Author: Christina Lovelock

Are you using a workshop to crack every nut?

As the saying goes – if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Are business analysts falling into this trap by using a workshop for every situation?

Benefits of workshops

Getting all of the right people in the right place at the same time can move projects and initiatives forward at an accelerated rate. We have different perspectives represented, we can fact-check and enable constructive challenge. We can build on great ideas and identify clear problems with others. Workshops that are well facilitated can be motivating, build trust in the product/ project and deepen working relationships. We can co-create outputs using collaborative approaches and get real buy-in from all attendees. So, it’s easy to see why workshops are an attractive choice.

But if we ONLY use workshops…

They become stale, people stop coming, they are no longer motivating, and we can end up wasting time. Some people do not make their best contribution ‘on the spot’ or in a large group, so we also need to consider whose perspective and input we might be missing by relying only on this approach. Some teams cannot release people for long periods, and may become systemically unrepresented in discussions and decisions. We end up with the group of people who have the time or inclination to attend workshops, not the group we actually need.

Bias towards workshops

Workshops can too easily become the default action. From the perspective of the stakeholder, it can be very difficult to suggest alternatives to a proposed workshop. As an invited workshop attendee, it can feel that if you are not in the room, you will lose the ability to influence. This creates a situation where no one can propose a suitable alternative to workshops, and people only attend due to FOMO!

High visibility

Workshops are very visible. They often exist as a big chunk of time booked in lots of people’s diaries, often weeks or months in advance. During the workshop, business analysis becomes very visible, in the central role of the facilitator and the choice of analytical and collaborative techniques.

Perhaps we have a bias towards workshops precisely because they are so visible. It’s a way to remind stakeholders who we are and why we are useful. The outputs are often very visual, flip charts, post-it notes and colourful virtual whiteboards. Many days or weeks of effort of business analysis sometimes has very little to ‘show’ for it… but workshops scream: here we are! We did this! We have agreed stuff!

The time cost of workshops

It is easy to convince ourselves that workshops are the most efficient way of engaging with a group. And often workshops do ‘save time’ in the long run, but let’s look in detail at the question “How long does a workshop take?”

Let’s say we have allocated 3 hours for a workshop (W = 3).

A good rule for facilitators is that the workshop will take 5 times the length of the workshop to prepare PER facilitator (Prep = 5W x F). This is everything from identifying attendees, sending invites, logistics, planning purpose, designing exercises, creating slides etc.

And actions after the workshop will require 2 times the length of the workshop, again per facilitator (After = 2W x F). This will range from tiding a room, to creating outputs and doing follow up actions.

It might seem like all attendees have to do is show up, but they may have to do some thinking/ reading/ speaking to others. They may also have to share information about the workshop, or carry out follow-up actions. Their multiplying factor is 1.5 times the length of the workshop per attendee.

(If travel time is also required, this is likely an underestimate).

So we have

Prep for facilitators: 5W x F

Plus the actual workshop time for facilitators: W x F

Plus the workshop time for attendees: 1.5W x A

Plus the follow up after for facilitators: 2W x F

Total = W x(8F +1.5A)

Where W is workshop length, F is number of facilitators and A is number of attendees.

So a 3 hour workshop with 2 facilitators, and 20 attendees requires a total of

3 hrs x (8 x 2   +   1.5 x 20)  = 90 hrs

A workshop may still be the best way to move forward, but at least we are not kidding ourselves that “it’s only 3 hrs”!

Types of workshop

It’s useful to consider there are 3 main types of workshop.

Strategic – vision, alignment, big picture, new ideas, changing direction, transformation

Operational – how does this work? What do you need? efficiency, consistency, continuous improvement

Educational – a learning opportunity. This could be two-way, with both participants and facilitators learning something, or primarily one-way, it is mostly a learning opportunity for participants.

The type of workshop will significantly impact the time needed AND understanding the type will help to answer whether a workshop is the right approach to the situation at hand.

Other approaches BAs should be considering

Before we start arranging the inevitable workshop, we need to really consider if this is the best approach, and what else could be achieved given the same amount of time and effort.

We should consider:

• One to one interviews
• Small group discussions
• Attending existing meetings
• Surveys
• Pro-Formas
• Observation
• Work shadowing
• Focus groups
• Prototyping
• Document analysis
• Competitor analysis

We may want to use one or more of these methods to supplement workshops, and perhaps doing so will allow us to reduce the duration of the workshop or the number of attendees.

Conclusion

Workshops can be great – but they are not the only tool in your BA toolkit. If we over-rely on workshops, people can start to disengage and loose trust. Workshops take a lot of time and can lead to the idea that the only way to get anything done or agreed is via a workshop. Don’t organise a workshop as the default option. Consider all possible approaches and select the most appropriate for the situation.

Further reading

Planning workshops using the 7Ps technique, BA Times (2021)

Business Analysis Techniques: 123 essential tools for success Cadle, Paul et al (2021)

Cultivating Curiosity

Curiosity is the BA superpower. But is it a trait we are born with or a skill we can cultivate?

Benefits of curiosity

Bringing genuine curiosity to our discussions helps to foster deeper connections. It improves our understanding of situations and creates empathy with those involved. Curiosity leads to better solutions to problems. Being curious stops us from using mental short cuts, making assumptions and applying biases.

There are several studies showing that:

• There are positive correlations between curiosity and wellbeing
• Openness to new experience predicts levels of life-satisfaction
• Greater levels of curiosity are associated with greater resilience.

Curiosity also protects us from poor decision making and jumping to judgement.

Curiosity versus judgement

When we rush to judgment, it closes our eyes to different perspectives and different possibilities.

Remaining curious for just a little longer, before formulating judgements helps us to keep an open mind with our stakeholders, projects and products.

Curiosity is really the opposite of judgement as it is incredibly difficult to be judgemental if we are truly curious about a situation or person.

Barriers to curiosity

What can get in the way of applying an appropriate level of curiosity in our work?

• “Time” (which really means “priorities”)
• Too much domain/ subject matter knowledge
• Bias towards action
• JFDI culture
• Lacking tools, support or willingness
• Worry about asking a stupid question
• Feeling inadequate, intimidated or afraid

There are lots of things which can prevent us from being curious, or from acting on our curiosity. If that happens our organisations will make the same mistakes, fall into the same traps and fail to learn and innovate.

Curiosity, experience and aging

Children a naturally inquisitive, but most of us lose this attribute as we age, because we have found many answers and now have frames of reference for so many situations. Curiosity can be seen as analogous to naivety, which is not the same at all! Gaining experience does not replace the need for curiosity. Curiosity is the route to increasing our knowledge and experience. As we age, we must be more conscious of the need for curiosity and build it into our approach. Research from the University of Reading (2018) suggests that “While curiosity seems to decline with advancing age, it can also be a proxy for maintaining cognitive functioning, mental health, and physical health in older adults, thus serving as a conduit for “successful aging.”. It seems that maintaining curiosity is good for us.

Techniques for encouraging and enabling curiosity

There are a number of ways we can bring more curiosity into our lives, and in particular our professional practices. Including:

• Brainstorming for questions about a topic –  before we start asking for suggestions and answers.
• Adopting “Learn it to teach it” – set learning tasks with a view to sharing that knowledge with others
• Leveraging existing interests – encourage people to share existing skills and knowledge (which may or may not be work-related) as a “skills exchange”.
• Applying active listening techniques – giving our full focus, using probing to get more depth and summarising to confirm understanding.
• Praising curiosity – when we see people around us being inquisitive, asking good questions and identifying assumptions, draw attention to these positive behaviours.
• Encourage work-shadowing – experience processes and challenges from another perspective and discover unknown unknowns!
• Using the 6 Thinking Hats – to encourage different perspectives to be taken
• Experimenting – defining and testing assumptions and hypotheses, using pilot programmes and adopting a proof-of-concept approach.
• Role modelling curiosity – demonstrate it is OK not to know, and that if you don’t know, it’s OK to ask!

Simply talking more about the expectation of curiosity creates the permission and reminder that some people need. There can be no improvement and certainly no innovation without curiosity.

Conclusion

Curiosity is closely linked to a growth mindset, reminding us that there is always more to learn. As individuals and as business analysts, we are never finished products. Our capacity for curiosity isn’t fixed; it’s a skill we can nurture through deliberate practice. There are many ways to encourage and enable curiosity within our teams. By embedding curiosity into the workplace culture, we can create an environment where information is freely shared, knowledge is continually generated, and innovation is actually achievable.

Further reading

Curiosity in old age: a possible key to achieving adaptive aging,  Yagi, A. and Murayama, K. (2018)

Leveraging do Bonos Six Thinking Hats, BA Times (2011)

Most people know the phrase ‘active listening’, but if you ask them to define it, we get a range of vague descriptions, often involving adopting a concerned expression and nodding occasionally. What is the ‘active’ element that makes us a participant rather than a passive recipient?

What is Active Listening?

 It means listening for total meaning, providing unwavering attention and being a positive participant in the interaction.

“Active listening is more than ‘hearing’ someone’s words. It means fully attuning to the feelings and views of the speaker.”

(Nelson-Jones, 2014)

“Active listening is a technique that aids effective communication and is a skill that business analysts need to possess.”

(Paul and Lovelock, 2019)

Active Listening Behaviours

OK – so there might be some nodding, but that is not the extent of genuine active listening behaviours! We need to be conscious of our facial expressions. For example, do we need to be encouraging and get people to provide more details? Do we need to be appreciative that they have made time to speak with us? Think about the emotional response the speaker needs or expects from you, and it will be much easier to find the matching facial expression. Note this may change during the conversation, so it is important to stay attuned to the speakers’ changes in tone and expression as well as the words they use. Slanting our heads is often interpreted as a sign of empathy and willingness to learn more. Online engagement means we have more opportunities to notice and learn from our own facial expressions and the impact they have on the speaker.

The difference between speaking to someone you feel is genuinely listening to you and someone who is multi-tasking is immense. The absolutely critical element of active listening is to give the other person your full attention. There is sometimes a decision to make about note-taking and active listening. Some people feel that if they are giving their time and knowledge, the other person should be making notes. This is particularly relevant for stakeholder interviews, for example. There may be other ways to take notes without splitting your attention from the speaker, such as having someone else take notes, using transcription, noting down keywords only or making notes after the session. Multi-tasking while listening can prevent us from making the appropriate level of eye contact. Continuous eye contact can be difficult to maintain and disconcerting, but a complete lack of eye contact can leave the speaker feeling unheard.

The role of the active listener is not to be silent, and we have a number of ways we can contribute to a better interaction through the use of these active listening behaviours:

• Question – ask thoughtful, open questions
• Probe – ask follow-up questions designed to elicit more detail
• Clarify – check your understanding, clarify particular aspects
• Paraphrase – play the information back using your own words
• Summarise – relate the highlights of what you have heard, and ask if you have missed anything key.

Listening Modes

There are multiple listening modes that we can adopt, and many of us have a default mode.

• Task-orientated listener – key focus on getting to actions and focusing on the most ‘important’ information.
• Analytical listener – trying to understand and simultaneously analyse the content of the conversation.
• Relational listener – focused on building connection and understanding emotions.
• Critical listener – focused on making judgments about the content of the conversation and the speaker.

Being aware of our natural style or mode can help us be more aware of our behaviours and the impact on others.

Remember – those who are curious and analytical can often spot many ways something can be improved. If we voice all of these, it can come across as overly negative!

Avoiding Judgment

 If we are busy with our own thought processes trying to evaluate what the other person is saying, we are not giving our full attention to listening and understanding. Judgment can take up a great deal of brain space and mental energy. In many conversations, it is better to suspend or defer judgment to keep us in the moment so we can reflect and evaluate what the person has said later.

 Avoid Deflection Back to Self

 To really understand and listen to the other person, we want to keep the focus on them and what they are saying. This means avoiding bringing the focus of the interaction back to our own experiences and knowledge. It is very tempting to tell a ‘related story’ or share a ‘similar experience’ when what the other person has said brings it to mind. We have to be restrained and decide if it is in the best interest of the interaction to switch the focus to ourselves or keep the focus on them and draw out more details of their experiences.

Benefits of Active Listening

 Giving someone the time and space to really listen to them in our busy world is a rarity. Investing this time and effort can help to build trust and rapport, increase our depth of understanding, and increase the amount of information we will actually retain from the interaction. This can help to save time, as it avoids assumptions being made and revisiting the same areas.

Conclusion

Active listening can be extremely valuable for business analysts in a variety of situations. Consciously deciding to keep the focus on the other person helps to build a sense of connection and deepens our understanding of the information given to us. Active listening is a key skill for high-performing teams and individuals and is an area we can all improve by investing a little more effort.

Further reading

The Myth of Multi-Tasking, C Lovelock, (BA Times, 2024)

Delivering Business Analysis: The BA Service Handbook, Paul and Lovelock (BCS, 2019)

What is Active Listening A Gallo (HBR, 2024)