There are not many subjects in business literature that have been written about as much as communication skills. Given that there is a wealth of knowledge about communication skills, it’s easy to assume that everyone “gets” how to communicate or that they understand the impacts of poor communication skills. Unfortunately, this is not the case given the projects that flounder due to poor communications skills.
Given that the Business Analyst role is an important cog in the software product development process, the expectation is that the person holding this role should be an excellent communicator. This is because this role acts as an orchestrator heavily reliant on a diverse set of communication skills that ensure that key actors remain connected and in continuous motion toward the product envisioned by end users and stakeholders.
Requirements Scoping
Business Analysts need to elicit requirements from end users and stakeholders. This is a need that is fulfilled by clearly verbalizing and visualizing information to end users to confirm what their requirements are. This runs the gamut from eliciting simple minute details to the major product components.
Interactions with Technical Teams
Business Analysts interact heavily with technical teams, and they need to be able to relay end user requirements in a way that removes any ambiguity and gray areas.
Interactions with Project Stakeholders
Business Analysts are in constant communication with project team members, end users, and stakeholders about project progress, assignments, milestones, blockers, and dependencies. None of these can be delivered without finely honed communication skills.
Situations Requiring Top-Notch Communication Skills
There will be times when Business Analysts need to persuade, cajole, influence, or negotiate with stakeholders, project team members, and other parties vested in the delivery of the end user product. These are typical scenarios for which top-notch communication skills are required.
For Business Analysts to deliver these assignments, they need to deploy a diverse set of communication skills that encompass personal communication skillsets as well as the skillful use of productivity tools (e.g., email) that foster communication.
Regardless of Business Analyst communication abilities or how they harness productivity tools, the result should be information that is delivered with clarity and conciseness as well as information that eliminates guess work and removes gray areas.
Key Communication Skills
Verbal Skills
This refers to talking to and speaking with an audience in a style, language, and tone that effectively delivers information. This can be delivered to an audience of one or many people.
Documentation Skills
This skill has been partially detailed in Chapter 3 as it has one foot in technical writing, and it refers to understanding how to convey information in technical terms when sharing a document or sending an email, for example. Even more important is knowing when to dump the techy jargon depending on the audience that will receive the documentation being circulated.
Active Listening
This refers not to merely listening as another person is speaking but being engaged with the message, processing the information as it is being heard, and confirming the content with the speaker.
Body Language
This is in reference to interpreting not only what is spoken but also the nonverbal cues that accompany the verbalized message in order to get a fuller picture of the content that is delivered.
Managing Email Communications
Business Analysts spend a lot of time managing email (sending, receiving, replying, and composing emails) and it is logical that there is an understanding of how to use this tool effectively and efficiently.
Meeting, Presentation, and Facilitation Skills
This is another mode of communication that gobbles up an inordinate amount of a Business Analyst’s time. Understanding how to make the most of meetings and presentations inevitably results in more efficient Business Analysts and effective delivery of information.
Tact and Diplomacy Skills
This is the ability to review a situation or setting and know when to say something, how to say it, and more importantly, know what to say.
Mastering the aforementioned communication skills enables Business Analysts to consistently deliver their projects. Additionally, the skills do not exist or work in isolation; they are dependent on each other as well as other skills like interpersonal skills. Active listening for instance goes hand in glove with speaking and presentation skills. Being an active listener who cannot command an audience during meetings is not very effective in the long run either.
Different Business Analysts have different strengths and weaknesses when it comes to the communication skillset, but strengthening each one of them will eventually improve their overall communication skillset.
The Importance of Communication Skills
There are downsides to Business Analysts being sloppy in the management of communication tools or being personally mediocre at communications in a project setting, and here’s how.
Inability to Seal the Deal
How does a Business Analyst seal the deal without finessing a diverse set of communication skills? Consider a high-level executive who is also the project sponsor who won’t sign off a requirements document. What is a Business Analyst to do? They will use a combination of presentation, negotiation, and communication skills to convince the stakeholder to provide the sign off they need to proceed with project delivery. This sounds obvious, but it isn’t, and it’s a reminder of the importance of mastering communication skills in a project setting.
The wider point though is that in the Business Analyst practice, successfully closing negotiations and changing minds are going to be very challenging without excellent communication skills.
Compromised Product Delivery
There is a very real risk of developing a product at odds with end user requirements if there is a communication lapse in the product development process. It is for this reason that Business Analysts need to master the art of clearly communicating requirements to technical teams and ensuring that any blind spots or areas of confusion are clarified. Similarly, they need to convey with clarity to end users the product they will be receiving and eliminate surprises later in the project cycle.
Information Gaps
A lack of adequate communication creates not only a risk of compromised products but also information gaps that can imperil the product development process. This is manifested in information either not flowing upward or downward on a project team. Team members caught in this information exclusion zone are always playing catch up and will at some point miss critical project milestones and deadlines.
Foments Conflicts
Business Analysts usually resolve conflicts between project team members as well as stakeholders. Resolving these tensions and conflicts aids the forward motion of projects, while projects mired in perpetual conflicts make the work of successful project delivery very difficult.
As an example, a Business Analyst whose verbal communication is abrasive, insensitive, and aggressive creates unnecessary conflicts that divert precious time and resources to resolve. These conflicts also degrade the professionalism and credibility of the Business Analyst.
Additionally, a Business Analyst that lacks finesse in deftly communicating with different audiences will not only fail to build relationships but is likely to break existing ones.
Rework (And a Lot of It)
Anytime an audience repeatedly asks for clarifications on the same subject during a communication event or post the communication event, then the communication is lacking in clarity or conciseness.
This leads to more meetings, more presentations, and more emails all seeking to clarify what was initially discussed. This is rework, and all it does is take time away from other more pressing project activities. There is also the opportunity cost incurred in the engaging of repeat work as opposed to pursuing activities that are more productive to project progress.
Credibility
One way to quickly and effectively trash a reputation or one’s credibility is to hold meetings, speak to audiences, or generally communicate in a state of unpreparedness. This is manifested in a lack of background research, disjointed presentations, inaccurate facts, and grammatical errors. A general lack of preparedness blocks critical content from getting through to the audience as well as preventing a healthy dialogue from taking place. It also conveys a lack of professionalism from the speaker or presenter, and don’t be surprised if some in the audience question the speaker or presenter’s competence for the task, not to mention that sloppiness of the presenter distracts from the content that needs to be discussed.
Verbal Communication Skills
During the life span of a project, Business Analysts are going to speak to a wide range of audiences, from one person meetings to meetings with many end users and stakeholders. Holding the attention of their audience and ensuring that the other party understands what the Business Analyst is saying are a must-have skill.
Relaying Information
Business Analysts must convey end user requirements to technical teams in a format, style, and language that technical teams can understand. They also need to convey the same technical concepts to end users and stakeholders in a format they can easily understand.
Relationship and Rapport Building
Whether it is a one-on-one meeting in a hallway or a group meeting, speaking with focus, respect, and confidence builds relationships and helps builds rapport with end users, stakeholders, and project team members alike.
Conversely speaking patronizingly or condescendingly will not endear a Business Analyst to the audiences they need to cultivate close relationships with. Business Analysts who master this skill get even the most difficult stakeholders to assent to their requests.
Demonstrates Conviction and Credibility
Conveying a message or trying to persuade someone in person is very different from doing it while “hidden” behind the digitally walled-off enclosure that is Microsoft Outlook. A phone conversation has the same effect for the other party cannot see a Business Analyst grimace or roll their eyes when they say something the Business Analyst considers particularly irritating.
In-person meetings remove those protections (if you can call them that). In-person meetings exude confidence and the courage of one’s convictions which conveys the message that the Business Analyst is confident about the content they are delivering and that they want the audience on their side.
Well, what about distributed teams that lack the ability to just walk down the hallway to resolve an issue with a team member? There’s web calls and livestreamed video calling for that, and the principles that hold true for conducting in-person meetings hold true for the virtual world as well.
How Can Business Analysts Improve This Skill?
Match the Language to the Audience
Business Analysts must be mindful of the audience and tailor the language, jargon, and vocabulary accordingly. Depending on whether the audiences consists of end users, stakeholders, or project team members, Business Analysts must be mindful of the language, jargon, and style of presentation if they are going to get their message through. Talk in technical terms, and they stand to lose end users and stakeholders; if they cannot clearly elaborate the requirement or use case, then they lose project team members.
For discussions mired in disagreements, lack of clarity or ambiguity, visual aids like process maps or prototypes can be used to close information gaps and break the deadlock.
Build Content Knowledge
While it’s not a requirement to have full mastery of the content under discussion, it certainly helps if Business Analysts do their homework as well as anticipate likely points of contention. This research helps Business Analysts ably deliver information without getting sidetracked by obvious knowledge gaps.
Build Confidence Through Preparation
Confidence is usually a by-product of research, for research enables Business Analysts to speak confidently about the subject matter at hand.
Be Mindful of Body Language
Match delivery of the spoken word with corresponding nonverbal cues. This would include actions like making eye contact with the audience, standing upright, and avoiding fidgeting with items like pens or devices during a presentation.
Resist the Hard Sell
There is a temptation to put pressure on the other party to accept or sign off without delay what is under discussion.
Consider a situation where a Business Analyst seeks a requirements approval from an end user during a meeting. This is called the hard sell, the type you experience when a used car salesman tries to sell you a lemon. This is usually counterproductive, and what works best is giving the end users and stakeholders time to evaluate the concepts that have just been discussed. There are other ways to get what the Business Analyst needs without using hard sell tactics.
Documentation and Writing Skills
Business Analysts draft and circulate documents like requirements documents, meeting minutes, emails, project status updates, as well as updating information on shared documentation websites, intranet web sites or wikis.
Business analysts need documentation and writing skills because the documents they draft and subsequently share are essentially documents of record. They can be referred to any time by either the sender or the recipient. With this in mind, a Business Analyst needs to ensure that any document they author and circulate is well-written, structured properly, and has good grammar. Anything less creates more rework by providing more explanations and context. A Business Analyst ought to ensure that not only are they proud of their output before they hit “Send” or “Enter” but that they can defend and speak intelligently about the content in the document.
How Can Business Analysts Improve This Skill?
Match the Language to the Audience
Business Analysts must understand when to use and when not to use techy jargon; it does not work for all audiences. Who are they sending a document to? Is it a project sponsor, end users, or developers? They need to keep in mind who is receiving their documentation and tailor it accordingly. Another thing to consider is that some audiences prefer visualized information like charts, process maps, or diagrams instead of text or verbal explanations. If a Business Analyst is having a difficult time getting content through to their audience by verbalizing it, then visualizing it is a better option.
Relevant Content and Good Grammar
Long winding documents with badly constructed sentences will garner few active readers. Brevity, shorter sentences, good grammar, simple vocabulary, relevant content, and well-structured paragraphs all make for better reading.
Active Listening
We all have different modes of listening when we are spoken to, and those modes determine if we fully capture what we are listening to especially the important points.
This is the VVIP of skills for Business Analysts (if there is such a thing) as a lack of active listening can lead to the building of false assumptions with the downstream effect of delivering an incomplete or wrong product.
Active listening refers to understanding, mentally evaluating what is being said in real time, and confirming with the speaker what a listener has just heard. It allows Business Analysts to think through what is being said and ask for confirmations or elicit more information from the speaker in real time so that they are clear about what they have just heard.
Access to Information
It may sound obvious, but how else does a Business Analyst gain access to information and evaluate it without listening? How does a Business Analyst change minds without listening to the concerns of the audience? Better still, how does a Business Analyst compose intelligent responses to questions if they are not listening to their audiences?
Provides Clarity
Listening provides the opportunity to remove or clarify false assumptions while affirming correct assumptions. It also provides clarity where there are gray areas or points of confusion, and it helps filter the important from the trivial.
Builds Credibility and Trust
Listening to stakeholders and project team members even when Business Analysts disagree with their opinions builds credibility and trust, which are essential ingredients for collaboration on projects. Stakeholders can be difficult to deal with especially when they feel that they are not being listened to or that their opinions don’t matter. They may have the dumbest ideas, but they still need to air them and be given audience by Business Analysts.
How Can Business Analysts Improve This Skill?
Paying Attention to the Speaker
Business Analysts ought to give the person speaking to them their full attention. When being spoken to, Business Analysts also need to keep interruptions and distractions to a minimum given that they are processing the information as they are hearing it.
Staying Engaged
By staying engaged with the discussion, Business Analysts can catch faulty assumptions, logic, flawed arguments or data, and other such inconsistencies. This cannot happen without physically and mentally engaging with the discussion in real time. Paraphrasing questions is a good way to get confirmation and clarification from a speaker if they are following a line of argument that is unclear. Statements like “do I have this right” or “this is what I am hearing, please confirm...” are perfect when clarity is required by a Business Analyst from an end user or stakeholder.
Staying Open Minded
As a meeting attendee, I will be quick to mentally squelch the ideas being presented as impractical which immediately closes my mind to the possibility that the ideas can work. It’s best to keep an open mind and listen to what is being said in the moment; passing judgement on practicality can always come later.
Following up on the above, Business Analysts need to bring an attitude of “I don’t know everything” to listening sessions. When they listen with the attitude “I know this stuff, so I don’t need to listen,” they miss out on what the wider conversation has to offer other than just that one part of the conversation they heard.
Additionally, the speaker will notice via nonverbal cues that the Business Analyst is not tuned in to their presentation which could be seen as being disrespectful or a lack of interest in the discussion.
It’s Not Personal
On projects there will be moments when the presentation or ideas of a Business Analyst come under such intense scrutiny that it may feel like they are personally being questioned or attacked. There is a temptation to take it personally and to counter the questioning with aggressive tactics of their own like glaring at the audience or making snarky and sarcastic responses.
This is counterproductive as it’s very likely that the stakeholders will respond in kind or they will remind the Business Analyst of this response at a most inconvenient time in the future.
In this business, Business Analysts must check their egos at the door and respond intelligently to the critiques they are hearing. It’s difficult, but they must resist the temptation to take it personally simply because a person is giving them a hard time with their irritating questions.
Being warm and effusive and listening actively will likely disarm the most aggressive stakeholder in the room and deliver the objectives of the meeting than if the Business Analyst countered with intimidating tactics of their own.
Practice and More Practice
It comes down to practice. If Business Analysts are not inclined to actively listen, then this skill will take a while to mature. But after they have been burned by not listening actively, they will be more than ready the next time such a situation comes around. Practice; watch and practice some more is the name of the game.
Body Language
You have probably heard the saying, “it isn’t what you say, it is how you say it.” This is the essence of body language and communication by way of nonverbal cues.
In general terms body language refers to the use of physical bodily postures or positions to convey messages and communication. Along with posturing it also requires being mindful of the unspoken, turns of phrases, double meanings, and listening for what is unsaid sometimes deliberately.
Clearly there are many ways Business Analysts can use positive and negative body language or nonverbal cues to communicate with project team members or stakeholders.
Even allowing for cultural differences that carry different interpretations for different nonverbal cues, there are generally accepted interpretations of some nonverbal cues that Business Analysts should keep in mind when they interact with project team members, end users, and stakeholders.
For instance, sitting forward or making eye contact is considered positive body language and being receptive to the speaker. Negative body language can consist of zero eye contact or a folded arms posture which may indicate discomfort or lack of interest in what is being said.
The Importance of Body Language and Non-Verbal Cues
Here is how understanding the use of body language and nonverbal cues as a Business Analyst is of critical importance.
Managing In-Person Meetings
Is the person Business Analysts speaking to distracted? Are their thoughts elsewhere? Are they fidgeting with pens or looking out the window or the dead giveaway: checking their watch? These are signs that this is a meeting that needs to be timed out or rescheduled. Insisting on seeing this meeting through in the same format will not deliver the objectives it was scheduled for. This fidgety person is obviously disinterested in what the Business Analyst has to say; they are just not saying it out loud.
Looking out for these nonverbal cues like when a stakeholder reluctantly agrees to something when their body language says otherwise saves a lot of time and expensive surprises later in the project cycle.
I have experienced this scenario firsthand having been in meetings with a manager who was always distracted by phone calls, text messages, and flights he had to catch. To say that the meetings were unproductive is to put it mildly.
To wiggle out of this meeting diplomatically, I politely inquired if he could provide me with an end user we could use for requirements scoping which he agreed to. This arrangement (which worked spectacularly) saved me the trouble of eliciting requirements from a stakeholder who clearly had more important things on his mind than discussing requirements for their project.
Managing Group Meetings and Presentations
A Business Analyst in a requirement review meeting with end users, and stakeholders ought to monitor the mood and interest levels of the audience if they want to get maximum value from a meeting.
Is the audience sitting upright or slouched? Are they nodding off or alert? Are they having side conversations or focused on the presenter? Are they checking mail and doing mundane activities on their devices?
These are cues for an audience that has tuned out the Business Analyst doing the presentation. The Business Analyst needs to switch gears and figure out a way to be more engaging by not just droning on but having a conversation instead of a sermon.
Is the audience fatigued? Maybe the meetings should be shorter and held earlier in the day. Devices creating distractions? Make the meetings short, engaging, and lay out ground rules at the beginning of the meeting about the use of devices during the presentation.
Keeping a tab on nonverbal cues in group meetings and making subtle changes will ensure that a Business Analyst achieves the objectives of holding the presentation or meeting.
Managing Business Analyst Presentations
It’s fine considering nonverbal cues from a group audience or meeting partner, but how about nonverbal cues from the Business Analyst delivering the presentation or driving the meeting?
Are they making eye contact? Is their voice low, or are they mumbling their words? Do they look like they are rushing through the meeting so they can be somewhere else?
Body language and nonverbal cues cut two ways; they are essential for both Business Analysts and their audiences. It’s obvious when a Business Analyst is distracted and is not fully “into” their own presentation: it shows in their body language (minimal eye contact, mumbled words and explanations that don’t add up).
Sometimes they are just having a bad day and the presentation comes off as disjointed or lacking in preparation; presentation slides are missing, or they are using information from the last project (typical copy and paste).
These situations carry far graver implications for Business Analysts as the audience or meeting partners can also catch onto these cues and shut out the Business Analyst. They reason that if the Business Analyst is that disinterested in their own presentation or meeting, why should they as stakeholders be interested?
Does this mean that the Business Analyst should spend their waking hours on the hunt for nonverbal cues from everyone they work with on a project? That wouldn’t be practical, but they need to be adept at reading the moods of their audiences and, if necessary, switch gears so that the objectives of the meeting or presentation are met.
While some degree of caution is required in the interpretation of nonverbal cues as sometimes there is not much to interpret, it would be foolhardy to ignore nonverbal cues altogether.
How Can Business Analysts Improve This Skill?
Gaining Experience
The more interactions Business Analysts have with stakeholders and project members, the more they become adept at reading nonverbal cues and interpreting body language signals. This skill grows with time and the more projects a Business Analyst undertakes.
Review Body Language Literature
There are so many resources and publications about body language and nonverbal cues that one would not know where to start if they wanted to improve their body language skills. While the resources on improving body language skills are plentiful it is more important to understand how this skill is applied with specific reference to the Business Analyst practice.
Practice and More Practice
Practice; keep watching your audiences and practice some more, then it will come effortlessly.
Email Management Skills
Next to verbal communications, email (and lately direct messaging via messaging apps) is the main communication tool used by Business Analysts. Not only is it a medium of communication it is also a tool of record that is used to keep track of documents, files, concepts, facts, ideas, and many such artifacts.
Business Analysts spend much of their working days receiving emails, composing emails, sending emails, and making sense of the information in emails. Because email is so central to how Business Analysts work, it is important to consider the ways in which Business Analysts can be more adept, productive, and efficient with the use of email.
Unsurprisingly, there are ways of using email effectively and other ways of using it that are not only ineffective but are guaranteed to invite more work for the Business Analyst.
Emails Invite More Questions
When emails invite multiple rejoinders and more questions, it is an indication that the emails lack clarity, are causing confusion, or both. Additionally, when email recipients bring up the email subject in other meetings or anytime they meet the Business Analyst, then the intended message is not getting through.
Emails Are Not Read or Opened
When email recipients don’t bother to read or open emails, then the Business Analyst has an email communication problem. But how do they know their emails are not being read? Being nice to the wonder that is Microsoft Outlook can show them how. It’s also obvious emails are going unread if recipients keep asking for email resends.
“Hello John;
Please confirm if the Sales Team is interested in using a white or gray background for the user interface.”
Purpose
The objective of the email is to elicit a response from the recipient, and regardless of the type of response received, the Business Analyst now knows the status of that requirement.
Brevity or Conciseness
It’s short, gets to the point, and it largely requires a yes or no answer. It also gives the receiver the option to respond that they do not know, they are unsure, or they will revert with an answer.
Clarity
This email is not open to any other interpretation; it seeks confirmation from the recipient the direction a requirement will take. This type of email leaves little or zero room for waffling about other unimportant issues.
A good rule of thumb to follow is to keep emails short and the content precise, that way there is no room for the recipients to interpret the email differently from what the Business Analyst intended.
In terms of the addressee (John), it is also very specific about who should respond. Even when the email is addressed to multiple recipients, it is a good idea to address it to a specific recipient who in turn has the responsibility of initiating the response the Business Analyst seeks.
Not all emails are going to be this simple, and there will be occasions when Business Analysts need to stuff a lot of information into a single email. Even in such scenarios, these principles of using email effectively are still applicable.
There are also other ways of ensuring that the use of email is effective and does not become a drag on a Business Analyst’s time. Here’s how Business Analysts can make email work for them and not the other way around.
How Can Business Analysts Improve This Skill?
Break Long Email Chains
Ever been on an email chain that started last year? Or an email chain so dated that most of those copied have moved to other positions or organizations? Consider yourself lucky if you have not encountered these zombie email chains.
Long running email chains are an indication that the discussion needs to grow legs and find closure by either having a face to face meeting or a phone call that resolves the issue perpetuating the email chain.
Whittle Down Content-Heavy Emails
How about long emails that read like doctoral theses? I understand the need to load an email with all the minutes from the last requirements review meeting, but the Business Analyst ought to ask who is going to read a 30-line email. They must imagine the 10 minutes a recipient will need to read and understand just that one email. Is it acceptable or reasonable or practical? Not unless you are into sadism.
Granted the minutes need to be sent out, but Business Analysts ought to think through the content of the email and the perceived value it will bring to the recipients. That way they whittle down the content to, for example, only the key takeaways that will ensure that the emails will be read and not redirected to the delete folder.
Another downside of long emails is rework since the recipients don’t bother with the details in the emails. They find it convenient to just start new emails or bring those issues up for discussion whenever the opportunity presents itself. Business Analysts should not be in the business of repeatedly explaining emails. It’s important to get it right the first time by sending out concise emails that require minimal follow-up or explanations.
Relevant Email Recipients
Much like the discussion on how to run effective meetings, the email recipient list needs to be relevant to the email subject matter. The “To” or “Cc” lists should add recipients who will add value to the email discussion while keeping out recipients with nothing to add to the subject matter.
Keep It Simple
Keep email simple; it shouldn’t be complicated. One senior Business Analyst I worked with worked by the motto that emails should be brief and concise to the point where a 5th grader can understand them. Another one swore by the KISS (keep it simple, stupid) principle; remove the fluff and colorful language; just get to the point.
Is Email Right for the Content?
If there is need to disseminate a lot of content and detailed information, that’s what email attachments and meetings are for. Emails with brevity can then be used to send out key minutes of what was discussed or future action items.
Visualization
If Business Analysts find that explaining concepts using text generates those long email chains we hate, they can use visualization to get their message across to the audiences. Making use of process maps, charts, diagrams, and screenshots can be used to reach a more visually inclined email audience. This makes explanations far easier than using text with no guarantee they will be understood.
Email Templates
For the tech savvy, some email apps, web apps, and blogs offer professional email templates for the Business Analyst practice. Several enterprise applications that come with email functionality also come embedded with the use of email templates. Business Analysts who make use of these templates are guaranteed to save time while delivering professional emails.
Meetings, Presentation, and Facilitation Skills
The one activity that disproportionately consumes a Business Analyst’s time is the attendance and management of meetings and presentations. These are critical activities for Business Analysts for it is how they efficiently broadcast important information to project stakeholders.
These activities incorporate meetings, presentations, joint application design (JAD) sessions, conference calls, web calls, and any other activity that involves dissemination of information to multiple stakeholders at the same time. Some of these activities like requirements discovery/planning/clarification meetings and end user training sessions require direct management by the Business Analyst where he/she delivers presentations or steers the meetings.
Other meetings like technical design meetings, architectural, and technical review meetings will place the Business Analyst in a facilitator role where they convene meetings with technical experts to hash out agreements on direction as well as removing progress blockers.
Meeting Facilitation
In the Business Analyst world, the terms “meeting facilitation or meeting facilitator” are used often, and it refers to Business Analysts creating a safe space where contentious requirements, for example, can be discussed and agreed upon.
Other times the Business Analyst will facilitate a meeting that is convened to resolve conflicts that arise during the project, for example, when development teams stall on component development because it involves significant customizations. The Business Analyst will facilitate such a meeting as a neutral arbiter placed between end users and technical teams with a view to finding a solution that works best for both parties.
Managing Meetings
Inevitably a lot of time goes into managing meeting activities like checking invitee availability, selecting the right invitees, sending invitations, compiling meeting minutes, circulating meeting minutes, and following-up progress on agreed action items.
How Can Business Analysts Improve This Skill?
Given that the management of meetings and presentations takes a significant allotment of a Business Analyst’s time, it is important that these activities are managed efficiently and effectively. Here is how that can be done.
Consider the Need for Meetings
Does the Business Analyst need to hold the meeting in the first place? Can the need for a meeting be fulfilled by other means, for example, by email, chat, or one on one meetings? For Business Analysts invited to meetings, they must ask themselves if they need to attend the meeting or consider if there is someone else better placed to attend this meeting.
With the proliferation of collaboration and productivity tools, there are many ways to engage would-be invitees without holding meetings. Business Analysts ought to consider why they need to convene a meeting and more importantly what their expectations are from that meeting. A good rule of thumb is to write out what the meeting should address or resolve as that focuses on the outcomes of the meeting before it is even scheduled.
There is a temptation to conflate holding and attending meetings with actual Business Analyst work; these are very different concepts, and it is important to make this distinction. Depending on the challenges on a project, there is also the pull to hold meetings for every minor insignificant issue. Scheduling too many meetings creates meeting fatigue for end users, stakeholders, and project team members, which is something Business Analysts should avoid. For Business Analysts there is an opportunity cost to attending too many meetings as other aspects of their Business Analyst responsibilities are neglected.
Set an Agenda
As a Business Analyst, I always have reservations about attending a meeting without an agenda, so I make it a point to include an agenda with any meeting I schedule. When managed properly, agendas laser focus meetings on delivering productive outcomes. For good measure a meeting invite should clearly state agenda items so that invitees are aware why they are being invited to the meeting.
For Business Analysts who are the invitees, it is useful to figure out the points of discussion before accepting an invite. If the agenda comes across as lacking in substance, the Business Analyst can request more details before accepting the invite.
Confirm Invitees
Does the meeting have the right people in the right meeting? Again, this is obvious but still an issue that plagues project meetings. Ideally, Subject Matter Experts or the decision-makers should not only be invited, but they should attend meetings so that they can provide expertise, make decisions, or validate decisions made during the meeting. It’s a great idea for Business Analysts to check invitee confirmations especially from end users and stakeholders who are also Subject Matter Experts.
For a Business Analyst who is an invitee, it’s a good idea to know who the other invitees are before they confirm their attendance. As an example, if a meeting is convened to discuss technical solutions without the confirmed attendance of a technical team member, that meeting is unlikely to deliver any technical solutions. I cannot think of worse ways to waste precious hours than attend this type of meeting.
Content Prep and Presentation
A key determinant of how productive a meeting or presentation will be is the level of preparation by the Business Analyst. Anticipating and preparing for likely points of contention or disagreement while not foolproof will ensure that the Business Analyst will still have a productive meeting or presentation that moves the project forward. Conversely a lack of preparation and anticipation of problem areas will easily render a meeting unproductive resulting in even more meetings.
Business Analysts need to be well prepared in terms of the subject matter they intend to discuss or present. Projecting confidence in the subject matter naturally comes with being well prepared which also allows the presenter to deliver content concisely and with brevity while staying on message.
As a Business Analyst, there is also a temptation to deliver a lot of content in one meeting or presentation which is understandable given the need to be efficient with time. However, this must be balanced with the need for the invitees to understand the content that is delivered. A nonstop rapid-fire style of delivery does little to help the audience fully grasp the content being presented. As you might have guessed, this leads to more meetings to explain what the invitees did not “understand” the first time out.
Business Analysts also need to compare the content with the time budgeted for the presentation and make the call as to whether the time is enough for that purpose. Failing to do this simplest of tasks usually results in meetings and presentations that go past the allotted time, or another meeting must be set up for a continuation of the same presentation.
Focus on the Purpose of the Meeting
This is different from an itemized agenda and is concerned with whether the meeting has been convened to discuss the problem or the solution. Meetings should be convened to discuss solutions as the invitees should be familiar with the problem or they can be asked to familiarize themselves with the problem before they show up for the meeting.
The purpose of the meeting should be to either offer solutions or validate other invitees’ solutions. If a meeting is convened to discuss a problem, that part should be kept to a minimum with the larger portion of the meeting dedicated to finding solutions. There is no point in scheduling or attending meetings that dissect problems as it is more important figuring out solutions than discussing the problems themselves. Besides email is a better tool at disseminating information about problems than using meetings to discuss the problems.
This cuts both ways; whether it’s the Business Analyst issuing meeting invites or whether they are the ones being invited to a meeting, they ought to be mindful of whether they are going to discuss solutions or problems.
Scheduling
As a Business Analyst who will schedule many meetings during the life of a project, these meeting scheduling pointers are important to keep in mind.
Getting all the invitees in one setting for extended periods of time is easier said than done as end users and stakeholders are busy people with different projects competing for their time. Business Analysts need to be mindful of their time, and if it’s possible, contact them beforehand to let them know they are required for meetings. This removes surprises when those invites hit their calendars
There is a need to figure out what meeting cadence works best for meeting invitees. Do they prefer 6-hour meetings or 1-hour daily sessions? It’s fair to assume meeting attendees will prefer the latter option as the shorter the meeting, the more focused and invested the invitees will be.
Scheduling too many meetings, meetings crammed in a short space of time, and a reputation for long-winded meetings creates meeting fatigue for end users, stakeholders, and project team members. Predictably they either start being no-shows or outright decline the Business Analysts’ invites. There is a need to strike a balance that enables a reasonable number of meetings to be scheduled while also delivering project objectives and removing blockers outside of meetings. While meetings are useful in moving project objectives forward, it does not mean stakeholders will be too thrilled at the thought of their calendars being filled with a Business Analysts’ meetings.
Managing the Meeting
What happens once the meeting is underway is just as important as the activities that come before or after meetings. Consider the following elephants in the room where meetings are concerned.
Whether they are the facilitator or presenter, Business Analysts need to watch the clock diligently, and one way is to start the meeting and end it as scheduled. Keep in mind that a meeting that does not cover all the agenda items in the allotted time will require another meeting or an extension of that very meeting. This is how meeting fatigue is created.
Do Business Analysts have the attention of everyone on the call or meeting especially the attention of decision-makers and SMEs? Because if they don’t, they will at some point have to repeat the presentation since the audience wasn’t paying attention the first time out. It’s called rework.
Business Analysts also must nip in the bud any attempt by invitees to sidetrack the meeting by injecting issues that are not on the agenda. Those issues may be relevant, but they are not the reason the meeting was convened. Invitees need to be reminded of this etiquette anytime they attempt to hijack a Business Analysts meeting. The Business Analyst can add these “side issues” to the meeting agenda after the main items have been discussed and closed out.
Invitees with a tendency to hog the spotlight with long rambling responses or contributions are some of the reasons why meetings end up being unproductive. Business Analysts can advise the invitee to continue the discussion outside of the meeting also known as taking it offline. Its professional and respectful, and no one’s ego gets punctured.
Most importantly Business Analysts need to run meetings with focus and purpose to ensure that the objectives for which the meeting or presentation was convened are achieved.
Highlight Next Steps
A meeting that discussed solutions inevitably has action items or next steps and more importantly the action parties to follow-up those action items within a set timeline. Without timed action items, the meeting might as well have been convened to discuss the weather.
Action parties and expected due dates must be highlighted so that there is follow-up and actual delivery of the action items after the meeting. One underrated upside of following-up and delivering on next steps is that it will likely render a couple of planned future meetings unnecessary or even unproductive.
Additionally, once action parties have completed their commitments, an email is enough to update the audience of the progress made on action items. Business Analysts need to resist the temptation to schedule meetings just to update their audiences on action items progress status.
This is how a Business Analyst can run meetings like a boss. There may be some resistance initially about these methods, but over time Business Analysts will be grateful to themselves for using these pointers to manage their meetings.
These approaches and many more out there in the world of management literature are guaranteed to give Business Analysts back more of their day so that they can juggle other more demanding duties .
Tact and Diplomacy Skills
The ability to communicate with sensitivity and empathy while maintaining relationships is the essence of tact and diplomacy. Human beings can be unpredictable, and situations involving negotiations, persuasion, conflict resolution, or feedback need to be conveyed with an abundance of tact and diplomacy. These can be tense and sensitive situations such that the misinterpretation of a turn of phrase, sentence, or even a nonverbal cue can for instance scuttle a negotiation or a meeting convened to resolve a conflict. While the best Business Analysts understand the importance of tact and diplomatic skills, not many project actors appreciate its application or importance.
They listen more than they talk, and they let the other party make their points and then fashion a response after that.
They look out for nonverbal cues that indicate the overall frame of mind of the other party. Are they upbeat, sad, irritated, or upset? This aspect determines the flow of the discussion, and it is vital that Business Analysts align the flow with the disposition of the speaker.
Based on the flow of a discussion, they carefully chose how to respond in a manner that conveys respect, empathy, and understanding.
It’s a common theme on project environments for Business Analysts to “tell it like it is,” to be blunt, and to openly say what they are thinking which is great for candidness but does not help with building good relationships. This is precisely where tact and diplomacy need to be deployed.
Business Analysts have to check the manner in which they are “telling it like it is” and whether it is called for in the first place. Telling an end user or stakeholder that the project will make their processes more efficient achieves more goodwill than using derogatory terms to describe their current processes or tools. One statement is positive and looks to the future, while the other is focused on the present, is negative, and is also a thinly veiled denigration of processes that may be dear to stakeholders in spite of their problems.
A key point to note about tact and diplomacy is that it is not the same as flattery or ego stroking . Tact and diplomacy are also not the same as being “soft” or lacking assertiveness. In fact, the skillful use of tact and diplomacy can enable a Business Analyst to leave the negotiation table with what they wanted while at the same time leaving the other party with the impression that they also won.
It Breaks Deadlocks
The use of tact and diplomacy can break intractable conflict and negotiations just by a Business Analyst knowing what to say, when to say it, and how to say it. This is done without being brash, judgmental, or in accusatory manner. By hearing out the speakers and then thoughtfully responding Business Analysts, lower temperatures in tense situations and create an environment where respectful and productive discussions can take place.
Builds Collaboration and Relationships
Given that tact and diplomacy resolve conflicts and close negotiations successfully, they provide the foundation upon which project collaboration thrives. The use of tact prevents the loss of relationships that are vital for collaboration.
How Can Business Analysts Improve This Skill?
Use Communication Skills
The communication skills pointed out in this chapter can be used to defuse tense situations, and they can also be used by Business Analysts to improve their tact and diplomatic craft. Business Analysts can, for example, use active listening, self-awareness, empathy, body language, and the mastery of egos to size up actors in a conflict and know what to say without causing offence, mistrust, or alienation.
Know What, When, and How to Say Something
During negotiations it’s of critical importance to do more listening than mindless talking and in order to prevent any “accidents,” Business Analysts can write down a set of relevant prepared notes that they will refer to. This eliminates the likelihood that they will present an off-the-cuff position or say something that can be taken out of context and further inflame an already tense situation.
There are other communication skills that Business Analysts will utilize during the process of project delivery, but these are the critical communication skills that Business Analysts will rely on to deliver their assignments. However, this is just one leg out of the three interdependent non-technical skills that this book is concerned with. We now review the second part of that triad.