for you through a powerful learning tool.
We call it Scenarios.
In the process, the benefits you will reap are:
- simplicity,
- relation to your own work place and situation and
- risk free decision making.
You are intrigued.
Let me explain what Scenarios do.
See below what a typical Scenario framework looks like.
Benefit of a Scenarios Framework - Financial Skills Academy
We will discuss the 5 Top frustrations you go through and the benefits we have gotten specifically for you:
- Scenarios Bridge The Knowledge Gap
- Scenarios place you right and center in the learning process
- Real world situations are presented to you through Scenarios during learning
- Scenarios develop problem solving skills in you
- You can exercise No Risk decision making through Scenarios
Let us now see how Scenarios remove frustrations and benefit you with some examples.
Frustration 1 - Jargon Filled Information Overload
Most online courses attempt to provide you technical knowledge.
Knowledge which results in information overload.
Stated in difficult to understand technical language.
In other words, jargon.
You are taken deeper and deeper into information about a certain topic.
However, a huge factor is missing.
How is it connecting with your current level of knowledge?
Only if the online course content is able to take into account your current level of understanding can it build on that.
So, you end up trying to absorb information which does not stick.
Or in other words, you cannot retain.
If you cannot retain, you cannot utilize.
What use is that learning?
The Scenarios tool by Financial Skills Academy bestow a benefit which is unique.
And completely removes that frustration of jargon filled information overload.
Benefits of Bridging The Knowledge Gap
Most online courses attempt to teach you concepts and sometimes techniques.
However, they never consider your current situation.
What is the level of knowledge you currently possess in that area?
What more do you need to know?
This is central to any adult learning environment.
Scenarios take a completely different approach.
They present you a real world situation and get you to analyze and problem solve.
In the process, they specifically require you to be aware of what is known as the Knowledge Gap.
The Knowledge Gap is the difference between what you know currently and what you will end up learning from the online course.
Scenarios bridge this knowledge gap.
That allows you to be aware of where you stand currently.
And where you will ultimately reach.
That realization is fresh.
It ensures that you are not kidding yourself.
You know where you are and where you are headed.
And makes that journey pleasant and achievable.
That is a liberating sensation!
Frustration 2 - Most Online Courses focus too much on only the topic
In the learning process, most online courses focus on what the topic of learning is.
This is because the objective is to gain knowledge or understand a new concept.
While this is important, it is really only a basic step of learning.
Most times that concept remains theoretical.
Its practical application has not been tested.
And so that knowledge fades away quite quickly.
You must have heard of those three universal principles of learning.
- Tell me and I forget,
- Teach me and I may remember,
- Involve me and I learn.
Benefits of Placing YOU right and center in the learning process
Scenarios place you right and center in the learning process.
You are involved actively.
You are provided a hotel operation scenario which you will analyze during learning.
You learn concepts and gain knowledge through real application.
Application to real world situations and problems that you face in your hotel operation.
It seems as if you are back in your hotel operation.
It seems familiar.
That cements the structure of your learning and helps in building financial skills.
Frustration 3 - Theoretical situations do not acquaint you with real life issues
In acquiring financial skills, one of the most critical elements is application of knowledge.
Application of knowledge results in a connection with practical situations.
Situations that are part of your daily hotel operation.
And situations which you are familiar with in your hotel operation.
However, most online courses only stuff more financial knowledge in you.
You have no means of testing how to use that knowledge in your hotel operation.
Imagine how frustrating it can get if you learned something but do not know how to apply it.
And that is because you have not been taught the skill of application of knowledge.
Benefits of Real world situations presented to you during learning
Financial Skills Academy takes a totally different approach.
We build skills, knowledge and ability in you.
So, you:
- Understand concepts (knowledge),
- Apply that (skill) and
- Become a better manager (ability).
Not only are you involved in your learning, you are given real world situations.
Situations which will need you to analyze, to assess choices.
It will need you to apply the concept to the situation you are being presented with.
Here is a typical example of a Scenario in our courses:
You are the Director of Rooms of Paradise Hotel.
Your General Manager hands you the Profit and Loss Statement for the month of January 2019.
He is asking you the following questions:
- Why is the RevPAR falling?
- How do we compare with the competition?
- What is the impact on the Market Share?
Learning seems no different from being in your work place.
It is one thing to learn about, say, menu engineering analysis in a restaurant operation.
It is quite another to be presented a menu item list by the Chef (our courses will, watch the video) which you will be analyzing from a menu engineering perspective.
Application of learning is enhanced when that is closest to your regular work place and situations there.
Frustration 4 - Financial Knowledge with No Problem Solving Skills
Most online courses on financial skills almost never touch the area of problem solving in their content.
It is all financial knowledge and more knowledge often jargon filled.
But your goal in taking that course is to use the learning in your hotel operation.
It is frustrating that you cannot do that because the course did not teach problem solving skills.
Most courses may not even have acquainted you with the problem itself in its content.
Benefits of Developing Problem Solving Skills in You
The most critical skill set that is looked for in hotel managers is problem solving.
This involves basically three things:
- analyzing a situation,
- understanding what the problem is,
- suggesting a solution and taking action.
Organizations need their managers to be able to problem solve.
Even more or so in this post covid-19 era.
How to get customers back?
How to regain revenue levels?
How to boost bottom line?
These are all genuine problems that you need to overcome.
However, if you look at online courses professing to teach financial skill sets, they rarely address this problem solving ability.
All they are doing is to get you take on more knowledge whose application you do not know about.
What use is that knowledge if you are not able to apply it to solve problems in your work place?
Scenarios develop problem solving skills in you.
For example:
You are the Director of Events Management
Your Boss, the Director of Food and Beverage wants to know:
- Why the Catering/Banquet Profits are going down in spite of Banquet Revenues increasing over the last 3 months?
- Is there something in the Pricing that needs to be corrected? What needs correction?
- Are we under priced?
- Is there any other reason for the fall in the profits despite revenue increases?
Write a note explaining the reasons and making recommendations. Show analysis.
By simply placing you in a situation which has multiple solutions and ways which you will need to figure out.
Scenarios make this part of your learning process.
They use the fictional example of Paradise Hotel and its Profit and Loss Statement to analyze.
See below:
Benefits of Scenarios - Paradise Hotel Profit and Loss Statement
So that, not only you take on new knowledge but you also know what to do with it to meet your work goals and objectives.
Scenarios develop not just financial skills in you.
They develop financial skills, knowledge and ability in you.
They teach you how to analyze and apply your learning.
You become a more professional manager as a result of that learning and application.
You would want that, wouldn't you?
Frustration 5 - No focus on decision making skills in content
With the focus on drumming in more financial knowledge, another critical area is missed.
And that is decision making.
Financial decision making is almost a daily requirement for hotel managers.
Yet, these online courses do not build this crucial skill in their students.
They stuff you with financial knowledge but alas, you do not know how to take decisions with that learning.
Benefits of No Risk decision making during learning
Managers often are fearful of consequences of decisions, particularly bad ones.
They are fearful of being pulled up by their bosses for getting something wrong.
Or making an incorrect decision which costs the hotel expenses or losses.
As a result, they dither from taking decisions.
That is not a good solution as a manager is required to take decisions as a matter of course.
Scenarios place you in real world situations and allow you make mistakes in your decisions.
There is no risk to an incorrect decision in Scenarios or real world problem situations.
It is all part of your learning process.
You only correct yourself and learn without any risk of being admonished.
It is liberating to be able to commit mistakes (natural way of learning) and not risk a reprimand.
Scenarios build confidence in you by allowing you to make risk free mistakes.
You become good at decision making in this environment.
So, there you go, five major frustrations and solutions to each one of them through just one tool - Scenarios.
In the next week, we will introduce you to the first of many approaches which will build financial skills in you.
Next Week
Using Ultimate Learning Maps for Acquiring Top Financial Skills
Scenarios described above are just one of the many benefits of Financial Skills Academy learning.
The Ultimate Learning Maps for Acquiring Top Financial Skills is a road map to make your journey rewarding.
They will build the foundation in you toward becoming financially skilled.
You could say that it is the preparatory recipe for the financial skills acquisition menu.
It is in our DNA to remove all the above and other frustrations from online learning of financial skills
Al we ask of you is a commitment to acquiring financial skills.
Stop fearing financials and commit to becoming financially savvy.
You can do it if only you set your mind to it!
Financial Skills Academy is your friend, philosopher and guide in this journey.
Good Luck and Happy Journey!
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