flevyblog

Flevy Blog is an online business magazine covering Business Strategies, Business Theories, & Business Stories.
MANAGEMENT & LEADERSHIP STRATEGY, MARKETING, SALES OPERATIONS & SUPPLY CHAIN ORGANIZATION & CHANGE IT/MIS Other

Hard Skills Will Get You a Job, but Soft Skills Will Take You to the Top

Editor's Note: Take a look at our featured best practice, Giant Book of Business Analysis Techniques (179-page PDF document). The role of the business analyst is to formulate options for a way forward and produce business cases setting out conclusions and recommendations. This professional discipline requires the widest possible array of tools and the ability to use each when and where it is needed. As a training and [read more]

* * * *

wolf_wall_street2My last article on Top IT Skills for a BA was liked and appreciated by many professionals.  I am back with the next one–this time, the article will discuss the soft skills that you need to nurture/hone your skill set as a Business Analyst professional.

Soft skills though typically doesn’t come on the top skills people wish to acquire/learn but are equally essential for a professional to grow up in his career.

As we all know Business Analyst is someone who analyzes an organization and designs its processes and systems, assessing the business model and its integration with technology to achieve a certain objective.

Business Analyst typically has to talk to the stakeholders, get the requirements, document the requirements, get the development team’s nod on the same, negotiate with both the parties for the requirements sign off, get the requirements sign off from the stakeholder/sponsor.

This for sure calls for good amount of ability to communicate effectively, ability to convince/influence without authority, negotiate etc.

Here is a good list of skill you need to acquire/hone over the years to be a better Business Analyst professional:

Communication Skill – As a business analyst we need to be an effective communicator establishing bridge between the various stakeholders

Negotiation Skill – Balancing between those demanding requirements of the customer/stake holder and the internal organization would definitely need a good amount of negotiation skill. Creating a fine balance while looking at the requirements from a holistic point of view will for sure make us a perfect BA.

Facilitation Skill – As a bridge between various stakeholders we need to have excellent facilitation skills to ensure that communication is proper and all the requirements are articulated well and explicitly.

Analytical thinking Skill – Get your analytical and problem solving skills brushed to analyze all the scenarios well and come up with solutions and ensure that there are no conflicts in the team and all the members communicate well with each other.

Problem solving Skill – A definite skill for all BA, as given in the above point.

Decision Making Skill – You have come up with multiple options for a particular problem using your analytical skills, now you need to weigh the options well and come up with a decision to present to the steering committee, this is why you need this skill.

Ability to see the bigger picture – This is a very important skill for all of us business analysts out here. Focusing only on the given set of requirements and not seeing the bigger picture lot of times leads to situation where the product does not see the light of the day or gets abandoned. Hence this is one of the very important skills to have, you need to have a good business knowledge and knowledge of technology/business advancements to see a bigger picture and keep it in mind, while the designing of the system is being carried out.

This author has a bundle training guides related to Development of Soft Skills for Business Analysts available on Flevy here.  View all of Adaptive Processes’s materials here.

Ability to appreciate and empathize – See the points coming from all stakeholders and the basis of all requirements and make a good judgment of the same keeping all in mind.

Ability to influence without authority – As business analysts there are numerous meetings we need to spearhead/facilitate, this is where we need to be good to influence senior stakeholders and decision makers/sponsors of the project.

Good interpersonal skills – Above all the skills we need to have a good interpersonal skills and a good rapport with the team and all stake holders to make the project success.

Smooth Talker – One who knows to talk well and be in good rapport with all, is always a favorite among all. This is one of the good skills to have for a business analyst.

Above all these skills will make you a better professional each day, these skills are something we learn with each day and polish with each day in our professional life.

5-slide PowerPoint presentation
The MOST exhaustive CBAP V3 Question Bank (system based access) which thoroughly tests your preparedness! Are you preparing and putting your best effort for CBAP certification. Get a feel of real exam before you sit for it Do not miss the practice questions, before going for the [read more]

Do You Want to Implement Business Best Practices?

You can download in-depth presentations on IT Business Analysis and 100s of management topics from the FlevyPro Library. FlevyPro is trusted and utilized by 1000s of management consultants and corporate executives.

For even more best practices available on Flevy, have a look at our top 100 lists:

These best practices are of the same as those leveraged by top-tier management consulting firms, like McKinsey, BCG, Bain, and Accenture. Improve the growth and efficiency of your organization by utilizing these best practice frameworks, templates, and tools. Most were developed by seasoned executives and consultants with over 20+ years of experience.

Readers of This Article Are Interested in These Resources


103-page PDF document
This is an excellent companion for all aspirants of CPRE examination from IREB, Germany. Developed by industry experts with more 20 years of requirements engineering experience, who have successfully conducted 200+ RE workshop across the globe and authored many books on requirements engineering [read more]


 
173-page Word document
 
 
38-page PDF document

About Ananya Pani

Ananya Panyi is a Director and Co-founder of Adaptive US Inc., a technology consulting firm specializing in Business Analysis training services and materials. Adaptive US Inc. is also an author on Flevy, offering a wide selection of BA, IT, and business training guides (see their materials here). You can reach Ananya directly by email here: ananya.pani@gmail.com.

,



Complimentary Business Training Guides


Many companies develop robust strategies, but struggle with operationalizing their strategies into implementable steps. This presentation from flevy introduces 12 powerful business frameworks spanning both Strategy Development and Strategy Execution. [Learn more]

  This 48-page whitepaper, authored by consultancy Envisioning, provides the frameworks, tools, and insights needed to manage serious Change—under the backdrop of the business lifecycle. These lifecycle stages are each marked by distinct attributes, challenges, and behaviors. [Learn more]

We've developed a very comprehensive collection of Strategy & Transformation PowerPoint templates for you to use in your own business presentations, spanning topics from Growth Strategy to Brand Development to Innovation to Customer Experience to Strategic Management. [Learn more]

  We have compiled a collection of 10 Lean Six Sigma templates (Excel) and Operational Excellence guides (PowerPoint) by a multitude of LSS experts. These tools cover topics including 8 Disciplines (8D), 5 Why's, 7 Wastes, Value Stream Mapping (VSM), and DMAIC. [Learn more]
Recent Articles by Corporate Function

  

  

  

  

  

The Flevy Business Blog (https://flevy.com/blog) is a leading source of information on business strategies, business theories, and business stories. Most of our articles are authored by management consultants and industry executives with over 20 years of experience.

Flevy (https://flevy.com) is the marketplace for business best practices, such as management frameworks, presentation templates, and financial models. Our best practice documents are of the same caliber as those produced by top-tier consulting firms (like McKinsey, Bain, Accenture, BCG, and Deloitte) and used by Fortune 100 organizations. Learn more about Flevy here.
  


OUR CORE OFFERINGS
Flevy Marketplace: Top 100
· Strategy & Transformation
· Digital Transformation
· Operational Excellence
· Organization & Change
· Financial Models
· Consulting Frameworks
· PowerPoint Templates
FlevyPro (Subscription Service)
KPI Library
Streams (Functional Bundles)
Flevy Executive Learning (FEL)
PowerPoint Services

FREE Resources

About Flevy
Management Topics
Marcus (AI-Powered Consultant)
Partner Program
LinkedIn Influencer Marketing
FAQ / Terms / Privacy / Blog
Contact Us: support@flevy.com



CONNECT WITH US!
       
TOP 100 TRENDING TOPICS
Acquisition Strategy
Agile
Analytics
Artificial Intelligence
Balanced Scorecard
Best Practices
Big Data
Breakout Strategy
Business Continuity Planning
Business Plan Financial Model
Business Transformation
CMMI
COBIT
Change Management
Cloud
Communications Strategy
Company Financial Model
Competitive Advantage
Competitive Analysis
Consulting Frameworks
Continuous Improvement
Core Competencies
Corporate Culture
Cost Reduction Assessment
Customer Experience

BROWSE BY FUNCTION
Strategy, Transformation, & Innovation
Digital Transformation
Operational Excellence and LSS
Organization, Change, & HR
Management Consulting

Customer Journey
Customer Service
Cyber Security
Data Privacy
Decision Making
Digital Marketing Strategy
Digital Transformation
Digital Transformation Strategy
Due Diligence
ESG
Employee Engagement
Employee Training
Enterprise Architecture
Growth Strategy
HR Strategy
Hiring
Hoshin Kanri
ISO 27001
ITIL
Information Technology
Innovation Management
Integrated Financial Model
Kaizen
Kanban
Key Performance Indicators

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Business Strategy Frameworks
Case Studies
Consulting Training Guides
COVID-19 Trend Data
Digital Transformation
Financial Advising Services (FAS)

Knowledge Management
Leadership
Lean
Lean Manufacturing
Logistics
M&A (Mergers & Acquisitions)
Manufacturing
Market Research
Marketing Plan Development
Maturity Model
McKinsey PowerPoint
McKinsey Templates
Operational Excellence
Organizational Change
Organizational Design
Performance Management
Post-merger Integration
Pricing Strategy
Process Improvement
Process Maps
Procurement Strategy
Product Launch Strategy
Product Strategy
Project Management
Quality Management


Free Resources
KPI Library
Lean Management
Lean Six Sigma Training Guides
Marcus Insights
Operational Excellence

Real Estate
Remote Work
Restructuring
Risk Management
Robotic Process Automation
SWOT
SaaS
Sales
Scrum
Service Design
Six Sigma Project
Social Media Strategy
Strategic Planning
Strategic Thinking
Strategy Development
Supply Chain Analysis
Sustainability
Target Operating Model
Team Management
Total Productive Maintenance
Value Chain Analysis
Value Creation
Value Stream Mapping
Visual Workplace
Workplace Safety


Product Strategy
Small Business Owner
Startup Resources
Strategic Planning
Strategic Planning Process
Value Innovation Strategy


© 2012-2024 Copyright. Flevy LLC. All Rights Reserved.