Why Every Professional is a Business Analyst at Heart

Learn how storytelling and business analysis techniques can foster nimbleness and adaptability, helping professionals and organizations navigate change.

During the World Management Agility Forum 2024 in Lisbon, Fabrício Laguna shared inspirational stories about professional skills and adaptability to present the power of understanding value and the importance of business analysis as a universal skill. These stories provide profound insights into navigating modern challenges, both in business and life.

Watch the full presentation on YouTube.

The Power of Value: Grandpa’s Lesson on Selling

A story of a horse sale in Brazil illustrates the essence of value perception. The narrator’s grandfather, Americo, helped a friend sell his horse. Initially, the horse was worth only R$ 100 to a butcher. After being cleaned, groomed, and presented differently, it fetched an offer of R$ 1,000.

The lesson? Selling isn’t just about persuasion; it’s about identifying and communicating the value of what you offer. Whether you’re selling a product, an idea, or even yourself, the ability to recognize value is a critical skill.

Business Analysis: A Key to Organizational Success

Extending the concept of selling to professional realms, Fabrício argued that every professional should be a business analyst (BA). While selling is about influencing, business analysis is about understanding the context, stakeholders, and value.

The talk included an engaging role-play between two fictional managers, Antenor and Ana Lidia, at XYZ Corporation. Their responses to declining market demand revealed a stark contrast:

  • Antenor focused on quick fixes, cutting costs at the expense of quality and morale.
  • Ana Lidia used BA techniques like stakeholder analysis, workshop, root cause analysis, and journey mapping to identify a market shift. She advocated for a pivot to the company’s strategy ensuring long-term value.

The takeaway? Understanding the bigger picture and leading with context-specific strategies can position businesses for sustainable growth.

Nimbleness and Agility: A Dual Perspective

The speaker introduced the concept of nimbleness as the organizational ability to sense and respond to change quickly and effectively. While agility helps businesses pivot when necessary, nimbleness enables them to understand and adapt thoughtfully.

Key distinctions:

  • Agility is about quick directional changes (methods like Scrum or Kanban).
  • Nimbleness emphasizes comprehension and decisive action (mindset-driven).

Both require a balance of structured methods and adaptive mindsets.

Call to Action: Become Nimble

Fabrício concluded by emphasizing the role of business analysis in building nimble organizations. Developing a BA mindset and applying analysis techniques ensure teams can evaluate current states, envision future goals, and map effective paths to achieve them.

Attendees even learned BA fundamentals through the collaborative dance of BA Boogie, symbolizing:

  1. Understanding the Current State (pointing down for clarity).
  2. Defining the Future State (gesturing upward to a vision).
  3. Bridging the Gap (dancing between possibilities).

Final Thoughts

Whether solving organizational challenges or navigating personal decisions, business analysis equips individuals to lead change effectively. By fostering nimbleness, professionals and organizations alike can thrive in dynamic environments.

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