Do you consider yourself a beginner in financial skills?
Who is a beginner anyway?
Are you a hotel manager with less than one year experience?
Or a student?
It is likely that you could consider yourself a beginner (note it is not bad to be a beginner).
Beginners are those who are in the process of learning the fundamentals or basics of a topic or skill.
Beginners require simple, non-technical, usable content and courses.
Grab this EXCEL Spreadsheet
Don’t miss our 5 Killer Hotel KPIs Dashboard
Get this exclusive Excel Template that you can customize to create your own 5 Killer Hotel KPIs Dashboard
They need to be guided into essentials so that they can build a strong foundation.
Financial skills are no different.
Beginner Learning Maps aim to bridge the gap often found in basic concepts of financial skills.
They are designed to ease beginners into understanding and then utilizing financial skills.
I will lay out a case for how you as a beginner can harness learning maps to build your financial skills.
In a way your financial colleagues will envy!
Ready for this exciting ride?
Let's go
This Blog Post will cover:
This Blog Post will cover
What are Beginner Learning Maps?
Before we discuss beginner learning maps, let us define the concept of learning map itself.
Learning Maps are key concepts that must be understood clearly before mastering any topic.
When it comes to building financial skills, there are specific learning maps that must be understood first.
Often managers do not invest time in understanding basic concepts of financial analysis.
They then find themselves struggling with financial statements, performance measurement and so on.
It is my mission to ease you as a beginner into the world of financial skills.
Objectives of Beginner Learning Maps
So, what are the objectives of Beginner Learning Maps?
In my mission to make beginners more comfortable with financial skills, I laid down 3 Key Objectives:
- Simplify financial statement reading
- Set out an easy way to analyze and apply
- Mentor how to influence business results
Let me quickly explain how each of these objectives will benefit you as a beginner.
Simplify Financial Statement Reading for Beginners
In my 25 plus years as a financial professional I have discovered one major truth.
Hotel Managers struggle with financial analysis mainly because they skip the basics.
What I mean is that, at a beginner stage, they jump and avoid critical steps.
In other words, they have not invested time to understand basics.
This fact is borne out in the way they read financial statements.
Reading financial statements is one of the most critical skills that is required of hotel managers.
Beginner Learning Maps solidify these basics, fundamentals and concepts before proceeding into analysis.
Set Out an Easy Way to Analyze for Beginners
The second major difficulty for hotel managers is how to analyze first.
And then how to apply that analysis.
Financial Analysis is not rocket science.
It can be understood and mastered if some basic common sense concepts are paid attention to.
Beginner Learning Maps teach those common sense concepts.
They equip new hotel managers with the foundation on which they can analyze business results.
Mentor Beginners How to Influence Business Results
Last but certainly not the least is the difficulty to link analysis with taking financial decisions.
A majority of time of hotel managers is invested in taking decisions.
Many of these are financial decisions.
Many beginner hotel managers freeze when they have to take financial decisions in the hotel operation.
Decisions that will cost the hotel money.
It is because of a lack of those basics I just talked about of financial analysis.
But they really need not fear taking financial decisions.
And I mean financial decisions based on sound reasoning.
Sound reasoning will come with correct interpretation of financial statements.
These financial decisions will help hotel managers influence business results.
Meaning they can actually improve and enhance revenue, expense and profit of their hotel.
As a hotel manager, you would want that, right?
Beginner Learning Maps teach you this critical skill in a easily understandable way.
Moral of the Story
If you are a beginner hotel middle or senior manager or a student, learn the ropes well.
Pay attention to basics and concepts that drive financial analysis.
Beginner Learning Maps will be your friend, philosopher and guide in the process.
Financial Skills Academy Blog has published more than 100 posts till date.
Beginner Learning Maps are embedded in most of the posts.
To make it simpler for you as a hotel manager, among the 100 posts, let me pick the best ten.
My Top 10 Blog Posts
Click below for my best performing 10 blog posts:
Content Focus in June 2023 Update
This June 2023 update to assist in professional development of hotel middle managers covered topics like:
- Hotel Revenue Management
- All in One Place Professional Development Center
Hotel Revenue Management
Continuing my 7 Part Series on Hotel Revenue Management Strategies, I published Part 2 on Yield Vs Revenue.
Click for Yield Management – Balancing Revenue, Capacity, Potential
Professional Development
Continuing my behind the scenes posts, I laid out the exclusive mission of professional development.
In particular, I made the case for the difference between a single course and a library
Professional Development is beyond just learning.
The post lays out how Financial Skills Academy Membership is vastly superior in building professional development in hotel managers.
Click for Your All in One Place Professional Development Center
Your Professional Development Partner
Want to know more on how you can achieve professional development with Your Success Partner?
Next Post...Are You Missing This Critical Market Share Metric in Revenue Management?
Next Week, we will continue my 7 Part Series on Hotel Revenue Management Strategies, with Part 3 on a critical market share metric.
I will see you in the next post.
11