Why Storytelling is important for Business Analysts

Storytelling is?the art of describing ideas, beliefs, personal experiences, and life- lessons through stories or narratives that is likely to resonate with the listeners. Who can forget the bed-time stories by our parents and grandparents?

Storytelling has advantages over more formal communication techniques as it can evoke powerful emotions.

Can this help business analysts?

There are several benefits a business analyst can leverage by adopting story telling approach.

Why storytelling is important for business analysts?

A business analyst can leverage the story telling approach to not only communicate better but also help the client understand the value, problem and the context better.

Here are a few example scenarios and suggested story telling approach and the impact it may create.

Aids decision making

Reference: MIT Sloan Management Review, "Storytelling with Data"

Scenario: During a sales performance analysis, raw data shows a 15% decline in quarterly sales. Instead of conveying just the numbers, the business analyst analyses the data further and builds a narrative for the clients.

Story telling approach: The business analyst conveys the data with the reasoning behind the drop in sales:

• Emerging market challenges
• Competitive landscape shifts
• Customer behaviour changes

Impact: Transforming abstract numbers into a meaningful narrative that guides strategic decision-making.

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Simplifying complex problem visualization

Reference: Journal of Business Strategy, "Narrative Sensemaking in Strategy"

Scenario: A business analyst is entrusted with analyzing the supply chain at organization A. The objective is to optimize it and identify inefficiencies across multiple international logistics partners.

Story telling approach: The business analyst analyses the processes and systems and understands the issues. The issues are related to supplier and delivery issues and certain friction points.

Business analyst creates a journey map showing a product's lifecycle, highlighting friction points and potential improvements

Impact: Simplifies complex systemic challenges, making intricate problems more accessible and solvable

Enhanced Communication and Comprehension

Reference: Harvard Business Review, "The Power of Storytelling"

Scenario: In a Digital Transformation project a business analyst is explaining a complex system redesign to non-technical stakeholders. The project is executed to improve the customer service experience for the customers. A normal approach would be to use technical jargon and complex flowcharts to show the changes and transitions.

Story telling approach: The business analyst may use a narrative about how the new system helps X, a customer service representative, solve client problems 20% faster.

Impact: Stakeholders understand the project's value through a relatable human experience, increasing buy-in and engagement

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Emotional connect

Reference: Stanford Social Innovation Review, "The Narrative Edge"

Scenario: A organization is going through a downtrend and wants to pursue efficiency improvement measures. A straightforward approach is to use a spread sheet and show the impact in percentage or absolute numbers saving.

Story telling approach: Instead of just showing the excel data and abstract numbers, a business analyst can build a narrative about efficiency improvements can prevent potential job losses and enable company growth

Impact: Creates emotional resonance, aligning team motivation with organizational goals

Key principles of a storytelling

Key to story telling is to be able to empathize with the stakeholders and device an approach accordingly. Here are the top 4 principles of a robust story telling approach.

• Focus on human experience
• Use concrete, relatable examples
• Connect data to meaningful outcomes
• Maintain authenticity and transparency

Conclusion

Storytelling transforms business analysis from a purely analytical exercise to a compelling communication strategy that drives understanding, alignment, and action.