7 Habits of Highly Effective BAs

Stephen Covey’s ‘7 Habits of Highly Effective People’ book has sold over 25 million copies worldwide and is regarded as one of the most influential business management books of all time. This article applies the 7 Habits to the work of the BA.

Be Proactive

The essence of the ‘Be Proactive’ habit is to take responsibility in any area of your personal or working life where you wish to be effective. Instead of putting energy into ‘negative protest’, focus on what you can control and improve. For example, instead of putting energy into complaining about feeling stressed, you look at and improve your daily habits and routines. This might involve seeking support, re-negotiating workload priorities and reviewing lifestyle choices.
Business analysts may avoid taking ownership, doing what the project requires without offering suggestions or challenges that might increase the effectiveness of the work. Or they might meet the minimum standards without considering the relevance of the standards. If a BA does not control the ‘why’, ‘what’, ‘when’ or ‘how’ of their work they could be being viewed as an administrative support assistant who just takes notes without offering proposals or ideas. 
By taking a proactive approach, a BA influences and controls the direction of their work. They habitually (and pro-actively) manage expectations. Ultimately, becoming proactive is the first step to becoming an effective BA.

Begin with the End in Mind

The second habit encourages a focus on the end results at the beginning of any task. Using the analogy of a journey between two locations, you would consider: why you are making the journey; the specific destination; when you want to arrive; how much the journey will cost; how you want to feel once you arrive. With this detailed view you can prioritise and plan your journey effectively. 
Effective BAs take an outcome-focused approach. They seek to obtain a ‘holistic’ view of the target state, from which they can consider the changes needed to achieve the desired outcomes. All too often, projects proceed at pace without these pre-requisites in place. This can lead to a failure to meet stakeholder expectations and realise the benefits expected from the change initiatives.
The outcome-focused BA plays a pivotal role in ensuring change is beneficial. Effective BAs ask the question: ‘What problem or opportunity are we trying to solve?’

Put First Things First

Once you have a proactive mindset and a view of your desired outcomes, it is time to prioritise what makes you effective in your personal or work life – whether that is your ability to work with people, your knowledge of a subject area or your skill in applying your professional toolkit. With time pressures, it is often difficult to make time to take the actions required to achieve desired results. However, Covey suggests ways to manage our time to achieve outcomes.
He recommends self-awareness, discipline and assertiveness – and taking action on a continuing basis. Signing up for a personal development class, approaching someone to join you for a coffee, or attending a webinar on a subject of interest are all examples of ‘first steps’. Meeting a stakeholder to understand their perspective and building a relationship with them may be deemed a priority, rather than focusing on their requirements at the outset.
This habit also helps a BA define what they do, and what they do not do. They are a trusted, organised professional skilled at facilitating strategically aligned and beneficial change.
 

Think Win – Win

This Win-Win habit is focused on negotiation between one or more individuals, at home or work. To obtain a ‘Win/Win’ outcome requires investment of time and effort into understanding the other person’s position. Both parties work collaboratively to achieve a better outcome than either could achieve independently.
Other potential negotiation outcomes are:
 

• Lose/Lose – both parties arrive at an undesirable outcome. 
• Lose/Win – the ‘Lose’ party experiences a negative or undesirable outcome. The ‘Win’ party gains a positive desirable outcome, typically at the expense of the other party. 
• Win/Lose – This is a reverse of ‘Lose/Win’. 
• No Deal – Covey also introduces a fifth negotiation outcome where one party is not prepared to be in a compromise or losing position and would rather that ‘No Deal’ took place. 
   

Effective BAs use a collaborative approach to help achieve ‘Win-Win’ outcomes. A BA could feel in a ‘Lose’ position where a project or programme manager (or sponsor) makes unreasonable demands on time, quality or cost. This is where some BAs must choose between presenting the ‘No Deal’ outcome (potentially risky) or accepting the ‘Lose’ position (better than no BA involvement at all). 
The highly effective BA considers how they can prevent repetition of the ‘Lose’ vs. ‘No Deal’ situation. The need for earlier involvement of BAs in the formation of ideas for change may need review alongside associated business case and resourcing processes. 
 

Seek First to Understand, then Be Understood

Seek First to Understand, then Be UnderDeveloping Stephen Covey's 'Seek first to understand, then to be understood' habit means that by default you listen, pay attention and understand before you put your view across. It is a great place to start when you wish to increase your effectiveness, or when you need to influence others. As with the other habits, this habit can be applied to your personal or work life.
To help develop this habit, Covey introduces the concept of the ‘Indian Talking Stick’ where people take turns holding the stick, and the person listening cannot speak, unless to ask questions, until the stick holder is satisfied that they have been listened to. As a basis for developing the habit of active listening this approach can be extremely effective.
Developing this habit is worthwhile, as understanding and influencing others is key to a BA’s work. Understanding the environment, the root causes of problems and issues, and the priorities and beliefs held by stakeholders is essential at the start of any change project, allowing BAs to communicate their proposals and engage stakeholders. 
 

Synergise

This habit focuses on working effectively as a team to achieve outcomes beyond those which would otherwise be possible. To achieve ‘synergy’, individual team members must commit to each other, to achieving a common goal or goals and to how they will work together.
Team members must be aware of, and communicate, each other’s strengths and weaknesses to meet team goals effectively. The Tuckman Model for the stages of team development (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhSI6oBQmQA) provides a foundation for the stages of group development (Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing). 
RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed) can be used to structure discussion and to document outputs and responsibilities. It empowers individuals and can also be used to manage expectations upfront and assert boundaries.
Business analysts usually work within project teams where the focus is on organisational improvement. Practising this habit helps to build and embed effective teamworking.

Sharpen the Saw

The 7th (and final) habit focuses on continual renewal and improvement, questioning assumptions and outcomes, looking for opportunities for improvement and acting on those opportunities. A woodcutter literally ‘sharpens the saw’ to cut down a tree more effectively.

By learning about and applying the 7 Habits, the business analyst can begin the journey of continual self-renewal, seeking feedback, and engaging in personal development. This may be through various means, such as subscribing to a publication, listening to a podcast, attending a conference, taking a training course or working with a mentor. 
The ’Sharpen the Saw’ habit can also be applied to the work of the project team, the overall business analysis team or to the wider business analysis profession. It places an ongoing focus on performance improvement and, importantly, prevents performance complacency.

Stephen R Covey, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Simon & Schuster (1989) available from Amazon.co.uk

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