Discovering Success with Stakeholders
Essential Keys to Business Analysis Success
Business Analysis: Get Solutions Right the First Time lists two keys to business analysis success with stakeholders:
Fully engaged stakeholders aligned to a business goal
Clear communication among all stakeholders
How do business analysts fully engage stakeholders and keep them aligned to business goals? How do they maintain clear communication with stakeholders as they discover what their organization needs from a solution?
Engaging Each Stakeholder
Successful business analysis depends on each stakeholder actively participating in the discovery process. In the book Tested Stakeholder Interviewing Methods, Adriana Beal proposes stakeholder analysis to encourage participation:
High performing business analysts know how important stakeholder analysis is for their projects. Besides serving to identify all the people with a vested interest in the project, stakeholder analysis is an important tool for assessing and analyzing stakeholders' motivations and levels of influence, and managing their expectations throughout the project.
Business analysts first ensure stakeholders represent everyone affected by the project. The analyst then learns each stakeholder’s objectives within the project, relating them to the solution goal and gaining insight into their motivation. Perhaps the stakeholder has not thought explicitly about their objectives. Then the business analyst helps them realize their objectives, providing clarity and alignment with the business goal.
Maintaining Clarity and Focus
Astute business analysis speaks the stakeholders’ language. If necessary, a stakeholder, typically the business analyst, maintains a glossary, ensuring all stakeholders agree on the meaning of the terms. This agreement reduces friction in stakeholder interviews and meetings. Adriana Beal writes:
Without adjusting your language to what makes sense to your audience, you'll likely face resistance. Remember what the Heath brothers said in their book “Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard”: what looks like resistance is often lack of clarity. Make it easy for people to help you, and they most likely will.
Once business analysts have agreed with the stakeholders on definitions, they ask open-ended questions, preferably regarding a business goal. For example, a high-performing BA learns that the organization wants to convert more leads into sales. So they ask a sales executive stakeholder, “What do you need from Salesforce to increase your lead conversion rate?”
Continuing the example, the sales executive introduces the business analyst to a manager familiar with the lead conversion process. The analyst asks, “What are the steps to convert a lead?” rather than “What is the lead conversion process?” Adriana Beal points out this helps a stakeholder break down the process in their mind. It also enables the analyst to look for gaps, exceptions, and alternate paths.
Heroic Stakeholders Achieve Goals
“Tested Stakeholder Interviewing Methods” has a chapter titled “How to Get your Stakeholders to Care.” Author Adriana Beals makes a brilliant point:
The secret to getting the information you need from your stakeholders is to follow the same rule good marketing specialists use: if you want customers to buy, you must tell a story where the customer is the hero—not you.
The business analyst creates a story starring the stakeholder improving the organization - either its products or how it works. For example:
A sales manager discovers a way to save representatives’ time chasing down information.
A marketing director realizes that the solution frees her up staff for more creative and motivating tasks.
The project sponsor delivers the solution on time and within budget.
Heroism catches up to the business analyst when the solution meets or exceeds stakeholder expectations. Then, the analyst pays it forward to the development team, connecting them to the solution’s value and motivating them to create better solutions.
A Book Worth Reading
The excerpts above from “Tested Stakeholder Interviewing Methods” highlight only a few of the insights from the book. It has many others, as well as plenty of examples. In addition, it’s brief (44 pages) and uses little business analysis jargon, making it an ideal book for an aspiring business analyst.
Join many business analysts in improving stakeholder communication skills by reading and practicing “Tested Stakeholder Interviewing Methods.” It’s available at https://bealprojects.com/resources/tested-stakeholder-interviewing-methods/.