How do you learn and improve your stakeholder analysis and management skills and competencies?

There are two things that matter - your education and training, and experience. You need to assess yourself against those and see where you are. Write down your strengths and areas of improvement and plan the course of action.

As per the current level is concerned I totally believe the more is the experience the stronger is ground. Its all about keeping the ball rolling in the correct trajectory. Understanding the stakeholders background and priorities would actually help to determine the current stats which can predict the future in order to optimize the deliverables.

Define or agree your KPIs and Competency model to be achieved with your immediate manager targeting gradual improvement and growth of both your technical expertise and interpersonal abilities. KPIs must give equal importance to the soft skills and interpersonal abilities that are essential for business analysts to excel in effective communication, stakeholder engagement, collaboration and teamwork as critical aspects of business analysis.

You will need to break this down into some sub-skills. Things like: Facilitation, Relationship Management, Building Trust, Influence Without Authority, Empathy, Decision Making, Problem Solving, Change Management, Conflict Resolution, Communication, and more. I have a course here on LinkedIn Learning as well about many of the BA competencies. https://tinyurl.com/5c4rb69x

Take courses, learn and practice creative and logical thinking, develop analytical skills, and evaluate your learnings. If possible, have a mentor to guide you.

Practice is key here. You can become very good if you practice working on real-life case studies, and evaluate yourself. This is the only way to be good at it. When you have an opportunity to work, apply the learnings you have, and consolidate your understanding. It is possible and will happen that you do some mistakes but that is part of your learning. Everyone does it. You need to learn from your mistakes and ensure you do not repeat those. Over time, you will become good

Observe others and how they manage stakeholders, and for those that you admire their stakeholder management skills, build a relationship with them, take them for coffee and ask them more about their strategies, techniques and how they learned their skills. Ask them to observe you in meetings/interactions and give you feedback.

Always remember your learnings and mistakes, never assume, and always validate your understanding and your work with stakeholders. Keep all stakeholders informed, perform impact analysis, get your work reviewed, close all loops, and take it to a logical end.

It's key to seek feedback from more than just your manager/mentor. Ask your stakeholders whether they found your assistance useful - did they get the information they needed? Did they feel that their views were heard and considered? Were there areas that they felt were missing or lacking? Getting feedback from those that you have been working closely with is vital for identifying both your strengths, and areas you may want to enhance.

In my experience, a business analyst can also foster continuous improvement in the organization by doing the following: 1.Promote Knowledge Sharing: Encourage knowledge sharing among team members by implementing platforms, such as internal wikis or collaboration tools. Facilitate regular team meetings or "lessons learned" sessions to share best practices, lessons from past projects, and innovative ideas. 2. Engage with External Networks: Encourage your organization to participate in industry conferences, meetups, and forums. By networking with professionals from other companies and industries, you can gain insights into innovative practices and bring fresh ideas back to your organization. 3. Embrace agile methodology such as Scrum/Kanban

?? Learning & improving stakeholder analysis/management skills is vital. ?? Start with resources like books, articles, & online courses. ?? Attend workshops, webinars, & conferences to gain insights from experts. ?? Apply new knowledge in real-life projects, learning from experience. ?? Seek feedback from peers & mentors to identify areas for improvement. ?? Stay updated on industry trends & best practices. ?? Network with professionals to exchange ideas. Remember, continuous learning & practice are ?? to mastering stakeholder management! ??

Improving stakeholder analysis and management skills involves continuous learning, peer engagement, mentorship/coaching, learning from practice, self-assessment/benchmarking, and staying open to feedback. Additionally, it requires cultural awareness, tech proficiency, emotional intelligence, conflict prevention, advocacy, legal/regulatory compliance, stakeholder segmentation, documentation, and, at times, assuming leadership roles. Striking a balance across these facets is key.