How to build a strong business analysis team?

By | 13/05/2023
strong team

Building a successful business analysis practice requires careful planning, strong leadership, and a commitment to quality. A highly motivated and skilled team is essential for delivering consistently high-quality projects, gaining recognition within the organization, and increasing the overall value of the team’s work.

One of the first steps in building a successful business analysis practice is to develop a training strategy. This strategy should identify the specific skills and knowledge areas that team members need to develop to perform their jobs effectively. The training plan should also include a timeline for completing each training module, as well as opportunities for team members to practice their new skills in real-world scenarios.

Another important component of building a successful business analysis practice is to establish clear standards for quality and consistency. Checklists and standard templates can be developed to ensure that all team members are following the same procedures and producing work that meets the same high standards. It’s important to involve team members in the development of these standards to ensure buy-in and ownership.

To increase the visibility and recognition of the business analysis team, it’s important to focus on the value that the team delivers. This can be achieved by marketing the benefits of business analysis, such as improved project outcomes, increased efficiency, and better decision-making. Measures of success, such as client satisfaction ratings and project success rates, can also be used to demonstrate the value of the team’s work.

In addition to building a successful business analysis practice, it’s also important to consider the career development of individual team members. Identifying potential career options within the organization can help inspire and motivate team members, increasing retention rates and creating a more loyal and engaged workforce.

Some of the career options available to business analysts include project management, product management, and process improvement. By exploring these options and developing their skills in related areas, business analysts can position themselves for advancement within the organization and expand their career opportunities.

Overall, building a successful business analysis practice requires a commitment to quality, a focus on skill development, and a dedication to delivering value to the organization. By investing in their team members and developing a culture of continuous improvement, organizations can create a motivated and highly skilled business analysis team that consistently delivers high-quality projects and gains recognition within the wider organization.

If you want to find out more on setting up a Business Analysis service, examples of the above and more detail then the Business Analysis Handbook 2nd edition has a new chapter dedicated to this. Here is a link to the product page to find out more details

Thoughts? Questions? Please share in the comments.

Author: Helen Winter

An Management Consultant responsible for structuring programmes, success criteria, mobilisation, management of scope, budget, timely delivery, benefits realisation and stakeholder satisfaction. Helen has led on large transformation programmes to execute delivery along with strategic business outcomes. Helen is also a global business author with publisher Kogan Page where her first book “The Business Analysis Handbook” was a finalist for 2 major industry awards. One was for contribution to project management literature with PMI and the other was the Specialist book category for the business books awards. She is an active member of the APM programme management group. She is currently involved in a focus group sharing examples of good programme management practice and is an established speaker for project management forums. In her free time, she loves sharing her knowledge on her blog BusinessBullet.co.uk which is followed by over 5000 visitors a month.

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