The role of business analyst is essential in a business. Yet not everyone recognizes the value. How to handle pressure as a business analyst in a sometimes hostile environment?
“Management is always under pressure,” notes Geneviève Dubé, business analyst. “They want to reduce delivery times, reduce costs… They are therefore not always ready to invest in a thorough analysis of their processes.”
The stakes are high, however, and some projects to review business processes can amount to several million dollars. In order to achieve the productivity gains desired by management, it is essential to carry out a thorough analysis of employee tasks in order to distinguish between those that add value from those that do not or, worse, are a duplication. This is what Geneviève Dubé has as a challenge to make her clients understand.
Management, on the other hand, is not always ready to hear what the business analyst has to say.
“Senior management often has their own idea of the changes they want to put in place… And they also have their own perception of what’s happening on the ground,” says Geneviève Dubé. “However, it’s not always true to reality. So you have to find a way to soften the information, while giving it at the right time.”
Add to this the resistance the business analyst will encounter on the ground. Employees sometimes feel they are being assessed, while in fact it’s the organization’s processes that are being studied. “I have to earn their trust in order to learn about problems they encounter in their work,” adds Ms. Dubé.
The challenge is twofold: Geneviève Dubé has to find a way to retain employees’ confidentiality at the same time as delivering the information to the right people.
Handle pressure as a business analyst by proving its relevance
When a business analyst accepts an assignment, the game is far from being won in advance. The business analyst profession is relatively new and is still poorly known to businesses. “Some project managers have had bad experiences with people who have improvised business analysts…”
Business analysts often feel pressured to prove their relevance. “I think that it is through the flow of projects that trust is built,” Geneviève Dubé believes, “but also by making our profession better known… by organizing lunch and learns, for example.”