BA Bites - Top 10 Weirdest BA Skills You Didn’t Know You Needed

Top 10 Weirdest BA Skills You Didn’t Know You Needed

You’ve mastered stakeholder management and process modelling, but what about acting, mind-reading, or storytelling? In this episode, we dive into the weirdest, most unexpected skills that make BAs stand out—and how to develop them.

🎧 Listen to learn:

• The quirky skills you might already use (and why they matter).
• Real-life examples of unconventional BA superpowers in action.
• Tips to hone your hidden talents for even greater impact.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
The better. Business Analysis Institute.
Presence. The Better Business analysis.
Podcast. With Benjamin Walsh.
Hello everybody and. Welcome back to the Better
Business. Analysis Podcast.
With your. Host Benjamin Walsh and today on
our. BA byte series we're going to
cover. The top 10.

(00:22):
Weirdest BA. Skills you didn't know you
needed. That's right, you've read the
job. Descriptions, Stakeholder
management process modelling, requirements gathering.
But what? About the weird skills that
truly make or break ABA. In this episode.
I'll reveal. 10. Surprising.

(00:44):
Unconventional. Skills every.
Business Analyst. Needs and.
How they can help? You ace your role.
Starting with number one acting.Skills.
That's. Right stakeholder.
Engagement often. Requires you to play different
roles. Mediator.
Coach. Even devil's advocate or

(01:04):
dictator. When mediating between. 2.
Conflicting teams act as the neutral referee, right and keep.
Your motions. In check you can join an improv.
Class or practice? Mirroring stakeholders energy.
To build rapport. It's an.
Interesting one act at home, be a little bit.
Silly number. 2. Detective.

(01:28):
Instincts. Sometimes stakeholders don't
know. What they want or they aren't
telling you the whole truth. As.
We've talked about before. Spotting contradictions and
requirements. Or uncovering.
Hidden assumptions. You can do that.
By asking probing questions. If you're reading.
Some Michael Connolly books or detective books.

(01:50):
You can learn some. Investigative techniques and you
can practice. Your root.
Cause analysis. To be the detective that you
need to be to be a better BA. #3is mind reading well?
Sort of. Stakeholders really say what?
They actually mean. And reading.
Between the lines and the body. Language.

(02:12):
Is key. When a.
Stakeholder says. This should be easy to
implement. They might.
Really mean I don't understand the?
Complexity. Learn to pick up.
On non verbal cues such as tone,body.
Language during meetings if you're not good at this.
You need to get better and you need to practice.
It. #4 we've talked about before.

(02:34):
Which is. Storytelling.
So. People remember stories.
I need to get better. At this.
I've got. A terrible memory.
They remember stories. They don't.
Really. Remember.
Flow charts, which is why. Customer journey.
Is kind of somewhere in between.Storytelling helps.
Sell ideas and align. Stakeholders.
It's also creates a bit. Of a persona about yourself.

(02:56):
So if you can create a compelling narrative around a
user. Journey you can get.
Buy in. For a new system or.
Solution or. Plan of.
Attack study Basic. Storytelling structures, we
talked. About the hero's journey before.
And apply them to. User personas.
And apply them to project pictures.

(03:17):
Number. Five office.
Politics Navigation. You need to.
Understand the. Power dynamics.
Right in an office. It can save you.
From being caught in the crossfire.
When there's 2 senior managers. Who are fighting for resources
know. How to diplomatically handle
both? And keep the project on track.

(03:38):
There's all. Sorts of things going.
On in an office someone. Is like doesn't like someone
else or someone. 'S got.
More seniority or this person sleeping with someone else.
It's all sorts of things that goon in an office.
Just like at home and you need to understand the office.
Politics. You can.
Observe. How decisions?
Are really. Made.
In your organization. And map.

(03:59):
Out informal. Power structures.
And might actually help you. And helps your.
Team understand who you really. Need to.
Get through. Number six is data whispering.
Numbers tell. Stories.
But only if you know how to listen.
Identify. Bottlenecks and processes,
right? Based on.
Performance data that no one else will even notice.

(04:21):
Hone your. Skills.
With tools like Excel, Power BI,Tableau and Practice spotting.
Trends in the data set we. Talked.
About this This is a skill for 20. 25 #7.
Meme mastery. That's right.
Inject. Humor into dry topics to make.
A workshop more engaging. And less tense I've.

(04:42):
Seen this? Done.
Really. Badly.
I used to hate it with Dilbert cartoons.
In every. Presentation but.
Memes. A little bit.
Softer, you don't have to read them.
All in there and. They can just add a.
Little bit of light touch. Sure meme.
About endless. Meetings to.
Lighten up the mood. And.
A team that's stuck in analysis paralysis.
Find. Relatable BA or project?
Management means. That have.

(05:04):
Inspiration. Or just.
Add a bit of humour and a bit of.
Jokes to a dry. Situation. #8 is.
Translation jargon Edition. Bridge the gap.
Between the language used, between technical.
Teams and business teams is critical.
Explain. What API?
Integrations means. To a non-technical.
Stakeholder. In plain.

(05:25):
English maybe? Start to put together a.
Glossary of terms. 'Cause you'll use them.
Again and again. Practice simplifying.
Complicated ideas in everyday conversations.
Or even. Resources you've already got,
like artifacts you can pull out to.
Explain and what an API is for. Example. #9 is selective memory
sometimes. You need.

(05:46):
To forget unproductive comments and just.
Keep a project. Moving forward, ignore a
stakeholder's offhand suggestionthat contradicts.
Project scope. Without escalating it if it's.
Unnecessary. Just.
Forget if someone's having a badday.
Focus on. Prioritizing.
Actionable feedback. Not, you know.

(06:06):
Non constructive feedback and just let.
The rest go. OK, I need to get better at
this. I can dwell on the detail, I've
got a bit of a thick. Thick skin and I.
Apply this. To personal.
Comments. But I'm not very good if people
are. Knocking.
The project baby. That I'm looking after and #10.
2025, the year of being fearlessAKA.

(06:28):
Asking dumb. Questions the dumb.
Question. Often uncovers.
Critical. Gaps and.
Understanding. Ask why are we?
Doing this in a. Room full of experts?
Try that. Understanding that no.
One has a clear answer or the same answer.
Cultivate curiosity. And remind yourself that asking
questions is a strength. Not a.

(06:50):
Weakness. So put your hand up and just say
hey, look, just. This might be a stupid question,
but. Why are we doing this again?
Can someone explain? Don't come across facetious.
But come. Across as someone who just.
Wants to. Understand.
As a newbie. OK, I hope you've learned
something. So there you have it.
They're the. 10 Weirdest BA. Skills.
That you didn't even know you needed.

(07:11):
To do the job. I'll see you next week.