Case Study: Building Business Acumen for Individual Contributors

Challenge:

As our client, a global consulting firm specializing in strategic advisory services, expanded, many individual contributors lacked a strong understanding of how the company made money. While they were highly skilled in client delivery, they often struggled to connect their day-to-day decisions to profitability, client retention, and overall business success. Leadership recognized the need for a structured learning journey to develop financial and strategic awareness across the organization.

Solution: 

To address this challenge, the firm partnered with Advantexe to design a business acumen learning journey tailored for individual contributors. This multi-phase approach combined interactive workshops, real-world case studies, and simulation-based learning to provide a holistic understanding of financial and strategic decision-making.

A key component of the journey was the Green Lion Business Simulation, where participants took on the role of an executive team running a professional services firm. The simulation helped employees experience firsthand how strategic choices impact financial performance by focusing on:

• How a professional services firm makes money – including billable hours, utilization rates, and profit margins
• Pricing and profitability – understanding the financial impact of discounting, project scope, and cost management
• Resource allocation – balancing staff capacity with client demand to maximize revenue and efficiency
• Cross-functional collaboration – seeing how decisions in sales, finance, and service delivery influence overall success

Results:

The structured learning journey provided employees with the financial and strategic knowledge needed to drive business success. By integrating Green Lion Business Simulation into the journey, the firm created a dynamic, hands-on learning experience that enabled employees to apply key concepts in a realistic, risk-free environment. As a result, the company strengthened its talent, improved decision-making across the organization, and enhanced its ability to drive sustainable profitability. Key results included,

• Stronger financial acumen, with a 40% increase in participants' ability to interpret financial statements and key business metrics
• Improved project profitability as employees become more mindful of pricing, resource utilization, and cost management
• Greater strategic thinking, with employees making decisions based on long-term business impact rather than just immediate needs