Toolbelts in Times of Change
The kinds of organizational, environmental, and personal shifts that happen during changes on the global scale are both long-lasting and far-reaching.
A thorough approach is needed, not only to consider all impacts but also to plan the path of success.
Business analysts can leverage specific approaches during times of significant change to help an organization put its best foot forward and effectively arrive on the other side of transformation.
Adapt with Tools and Techniques
Business analysis tools and techniques that were successful in one circumstance may not be the ones best suited to a new environment. For example, the recent global pandemic reveals that many organizations are suddenly faced with having to forge new paths through uncharted territory in a technology-based virtual landscape. Meeting rooms, face-to-face interviews, and lunch workshops turned into IM chats and video conference calls while juggling pets and children in the virtual professional world.
When left a new environment, a first impression may be one that sees a large number of limitations. The reality though, is that business analysis has many prescribed techniques that can be leveraged in a way that promotes elicitation and collaboration to thrive.
Explore the tools and technology available in your organization and it may be found that workshops can be easily adapted to video conferencing, where presentation software can still be used through screen sharing, where content does not require a great deal of edits. Understand the difference that a virtual environment provides, and you may find that brainstorming sessions may help typically shy stakeholders feel more comfortable participating in a call-in style dynamic, where they may not feel as “on the spot”.
Teams Move Mountains
The year 2020 saw many professional landscapes change. For many, physical buildings, water coolers and coffee machines turned into laptops, video conferencing, and screen sharing. Keeping stakeholders and project teams engaged with so much personal distraction is a delicate balance, but during such a significant global event, changing networks can create new meaningful connections. For example, individuals all balancing different personal lives and home situations may lead to changed work hours, which may shift team dynamics. Look for new ways to carry networks and connect with teams. Differing schedules may create ad-hoc availability and facilitate the possibility for an unstructured interview with a key stakeholder, where a typical schedule would not have allowed.
Keeping teams engaged through the current state while projecting a future state amidst significant personal distractions takes a great deal of resiliency and organization. With some strategy and planning, the virtual environment can be one that allows for new meaningful connections with stakeholders, organized execution of goals, and winning arrivals at deadlines!
Allow team dynamics to have organic and healthy changes, and understand that these shared and lived experiences can add to cohesion, communication, and trust, which are all important characteristics of successful teams!
The Bigger Picture
Change is normal. While professionals are always encouraged to understand the inevitability of change and transformation, circumstance adds a factor that can magnify the impact and see the change as daunting and stressful. This is where conducting gap analyses with forward-thinking approaches can set the tone for initiatives of all sizes. Staying on course with momentum when considering current and future states can not only keep progress timely but can keep a change strategy effective. Stay on track of taking steps forward, even slower paced ones at times, and it will soon be found that you and your team are achieving the higher hanging fruit.
Changes during Changes
The world is a dynamic, fluid, and inconsistent experience. Keeping these few things in mind and approach can help transition yourself and your enterprise through the winds of change to a successful outcome:
- Leverage your environment
- Strength is in numbers
- Keep your eye on the ball
The probable can be planned – the improbable is not usually part of the plan, but can have a significant impact. Keeping your professional and personal tool belt well-equipped with adaptable techniques can help yourself and your teams move toward that gold on the horizon.