Business acumen in internal communications - Why it matters and how to build it

CEOs and business leaders today want their internal communication professionals to be business people first, communicators second.

This is backed up by surveys that show business acumen is in the top 10 skills and competencies that internal communicators need. Yet a VMA Group survey in 2018 highlighted business acumen as the skill and competency they lacked most.

Of course, this is not a new problem. As Amit Bajaj, CEO of Tata Consultancy Services Europe told IC Kollectif: “Business acumen, co-existing with communications expertise, is the foundation of good internal communication. IC pros should know how the business works, its strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities. They should have an overall sense of everything that happens inside and envisage the future.”

In a recent Poppulo white paper, Going beyond engagement: The business value of internal communications for the C-Suite, the CEO of Artis Advisory, Zora Artis, explored what communication professionals need to do to be strategic advisors in an environment of constant challenge and change.

In this guide, Zora focuses on the key competencies and characteristics that communication professionals need if they want to become more rounded and strategic. At the center of these is the foundational one of business acumen.