MISCELLANEOUS

5 Trusted Tips to Move Your Business Analyst

Career to a C-Suite Role
by
Marc Berman
August 10, 2020, 3:59 pm

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I am sure you have come across those corner offices, those suave personalities, and aspired to
be one like them someday. Well, these are the C-Suite roles like CEO, CDO, CIO, CFO, CTO,
COO, etc.

The top executives of the company are its C-suite members. C-suite is a term used to refer to
the C-level (senior executive) positions in a company, notably those that begin with the word
‘Chief’.

These are strategic roles in the organization that sets the path, strategy, and often the
directions which are being executed by the middle management and the others in the hierarchy.
The c-suite is deemed the most important and influential group of individuals and hence the
most admired designations. They are the ones who almost always are the highest paid in the
organization, ones who yield the maximum amount of authority along with the major
responsibilities.

But as they say, “With great power comes great responsibilities”, and so notably the C-suite
professionals have the largest portion of responsibility in the organization.

Every professional’s aim is to reach the top echelon of the organization. As a BA if you are
good at your work, are creative and innovative, complemented by having a proactive nature,
you can take your business analyst career path as far as you would like, progressing through
management levels to the topmost level, inhibited only by your expertise, talents, and desires.

Business Analysts are the bridge between the different departments of a company. They are in
high demand in every area of business, from finance to IT to corporate management. In today’s
multifaceted world, business analysts bring the business needs together with IT resources. BAs
are in essence the conduit between business problems and solutions. They, therefore,
understand the various areas of the business very well.

Typically, in an organization, the CEO develops the vision and the Business Analyst does the
research and groundwork to make that vision more clearly understood. Richie Bello, CEO of
White Dove Bird, explains. “In terms of vision, a CEO is the developer while a business analyst
is the researcher.” Hence, a BA is already aware of what it entails to be a CEO, they just need
to gain the experience, skillset, and knowledge to don the hat of a C-suite level professional.

Business analysts who aspire to the topmost leadership positions and who are looking to
expand their career horizons need to be multidimensional professionals with broad business, IT,
 p p , ,
and leadership skills. They must seek out and create their own opportunities beyond their
comfort zones, hone their existing skillsets, and acquire new knowledge and skillsets required
for the coveted role.

In this blog, we discuss some broad guidelines which a BA can follow to take their career to the
top level.

⮚Business analysts should broaden their cross-functional experience.

According to Andy Salunga from Forrester Research, “Business analysts looking to expand
their career horizons must seek challenges outside of their functional heritage.”

For a BA to grow into a C-suite role, they need to deepen their functional expertise and broaden
their knowledge of the various departments and domains of an organization. A business analyst
already possesses cross-functional knowledge and by honing up these they will be better
placed for taking on broader responsibilities.

⮚Business analysts should increase technological knowledge & skills and become familiar with
process & IT management methodologies.

A business analyst, to move forward on their career path, requires a higher degree of
technological fluency. Executives who neglect their technical skills might be passed over. In a
fast-changing global economy, dated technical skills can hamper resource-allocation and
strategic decisions.
Therefore, it’s important to learn tools for business process charting, modeling to draw the
current and the future vision of the process. Tools like MS Visio, Lucid Chart, BizAgi Business
process modeler, etc., come in handy here.

A BA should seek to understand and utilize methodologies like Lean Six Sigma, CMMI, ITIL,
etc., to improve processes and enable broad-scale business innovation and to improve IT
performance and align IT with the business.

⮚Business analysts should nurture and strengthen their behavioral skills.

Every BA should have a unique blend of interpersonal skills, but some behavioral skills are
worth their value in gold as one climbs up the ladder in their career. A few notable amongst
those are

● Problem-solving Skill

● Decision Making Skill

● Creative & Innovative Thinking

● Analytical thinking Skill

● Team Building Skill

● Presentation Skill

● Questioning Skill

● Communication Skill

● Listening Skill

● Negotiation Skill

 g
● Conflict Resolution Skill

● Facilitation Skill

While vying for the top jobs in an organization, it is imperative to be good at building
relationships with people across departments to be effective. BAs must hone their
organizational change management skills, conflict resolution skills, leadership skills, and other
interpersonal skills as they envisage leading ever-changing teams and initiatives while climbing
up the corporate ladder.

⮚Certification & Training, a sure-shot way of ‘Moving Up the Ladder’

Most successful people, I have spoken to and even read about agree that a continuous thirst
for knowledge is one of the key elements in building a growing, and thriving career.
Certifications not only increase the professional value of a person but also enhances the skills
by making one learn new things beyond their job.

Certification tells your organization, future employers, and your professional peers that you’re
well-qualified and that you take your career seriously. Simply put, certifications can be
considered as a ‘stamp of excellence’.

One of the most important reasons to get certified is that it helps you stay ahead of the
competition. If you truly want to succeed in your career, you need to stay current in all the
technologies and regulations that affect your profession.
For a business analyst, there are a number of industry-recognized certificates that they can
acquire. Business analysis certification is a specialized education that works as a credential for
a business analyst professional. Several specialized certifications can be pursued as you go
ahead in your career.

Read about all the different BA certifications available in the market in this blog – Business
Analysis Certifications

The certification space for the BA community has been dominated by IIBA. IIBA has been
promoting the business analysis profession and certification for more than a decade now with
its certifications ECBA (entry-level), CCBA (intermediate level), CBAP (Advanced level) and
specialized certifications like AAC (Agile Analysis Certification), CBDA (Certification in Business
Data Analytics) and CCA (Certification in Cybersecurity Analysis), each requiring a different
level of experience.

As the C-suite role is the most experienced position in the organization, for a BA, it would be
highly desirable if they have the CBAP certification along with specialized certifications like
CBDA and AAC under their belt.

CBAP

CBAP is essentially is meant for senior business analysts and is the most coveted BA
certification in the world. CBAP certification has proven results in terms of salary benefits,
career growth, and opening up new opportunities in the global markets. CBAP exam has case
study and scenario based questions based on Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABoK).

IIBA-AAC

IIBA Agile Analysis Certification recognizes the competencies of BA professionals and is ideal
for Agile BAs, BA Consultants, Trainers, Project Managers, Testers, etc. The IIBA-AAC exam is
closely aligned to the Agile Extension to the BABOK® Guide, version 2 and tests one’s ability to
answer questions focused on real-world scenarios.

IIBA-CBDA

CBDA recognizes a BA Practitioner’s ability to effectively execute analysis related work in

support of business analytics initiatives and is an indication of one’s commitment, passion, and
competency in performing business analysis on analytics initiatives.

⮚Business analysts should hone & develop Leadership Skills

Leadership is all about motivating others to dream higher, do things, and act in ways that are
conducive to achieving goals.

In any business, leadership skills are one of the most prized assets that an employee can
possess, and when it comes to positions at the C-level, they’re considered an absolute
essential.

For BAs, leadership skills are not an unknown territory. They generally use leadership when
facilitating discussions, guiding teams through ambiguous situations, articulating and inspiring a
clear vision of the desired future state, encouraging stakeholders to think in new ways, and
collaborating with stakeholders to work toward common goals. Given this, it should be easier
for BAs to hone up their leadership skills.

Business analysts can hone their leadership skills through the following activities:

1. Taking initiative
2. Being decisive
3. Guiding others in their tasks
4. Setting clear directions and goals
5. Influencing others
6. Being an example for others to emulate
7. Continuously learning from others & situations
8. Listening actively & Communicating clearly
9. Having empathy & positivity
10. Resolving conflicts
At the C-level, knowing the organization’s goal and where to reach is only a small part of the
equation – knowing how to get others to follow you there is the harder and more important part.
And in this leadership skills of the professional makes a lot of difference.

In short, the skills needed by a business analyst to step-up to the C-level of a company cover a
wide range of subjects, from working with and leading others to know oneself and striving to
expand skills and knowledge at every career phase.

A business analyst is a generalist who is proficient in functioning completely in different

positions. The future of business analyst is prosperous in the global market. Following the steps
mentioned above, you can reach as high as your aspirations and diligence takes you.

Following a well thought out road map will be a lucrative and rewarding move.

As a business analyst aspiring to reach the top-tier of the organization, you should prepare a
road-map and follow it diligently. Mastering business analysis skills, to have the business
acumen necessary to ascend to the top, along with following and honing the aforementioned
steps & skills will definitely aid in climbing the ranks and become a prized executive.

You can learn more about earning your Certified Business Analysis Professional certification
with Adaptive US today by following this link here – https://www.adaptiveus.com/cbap-
certification-training. You can find a large library of information there as well that will help guide
you in deciding whether or not to take the next steps.

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