BA Mindset Principle #4: Lead and Facilitate

Keep a few hats on your hat stand

During my career as a business analyst, I had to take on a variety of leadership roles, sometimes quite unexpectedly. I would find myself in situations where there was collective hesitation about the next steps, confusion about what to do, or conflicting interests grinding the discussion to a halt.

A group of business stakeholders unsure how to approach defining a set of complex business rules…

A requirement added by an executive in passing conversation that does not make sense, but that nobody dares to challenge…

A difficult stakeholder unwilling to negotiate required changes to their business process…

A project manager who establishes a rigid project plan before a sizing assessment could be completed…

A project team ready to roll out a new solution without any change management activities, because “we will just tell everyone that they have to do it this way now”.

Two directors who are unwilling to make any compromises and disagree on every second requirement…

Do I need to continue?

Often in these circumstances, it is not clear who should take the lead.