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Communicating with your Stakeholders

Communicating with your Stakeholders. With Keith Ellis CEO, SpokenSage. What are we going to talk about?. Business Analyst = Business Requirements?! Are these things really the same Communication Failure: How do people undermine themselves? Tips and Traps:

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Communicating with your Stakeholders

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  1. Communicating with your Stakeholders With Keith Ellis CEO, SpokenSage

  2. What are we going to talk about? Business Analyst = Business Requirements?! • Are these things really the same Communication Failure: • How do people undermine themselves? Tips and Traps: • Techniques you can use tomorrow.

  3. About Enfocus Solutions People, Process and Technology for Business Analysis and Requirements Management

  4. About Keith Ellis • Author of The Business Analysis Benchmark • Example projects I’ve lead: • Modernization of UI Tax and Benefit Systems: 4 states simultaneously needing over 100 business and 50 technical stakeholders to create a DOL standard • Implementing Centers of Excellence • Mentoring analyst leadership • Built and sold a requirements definition and management (RDM) company • Something in excess of 60,000 people have listened to my webinars on aspects of RDM • Msc in Computer Science from Lancaster University as a result of research in RDM

  5. Let’s Talk About Analyst VALUE!

  6. How Business Analysts Deliver Value

  7. Every Measure of Benefit Improves as RDM Maturity Rises Source: Business Analysis Benchmark

  8. Value Starts with the Quality of Service Delivered People, with consistent competencies following good Process, supported by Techniques, in a framework managed by an Organization, and enabled by Tools, producing valuable Deliverables. How do you get there…

  9. Two Types of Change In the mirror… YOU own it and can action right away Out the window… What’s going on around you Short Term Long Term

  10. Leverage the Way you Communicate to get out of the Requirements Rut

  11. Can the Way you Communicate Undermine Delivery? Pick a point, 1 through 5. At what point is communication with stakeholders ‘good enough’ for analysts? Perfectly Delivered Meeting? Perfectly Delivered Requirements? Perfectly Delivered Solution? Perfectly Delivered Project? Perfectly Delivered Value?

  12. Rethinking your Stakeholder Relationship Order Taker Proactive Supplier StrategicPartner SuccessMentor Relationship Focus TaskCompletion ProjectSuccess OutcomeSuccess ValueCreation Communication Focus EnablingChange UnderstandingGaps Plan Template

  13. The Business Analysis Communication TRAP Business Analysts tends to be TASK oriented… get into the weeds and create a deliverable. The majority of stakeholder communication by analysts tends to focus on requirements (defining them and managing them) We don’t really get involved in problem definition or gap analysis. We don’t really get involve in measuring post -implementation value delivered. Strength of Agreement (1 don’t agree, 5 strongly agree)

  14. Key Realizations You are what you eatcommunicate… Analysts will have a tendency to shift LEFT in the relationship spectrum toward order taking, unless you actively manage moving RIGHT toward partner/mentor The task may still be the same… it’s the quality of discussion around the performance of the task that shifts you from being seen as an order taker to that of being a strategic partner

  15. Communication Tactics for the Strategic AnalystValue-centric communication: Tips and Traps

  16. Value Centric Communication has certain GOTO Subjects… Think “Timeliness is Key”: • “What is it about this problem that requires immediacy” • “Why take action on that today?” • “Where are our quick wins?” Think economics AND emotions: • Benefits need to be both economic (financial) and emotional (visionary). People seldom take action solely on the merits of one in the absence of the other. • When you hear one side of the story, expand it by eliciting the other. Talk about implications: • When people agree on the implications of something, and those implications have an impact on direct cost, quality, service, brand, etc., then you have reached a consensus on why you need to do something about it. Understand the gap: • What prevents us from doing this right now?

  17. Value Centric Communication is OBJECTIVE Remove the adjectives: • words like “very,” “bad,” “good,” etc., are by nature judgemental Use words that resonate: (i.e., use your client’s words) • It isn’t just a great idea—it’s also a great expression of that idea. Don’t get married to your own way of saying something. Objections you raise are objective and scenario-based: • e.g., “How is the business going to process a return when there is no receipt number?” rather than “I don’t think that’s going to work.” Objections THEY raise are seen as positive signs of engagement • All too often, people react defensively in the face of someone thinking through how something is to be operationalized. The END-POINT and PATH have to be CLEAR: • You cannot create value by chance.

  18. Value Centric Communication Respects and Emphasizes Roles

  19. Final Value Centric Communication Tactic… Context is King N

  20. Value Centric Communication is about CONTEXT CONTEXT = I guarantee, what I said… and what you heard are two completely different things. WHY? Giving ‘Context’ when communicating means giving me: • a sense of the scenario we’re in, • the message from my perspective, • the action I want you to take, • the benefit of action from my perspective.

  21. Two Examples: Sally, I need your team at the requirement session tomorrow. John missed last week and Joanie (my boss) wants this done for next Friday. I’ve attached the template I got from Gus in corporate standards for doing requirements and filled in some of the material. We’re starting at 8:00AM in EW-28 Sally, IT is starting Jabber Phase 2 to support your division with the intent to have it in place by the 15th. Order Entry is being discussed together with Finance and Marketing tomorrow at 8:00 AM in EW-28. Your plan had John and Andrea set to represent Sales in that session – I’ll send them the participant briefing, but I’d ask that you send them the attendance reminder. You’d mentioned the issue around the new multi-container in our planning meeting. We’re looking to resolve this and a number of similar cross-functional issues during tomorrow’s discussion.

  22. Closing Thoughts The role of business analysts is far broader than business requirements… But it’s easy to get caught in the ‘requirements rut’ Breaking out starts by looking in the mirror and focusing on the things you can change Value centric communication means: • Being persistent about certain topics • Being consciously objective • Emphasizing and respecting roles Value centric communication opens the door toward partnering to deliver or mentoring business success

  23. How Business Analysts Deliver Value

  24. Achieving Excellent Business Analysis Outcomes Enfocus Requirements Suite™

  25. Source Material It’s all in RequirementCoach™ Primary Source 2.0 Situation Analysis Reference Guide 9.0 Stakeholder Socialization Reference Guide The 9.1 through 9.4 video series My secondary source: Submitting a question to the Analyst Advisor

  26. Did We Deliver On the Agenda? Business Analyst = Business Requirements?! • Are these things really the same Communication Failure: • How do people undermine themselves? Tips and Traps: • Techniques you can use tomorrow.

  27. Reaching Keith (slides): ellis.in.toronto@gmail.com 416-816-5982 Discussion

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