What makes a great leader? In this episode, Scott Stribrny begins to answer this question by presenting a business analyst relevant five-rule framework to apply in real life.  Scott will discuss principles that guide effective leaders and will explore the short-term orientation of leadership with examples for day-to-day action as well as the long-term orientation of leadership.

By listening to this episode, you will understand why a great business analyst must also be a strategist, an executor, a talent manager, and a human capital developer.  As business analysts aspire to reach more senior levels in the organization, they must become proficient in all of these areas as well as invest in their own personal proficiency.

After listening to this episode, you will understand:

  • How a Business Analyst can step into a leadership role
  • How to use the five-rule framework to guide behavior and decision making
  • Why investing in yourself is critical
  • What you can do today to advance your leadership skills

 

Key Takeaways

Leadership is not a role or title.  It’s a behavior.  There are rules for leadership that help to improve the business outcomes as a result of systematic, principle based leadership.

 

Five key rules that guide behavior and decision making

To be an effective leader, you must be 1) a strategist, 2) an executor, 3) a talent manager, 4) human capital developer, and 5) you must invest in your own personal proficiency.

Leaders help shape the future by acting as a strategist.  They get things done that result in favorable business outcomes by executing those strategies.  Leaders also know that it’s about people – they engage today’s talent and build the next generation by developing human capital that will serve the future of the enterprise.  All of these are tied together by investing in your own development.

 

Become a human capital developer:

At the individual level and in the short term, help to strengthen others by pairing with them.  This could be another business analyst, a Product Owner, developers, or others within your organization.

In the longer term, develop human capital for the future.  Determine what kind of skills development and mentoring opportunities are available to your peers to help them and the organization grow.

Start locally with your network and then expand organizationally with your peers so that they can do the same and spread excellence.  Remember that to be a human capital developer, you must first be proficient in your own skills before people will follow you.

Build on local successes to develop your credibility.  As you gain more credibility, you can find opportunities to extend the perception of your leadership capabilities to others based on local successes.

 

Let’s get tactical . . .

To become a leader, have a leadership model or some kind of guiding principle.  Each day, ask yourself “How am I going to be a strategist or execute that will add value to my organization?  How am I going to develop human capital?”

Don’t forget to invest in and develop yourself.  In addition to training, self-study, and similar activities, you should spend time in self-reflection.  At mid-day or at the end of the day, reflect back on what took place that day and think about what you are going to do differently tomorrow.  Seek out feedback to get to the reality of the situation.

Effective leadership has everything to do with what we can do with and through other people.

In agile transitions, leadership is a shift from command and control to more of a commitment based style.  Create a safe environment to build team relationships.  That forms the basis for knowledge transfer and collaborative relationships.

Continue to develop your ability to practice clear thinking and embrace the reality of the situation.  Rise above the details.

 

What you can do today to improve your leadership skills

  • Self-reflect and assess your own leadership proficiency according to the five-rule framework.  Pick one thing to upon which to focus to become more effective and take action.

Links mentioned in this episode

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