Maria Belotserkovskaya

Professional success for any business analyst fully depends on his or her soft skills. This fact is hard to dispute about, because the whole activity is built on communications and negotiations in particular.

A business-analyst is a facilitator between the two worlds – technologies and business. He helps the business to outline problems and suggests solutions, ensuring their efficient integration.  In addition, a business analyst at the product company suggests the information system for business solutions.

Here are the TOP 5 Soft Skills for successful business analysis professional by Olesia Ulianova and IT GROW Center

Self-management

A Business-analysis specialist must be self-organized. Hundreds of time estimates, deadlines and meetings fill the planner so that it is important to be able to prioritize tasks, plan your time evaluate results. You also have to be able to manage risks, so that all of the estimated agreements be fulfilled.

Public speaking skills

As a business analysis, you will have to speak a lot. Public speaking while presenting your ideas to a group of unknown people must become a usual thing. It is always stressful, but you have to get used to it. You will have to master your argumentation skills, facial expressions, gestures so that your speech will have a positive impact on people.

Active listening

It mostly comes together with speaking, because the common truth is that the best speakers are good listeners as well. It is about your ability to catch the implicit meaning of a person’s words, and understanding not only what is said, but also what was meant.  The client cannot usually clearly express his or her wishes. A business analyst namely translates a common human language into a technical one, usually spoken by IT professionals. That is why active listening techniques will be a valuable skill. 

Business correspondence

You will have to write a lot, letters, reports, other types of texts. No matter that it will happen in the language, that it is not your native one. Master your writing skills in English, learn standard phrases, as well as train your ability to structuralize sentences and letters.

Thus, try to be clear, precise, accurate, and polite.

Finally, Management skills

As a business analyst, you will have to manage people. It will not be the same thing, as a team leader of business director does, for example. Anyway, organizing meetings, managing different information channels, organizing the client’s demands and ensuring that they are going to be fulfilled, these are key management skills for a business analyst.

All of these skills can be acquired or upgraded at the IT GROW training center. Stay with us, and you will become a highly demanded professional.

No, this is not another HBO movie. Our founder of the IT Grow Center, Olesia Ulianova,  has participated in the event “The Future of IT Outsourcing: what has changed and what needs to be prepared.” In the framework of which the participants were presented the educational programs of IT Business School in Kharkiv.

The atmosphere was unforgettable. Olesia Ulianova together with her colleagues-speakers discussed
• how important it is to master soft skills competencies;
• what skills and qualities need to be developed in order to successfully start their own business;
• why communication with the client should come first, etc.

After all, the deep knowledge of the industry is not a guarantee of professional success. First of all, you should pump up your soft skills in order to get a boost, to promote your business, to beat the competitors like an expert. And even if you are like a fish in water in your business, but you don’t know how to present yourself, find contact with people or conduct negotiations, then it’s unlikely that you will be able to keep afloat for a long time. These are the facts of life.

People with good communication skills have an impressive personality. Communication is a key to success. The IT Grow Center helps IT-people to master their ability to communicate with different personalities, present themselves, freely express the intentions, conduct negotiations and, of course, come to aimed agreements. So, if you want to master the communication skills, stay with the IT Grow Center.

It started from the workshop “Persuasion techniques and why do you fail?” 

We prepared the theoretical basis for the guys. Discussed such themes like:

• rules of persuasion
• communication in a dispute
• magical words which helps us to focus an attention of the interlocutor
• SCARF model

We were talking about methods and argument building techniques; their features and cases when we can use it. And then honed skills in a team play 😎. 

As a result participants found and adapted the plan of argumentation which they will use further. 

Persuasiveness it’s not the knowledge that is available only to the elite. This skill can be easily upgraded, and our workshops are the first step to this 👌

Every business is built on communications. The idea will be buried on paper forever unless you communicate it.  C-level managers and startup founders have to communicate every single day, with their teams, employees, current or potential partners. 

Especially startups have a lot on the plate, their key asset is enthusiasm, readiness to work hard, and ability to persuade people that their idea is worthy and promising.  

The ability to communicate efficiently is a key component of a person’s emotional intellect.  The Olesia Ulianova, founder of the IT Grow Center outlines the main reasons for every entrepreneur to improve his or her skill to communicate with people in different situations: negotiations, business conversation with a customer, or an informal talk with an employee.

3 reasons to improve your negotiation skills if you want to be a startup founder or a C-level manager.

You should learn to be a scanner

Scan yourself and the potential environment. Before the active stage of the negotiation, you have to analyze your own emotions and visualize expectancies. Do my emotions help me or hinder from being clear, accurate and courteous while talking? What can distract you from the chosen point, an how are you going to manage it?

Thinking about the negotiation strategy is the first key to success.  What would you do, if something goes wrong? Do you have a Plan B, if the A one fails? Set several goals, and what is important, define the minimum to be agreed during the conversation, so that the negotiation can be considered as successful. 

You should learn to be a  scout

After you understand your own expectations from the negotiation, it is time to analyze your potential counterpart. Internet is full of information about people, moreover, they upload many facts about themselves just spontaneously. Learn more about the person you are going to talk to, try to figure out his or her values, temperament. Once you know more, it would be easier to build a corresponding negotiation strategy beforehand.

At the active part of the negotiations do not hesitate to ask questions. 

Finally, you should be a driver

The key asset of a startup founder is his or her idea, dedication to it and desire to go the whole way. You should demonstrate these positive emotions to get the mirror effect and persuade the potential investor, that it is your rising business worth the support you are seeking.

Steer the negotiations, do not be steered. Take advantage, be proactive, try to be a person who suggests the solutions. Ask more than expected, and your further drawback will make the opponent more compliant.

Finally, it is important to remember that negotiation is a conversation with a potential partner, not a rival. You should try to find a common solution so that both counterparts can win from it.

Such a background will ensure your further cooperation, no matter at what stage, this one or sometime later.

Communication proficiency is one of the key aspects of personal development. The IT Grow Center helps IT-people to master their ability to communicate with different personalities, freely express their intentions, and come to aimed agreements.  So, if you want to master communication skills, stay with the IT Grow Center.