Importance of the Big Picture

The concept of Storytelling stems from the question “How important is the big picture?” As a Business Analyst, in order for me do my job effectively and successfully, I need to see the big picture. I realized this more than ever when I happened to be on a project site, and on the first day my project team was given a two page handout of business requirements. Upon analyzing the pages, it was clear that there were audit and compliance requirements. But we were still left with unanswered questions, like why was the current system failing? Who is auditing this company? What problems are occurring and when? The business did a great job of providing my project team with a window into their issues, but any effective BA will tell you that we need to see the house to understand what repairs are needed.

Critical and analytical thinking are absolutely key in Storytelling, both when you’re formulating your story and defining the big picture. Think about where you leverage your critical thinking skills in your career. From a Business Analyst or CEO, to a Lawyer or Juror, to a Teacher or Student, we are all accessing our critical thinking abilities. As BA’s, we engage in critical thinking in meetings with stakeholders for requirements elicitation, and during process building when we are identifying and mapping sustainable processes (just to name a few examples). Your goal as a project team is to save that organization money, and ensure your project is efficient, on time and on budget. The image below demonstrates the path of critical thinking, with the final box highlighting the deliverable:

Thus, critical thinking can be broken down into the 5 W’s and the How. Believe me, when they taught you this in grade school, you were being set up for success because you leverage these skills throughout your whole life.

Networking – Telling the Story of You

Now that we have a basis for critical thinking, we can leverage what we know in other areas of our lives. When do we practice storytelling? You can leverage this model when it comes to maintaining and building your network. For those of you who have attended networking events, people you met have likely asked you about your back story: who you are, where you came from, what made you interested in your career. You are already leveraging your analytical and critical thinking skills when you tell the story of you. Whether you are a networking veteran, or completely new to this concept, it is best to always work on, and craft your elevator pitch. Your experiences, your career objectives, your story all work together in promoting your authentic self. Furthermore, networking is how you promote your professional image; it’s not only what you say about yourself, it’s also how you present yourself.

Others can also contribute to your story through references and shared experiences. Therefore, our stories, written by our experiences and input from others ultimately become the badges that we wear. With this in mind, continue to formulate your authentic story based on your unique experiences.

Ideas – Applying Your Critical Thinking Skills to Promote Your Ideas

Now that we’ve got a grasp on the basics of critical thinking and how we can apply it to our authentic story, let’s focus on leveraging these skills to promote your ideas. If you have an idea that you believe in, and your goal is to turn it into a business, or even a side hustle to eventually grow into a business, you could use this critical thinking model to pursue them. This is your time to craft the story of your idea. For example, if you are interested in developing an app, this is the perfect time to use your storytelling ability to craft the story of your app. What is this app used for? Where did you get this idea? When would your target audience use this app? Why and How? Crafting an authentic story around your idea is a great introduction to generate interest and keep people hooked.By leveraging the storytelling ability, you are able to create a pitch. Thus, your model will resemble the image below:

As mentioned in my blog “Defining the Dream” the concept of storytelling is closely related to crafting and creating your selling point for your vision. Using your storytelling abilities will help you grow your network and enable you to connect with like-minded people. Storytelling will also enable you to create your pitch to sell your idea. Once your vision and dream is defined for yourself, then you can craft the story.