Posted by Judy in Listening
Effective consulting skills are in real demand across the IT sector. In a series of meetings I’ve had with IT directors recently, it’s become increasingly clear to me that the successful 2010 “geek” is increasingly aware of the need to deliver real business value by solving “people problems” as well as technical challenges, and is repositioning himself accordingly.
Managers and recruiters are increasingly seeking evidence that applicants can:
• Communicate effectively, orally and in writing
• Work effectively with groups and teams
• Collaborate to solve problems and develop solutions
• Ask questions that go beyond the obvious
• Take a broad business perspective
• Build and manage relationships with clients, users, and colleagues.
As Eric Lundquist wrote in eWeek, introducing research into the top skills IT managers look for in new hires: “Turns out the hours you spent becoming an AJAX expert don’t count for nearly as much as being able to show you have a sense of ethics, can communicate in person instead of on Twitter, and can work with a group of people.”
So, how to improve your consulting skills? Particularly in the IT sector, it seems to be assumed that you’ll just pick them up along the way, and More >
Posted by Judy in Listening
Why can’t people just say what they mean? Ambiguity and confusion, resulting in wasted effort, frayed tempers, and increased costs, are common in all business environments.
Misunderstandings can be bad enough when you’re face-to-face with colleagues – but the problem gets even worse when technological, linguistic and cultural communication barriers are added to the mix.
If you have a sense that everyone you talk to has a different understanding of the crucial definitions or terms on your project – you’re right!
Language is a wonderfully flexible tool. But its very flexibility leads to problems: everyone thinks they’re like Humpty Dumpty, and can use words to mean whatever they choose them to mean!
For example, if you ask two people to think of a tree, then check the details of the tree they thought of, you’ll discover that no two people’s trees are ever exactly the same. It’s not that one is right and one is wrong – it’s just that they are different.
And the more novel or complex the topic, the greater the scope for differences of meaning.
When it’s your job to sort out these differences, to achieve a consensus of meaning, then here’s an X-Ray Listening tip.
More >
Are your requirements-gathering interviews and workshops a pleasure, or a form of torture? When you make the process enjoyable for participants it becomes more effective – as well as making you more popular!
It has long been recognised that one of the leading causes of project failure is having poorly-defined requirements. Remember the old “project cartoon” with the different versions of a tree swing? And the problem is still very much with us. Systems keep on being delivered which just don’t do quite what the business needs them to do: the “real” requirement has been missed somewhere along the line.
It’s all about effective communication.
The most experienced and sought-after business analysts have highly-developed consulting skills, as well as technical domain knowledge. Employers increasingly recognise, and hire for, this kind of skill. And yet many analysts have not been taught interviewing and facilitation to even a basic level – these skills are supposed to be picked up along the way.
So, how can you improve your own approach? Here are three ideas which have worked well in many contexts. One analyst even claims they saved a €34.8m project from disaster, when they helped him discover that the two national banks driving the project had differing More >
