Train-the-Trainer
Help your employees become experts in your business.
We draw on our years of customized training among Fortune 500 clients to ensure your trainers receive a tried-and-true solution that delivers tangible results. Supplemented with case studies, videos, class discussions, team activities, and simulations, our train-the-trainer programs allow your facilitators to shine and make financial concepts accessible to anyone needing to bridge the business acumen gap.
Whether you need a streamlined, foundational solution or a deep, rigorous certification for long-term internal mastery, we have a path for your organization.
Option 1: The Essentials
The Essentials program is built on core foundational principles designed for streamlined delivery. This path is ideal for HR and L&D teams looking for a quick, highly accessible rollout that delivers immediate value without a heavy administrative lift.
What is the course like?
Hit Play
The course content is taught by Kevin Cope, your expert in all things business acumen and the author of Seeing the Big Picture.
Facilitated by You
You do not have to be a financial expert. All you need to do is facilitate role plays and discussions as provided in the participant guide and facilitator deck. Additional glossary and video resources are available to facilitators so you can improve over time.
Actionable
Participants will use two tools to apply what they learned to the strategy of your company, competitor, client, or benchmark company to ensure your employees improve their credibility, career, and your company.
Essentials Curriculum
Part 1: The 5 Business Drivers®
When you break down even the largest, most seemingly complex multinational company into its most fundamental elements, you’ll find the same drivers that power your business, or any business: Cash, Profit, Assets, Growth, and People.
Part 2: Functional Awareness & Executive Alignment
Use the 5 Business Drivers to help functions work more effectively together, and apply the 5 Business Drivers to decipher and align around executive messaging.
Part 3: Simplifying the Income Statement
While reading every line of a company’s financials is rarely necessary, understanding key items from the Income Statement is a surefire path to building your credibility, career, and company.
Part 4: Acumen in Action
Turn business acumen into action and results.
Option 2: Signature
The Signature program is designed for organizations seeking deep-dive mastery, intensive co-teaching, and long-term internal expertise. This path is perfect for organizations committed to building a dedicated, highly credible internal faculty capable of driving strategic alignment.
4 Pillars of a Signature Facilitator
To deliver the Signature experience effectively, candidates must develop and excel in four core areas:
Dynamic Delivery
Mastering proven teaching techniques that create an engaging, active learning environment.
Audience Credibility
Building trust and respect with the audience, rooted in their organizational role, past accomplishments, education, or experience.
Business & Financial Acumen
Developing a strong, intuitive understanding of financials, industry trends, how companies make money, and how they measure success.
Strategic Commitment
Dedicating the necessary time to not only get up to speed but stay current on evolving business, industry, and company performance news.
What is the certification process like?
The Signature program is a rigorous, multi-step journey designed to ensure your facilitators can confidently command a room and deliver deeply customized business insights.
Step 1: Experience the Course (Days 1 & 2)
Facilitators experience the Building Business Acumen course from the participant’s point of view. The course flow is periodically paused to address candidate questions and dissect advanced teaching methodologies.
Step 2: The Certification Intensive (Days 3–5)
Ideally, within 3 to 4 weeks of the initial course, up to 6 facilitator candidates attend an intensive 3-Day Certification Course to master the material.
Step 3: The Co-Teach Baseline
Within one month of the intensive, candidates co-teach live courses alongside an expert Acumen Learning Consultant to gain real-time feedback.
Step 4: Solo Flight & Maintenance
Within one month of the co-teach, candidates launch their first solo course. To maintain active Signature certification, facilitators teach at least quarterly.
What makes "Essentials" different from "Signature"?
As the name suggests, Essentials covers the core concepts of our traditional Building Business Acumen course in a streamlined, turnkey format. It focuses on providing foundational principles without the extra preparation or deep financial background required for a fully customized experience.
Signature is our deep-dive, fully customized option. It includes tailored research, stakeholder interviews, and a rigorous multi-week certification process (including co-teaching) to build elite, long-term internal training experts within your organization.
What does Essential's facilitator certification process look like?
It is a 2-day process. On Day 1, you experience the course as a participant. On Day 2, you dive into the mechanics: practicing "teach-backs" of the 5 Business Drivers, receiving feedback from experts like David Covey, and learning facilitation best practices.
Do I need a background in finance to take or facilitate this course?
Not at all. The course is designed to be accessible to "any professional from any industry." For facilitators, the program provides video content from expert Kevin Cope, meaning you don't have to be a financial whiz—you just need to facilitate the discussions and role-plays provided in the kit.
How does this course ensure that the learning actually "sticks" once employees go back to work?
The program is built for actionable results. Participants create 2-3 specific action items at the end of class and are paired with an "accountability partner." Additionally, there are follow-up sessions designed to review the learning and ensure workplace transference.
My team is very siloed. How does this training help with cross-functional collaboration?
By teaching everyone the same 5 Business Drivers, it breaks down communication barriers, allowing different departments to understand how their specific roles impact the same bottom-line goals.
How does the "Train-the-Trainer" model benefit a large organization?
It is both scalable and cost-effective. Instead of hiring outside consultants for every session, you build an internal core of trainers who understand your specific company culture. This ensures consistent, standardized training across the entire global or regional workforce.
What specific financial metrics will my team learn to understand?
The curriculum covers essential "language of business" terms, including EBITDA, Gross Margin, SG&A, Return on Assets (ROA), and Organic vs. Inorganic Growth. It also helps them decipher executive messaging and simplify the Income Statement.