Growing Your Own BAs Panel Session

The following key takeaways are from the panel session at the BA Conference Europe 2024: ‘Growing Your Own BAs: Everything You Need to Know’. Moderated by Christina Lovelock, with fellow panellists Mike Williams of AssistKD, Lauren Howes of Transport for London and Chris Pyatt and Lorna Mylett of DWP Digital.??

Why Grow Your Own BAs??

Growing your own BAs could be the most rational solution to attracting and retaining fresh talent. It’s also a way of giving back to the business analysis profession by providing entry level roles. Former apprentices become passionate, motivated advocates for business analysis once they become BAs.?

‘Growing your Own’ is also a way to bring skilled employees from other areas of your business or from other professions into your BA team:??

“?It seems wrong to have to suggest to fellow employees that they leave your organisation to get necessary training to get qualified as a BA, and then come back if they want to join your BA team.”??

Young Business Analysts supports ‘growing your own’: “The skills and the people are there – you just have to give them the opportunities.”?

The Benefits of the Business Analyst Apprenticeship?

The BA Apprenticeship (for new starters or existing employees) allows businesses to train up highly motivated staff who are providing BA services within a year. Candidates nurtured ‘in-house’ tend to be more committed and motivated than the available pool of more experienced BAs in the external market.??

Apprenticeships attract school and college leavers, recent graduates and those who wish to move into business analysis from other professions. New starters bring fresh ideas and enthusiasm, whilst those moving from other roles often bring valuable transferrable skills.??

“I started as a BA Apprentice in my late twenties with little previous experience, but with skills from my previous career. The last two years have been the most successful of my career so far. I am a big advocate for apprenticeships and a way people can change careers.”?

“The people who go through Apprenticeship schemes are the BAs of the future, they are coming up with some great work. It is great to be part of that, and to focus on helping them identify their strengths.”?

Consider Creating an Associate BA Role?

The role of BA can sit on the pathways of other professionals. Being a business analyst can be part of a longer career with other roles before and after.??

For highly experienced people in more senior grades, moving back to apprentice level to become a BA could be a step too far. DWP Digital has created a new ‘Associate BA’ role. It recognises that the person already has business skills and experience, they are just new to the business analysis role.?

"We currently have 24 BA Apprentices. We have two industrial placement students, and we have created an Associate BA role, as an alternative route to the BA Apprenticeship, for colleagues moving across from operational roles who want to retain their current grade level. We find having two models work for us.”?

“You need to balance the expertise they bring, such as subject matter expertise, with the BA role. We try to spend time equipping them with the best tools and techniques. We put in place a modular training programme, including bite size internal training sessions on key aspects of the BA role.”?

Common BA Apprenticeship Misconceptions?

It is too much time and effort?

With new starters, you don’t have to undo bad habits, they are keen and full of new ideas. They are often digital natives, and they learn and progress quickly. Those moving from other roles often bring transferrable skills such as leadership, stakeholder engagement and, if they move from within your organisation, an understanding of the bigger picture.??

Mentoring apprentices energises and motivates other members of the BA team, it helps them to clarify their own understanding and identify gaps in their own knowledge.??

"Apprentices are learning from experience, but it is accelerated learning thanks to the support and extra learning.”?

We do not have enough work to give apprentices?

T?here is always enough work. You can create opportunities, get Apprentices to shadow an experienced BA and they will pick things up and take the pressure off day to day.???

Apprentices do not need to jump straight in to running a project. They can start in supporting roles to help out the rest of the team. You’ll find they will get up to speed quickly. Take the time to develop and safeguard your talent pipeline.?

“After shadowing and writing up outputs and drawing up models for others, apprentices can get productive very quickly. You can carve out pieces of work. By developing people, you learn from them. You open your team to new perspectives.”?

It costs too much money??

Financially, the business case stacks up. You are paying a lower rate, and even with the perceived cost of investment and the loss of productivity of senior BAs mentoring… it is still worth doing. Investing in the talent pipeline solves many problems.??

Read more about the Business Case for Apprenticeships.??

You can’t train up a BA in 12 to 18 months?

Not true! If an apprentice makes good progress and makes the most of their secondments, they can make good progress and build up to a good level of understanding.?

"Apprentices are learning from experience, but it is accelerated learning thanks to the support and extra learning.”?

“Apprenticeships give you an opportunity to see how individuals fit in the role. They will learn how to engage with you on a project.”?

“?I introduce Apprentices to the BA Service Framework straight away. It gives them immediate insight into the BA role. Then, by observing successful BAs, they can understand their strengths and progress quickly.”?

The ‘Junior’ title could put people off??

For new starters, having the word Junior in the job title means they don’t have to explain multiple times that they are new to the BA role and learning. Fewer are worried about it than you might think. For those with considerable experience, there is the option of giving them the ‘Associate BA’ title.??

The Future of Business Analysis??

“?I’d like to see more apprenticeship opportunities, there were not many when I was looking. More opportunities and better remuneration would help the BA community to grow the BAs of the future.”?

“?Business analysis is important. Beyond recruiting for the role, it’s a good idea for those in other roles to learn some BA skills. I’d like to see training in other departments in skills such as business process modelling so others can learn some BA skills and might in future be interested in joining your BA practice.”?

“It would be good to see more apprentices at the BA Conference Europe, they would learn so much. Give them as many opportunities as possible to network and learn.”?

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The Panel?

?Christina Lovelock is an experienced BA leader, consultant, author and qualified coach. Christina chaired the development of the Business Analysis Apprenticeship standard and is a director of the UK BA Manager Forum. She co-authored the 2019 BCS book, Delivering Business Analysis and the new book Careers in Tech, Data and Digital.?

?Mike Williams is an experienced Business Analyst with over 30 years’ of successful business change and information systems project delivery in the public and private sectors. Mike is a Principal Consultant, course manager and trainer for AssistKD, delivering towards the BCS International and Advanced International Diplomas.?

? Lorna Mylett is a Business Analyst at DWP Digital, who having joined DWP as an apprentice in 2022, was recently awarded a final grade of distinction in the Level 4 Business Analysis Digital IT Apprenticeship. She also won Business Analyst Apprentice of the Year in the BSC IT & Digital Apprenticeship Awards 2024.?

?Lauren Howes has recently been promoted to a BA Team Lead role at Transport for London where she is responsible for leading an allocated team of BAs, from a pool of over 100. Lauren is co-founder of the Young Business Analyst (YBA) community which has approximately 3000 members and it continues to grow daily.?

?Chris Pyatt has 20 years’ experience as a BA or BA Leader, and works as part of DWP Digital’s BA Practice team building BA capability, capacity and best practice across a community of over 250 BAs. Chris contributed to the national apprenticeship standard and is an oral examiner for the BCS International Diploma in Business Analysis.?

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Further Resources

If you enjoyed this article, you may also be interested in this BA Blog:?

Filling the BA Skills Gap?