At the IRM UK BA Conference Europe Joe Newbert, Chief Training Officer at the Business Change Academy, challenged delegates to accept the call for leadership. Here are some key take-outs from his presentation.

We've reached a crisis point and now is the time for business analysts to accept the call for leadership. People are reluctant to lead, people don't think their leaders lead well, projects continue to fail, the, business analysis remains misunderstood.

A leader is there to guide and to steer. To save organisations from danger, from getting stuck.

The 4 Elements of Business Analysis Leadership

• Personal – your personal journey and direction in your own life and career.
• Project – your project leadership.
• Product – your leadership looking beyond the project.
• Professional – how you give back to the BA community.

Each of these is an opportunity to lead.

BA Manager or BA Leader?

As a BA you are a blend of manager and leader, depending on situation and context. A manager believes in the status quo, focuses on efficiency, leads with authority, develops process, knows it all, has a fixed mindset, instructs, improves weaknesses. A leader believes in experimentation, focuses on empowerment, leads with influence, develops people, learns it all, has a growth mindset, coaches, focuses on strengths. It is not a binary choice, as a BA you are a blend of manager and leader, depending on situation and context. If stakeholders don't see BAs as leaders, it's because too often BAs stay in the shadows.

The Business Change Hexagon, created by Joe Newbert is a model with six radar points to help you spot troublesome situations and take transformative action.

Business Expertise for Business Analysis Leaders

There are 9 areas of expertise necessary for future BA leaders:

• Intrepid Curiosity – interest and the drive to learn is an essential trait.
• Team-Shaped Thinking – employing a diverse team and not just people who think like you do.
• Service Mentality – seeing people as customers and meeting their needs, seeing their 'big picture'.
• Future Thinking – projecting forward and using scenarios.
• Technology Radar – keeping up with new developments.
• Human IT – balancing computers with people and integrating intelligently.
• Communication Skills – the ability to convey ideas well, and to inspire.
• Emotional Intelligence - ego strength and resilience. As we collaborate with others we need to use techniques such as empathetic modelling, journey maps and personas.
• Personal coach – when you have leadership opportunities, need to take moments with individuals to coach them and be prepared to be coached by others. Spot where you can teach and where you can learn.

The Business Analysis Hierarchy of Needs shows how Analysis Needs, Change Needs and Benefit Needs inter-relate.

No-one is better skilled to lead future change than someone with a business analysis mindset. Business leadership is vision, communication and action. Business analysis is translating vision into a goal, using interpersonal skills (soft skills) and being responsible for delivery of the goal. It is different words for the same thing.

If you want to lead with passion, you need a sense of adventure. Leadership is a choice. If you are a BA you have made that choice to be a leader. You can only really lead (and inspire) without authority, if people are choosing to let you lead them. BAs are unsung leaders. Hopefully together we can get some people to sing about business analysis.

"Business analysis is helping someone to solve a problem or seize an opportunity. To understand your customer's perspective, desire and world view. And satisfy their want for a product or service that matches their need. While growing the relationship to create meaningful change and make a positive difference."  – Joe Newbert's elevator pitch