My Lineage
I am a Senior Business Analyst by trade and recently took the opportunity to set up my own company after a 33 year career with a major financial insurance company in the UK. In the time I worked ‘for the Man’ I undertook many major projects and whilst I have some formal qualification as a BA I have mostly developed my skills via experience, training with several leading companies and learning from others. I have also learnt a huge amount from participating in and speaking at conferences, most notably the European BA Conference held in London every September. These activities gave me the confidence to find my voice as a BA and share my experiences. This blog is not an attempt to be a text book on being a BA, instead it is my attempt to bring a slightly different frame of reference to the role and provide a framework for personal development and growth.
In 2010 at the age of 43 I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease which has been a major challenge for me as the condition has progressed. Living with a health condition has given me greater focus on leaving a legacy and making a difference; outside of the office I used to be a fencing coach and have interests in Zen, martial arts and samurai history and it is in this area that I initially found a real model around which to structure my personal view of the world. My co-habitation with Parkinson’s has enhanced my views and I believe that people perform better when they have a job that they can believe in and grow through. I also believe that everybody frames their world with their own perception and rules. It has taken me a long while to synthesise my job, life and principles but it has been an interesting journey to get here. Hopefully you will find some of the information on these pages of use.
My Curious Brain
I saw something today that set my brain a-thinkin’. I was at a roundabout and a truck came past bearing the name IVECO and it struck me that although I had seen many trucks like it over the years I didn’t actually know how the word was pronounced. Was it ”IVE-coh”? Or “eye-VEE-coh”? or “EE-vee-coh?” or “Ivvy-coh?”* Not only that I didn’t know what it meant either. Was it an abbreviation or acronym? Is there an Iveco family somewhere who started the company?**
You’re probably thinking “Does it really matter Dave?” Well I think it does. OK not specifically this particular truck type but the principal of curiosity. Curiosity makes a BA tick; wherever ambiguity lurks you will (or at least should) find a BA asking questions. Whether it is an obscure TLA, or an unclear requirement the BA should be the one with the initiative and curiosity to stick their hand up and ask “What does that really mean?” You see, one of the features of life in projects is complacency; a team gets comfortable with the everyday language they use or encounter, until it becomes second nature to them but not for people outside the team. Then it becomes unquestionable until someone (hopefully a BA) says “Err…. Just so I’m clear here, what does AWS mean?”* It’s remarkable how many times in my career my ‘obvious’ question was answered with “Actually I don’t know”, or “Err.. we’ve always called it that” and uncovered an important issue.
Curiosity is another powerful tool in the BA Toolkit and it’s important that we use it. I was once told that I ask a lot of stupid questions by a tetchy team-member and I smiled and replied “It’s my job to ask stupid questions; It’s what I get paid for and I like to think I’m pretty good at it….”
I also believe that good communication skills are vital for a BA and will be presenting on ‘The Art of Communication’ at BA Conference Europe 2023 on the morning of the 19th September, so if you’re attending maybe I’ll see you there!
*OK, the last one is unlikely but seeing as Skoda has recently inherited a silent ‘h’ becoming ‘Shkoda’ you never know. I now find myself doing a Sean Connery impression (badly) whenever I say it.
**The Honda were originally a prestigious Samurai clan that diversified after Japan went international in the late 1800s
***You’ll have to figure this one out for yourself
****Amazon Web Server? Amazon Web Service? Amazing Web Service? Any Web Server? Appropriate Wine Storage?
Cascade Failure
I saw an excellent article by Julian Burton on LinkedIn today about the hazards of communicating during transformation initiatives and it resonated so much with thoughts I had on the subject that I thought I’d post some material of my own on this tricky situation. I would point that I’ve never had to do the communication within my previous employment but I have been the receiver of it on numerous occasions. I’d also like to point out that this is in no way a criticism of any past manager who may have been unfortunate to manage yours truly, more a criticism of the ‘traditional thinking’ around the way communication is handled.
I see a Bad Moon Rising
Unfortunately in a lot of cases of corporate transformation the first thing the people in the trenches hear about it is the immortal phrase “We’ve engaged with a Consultancy company who specialise in corporate transformation…” This triggers a number of responses in the employees, typically;
- “Why?”
- “Oh no, not again”*
- “We’re doomed!”
- “How will this impact me?”
None of these are particularly positive and already potentially negatively impact the eventual outcome.
The Communication Sponge-cake of Doom
The next problem is passing the message down through many layers of management to the front-line. There is a classic comedy analogy where military High Command sends the message “Sending reinforcements, we’re going to advance” which passes through so many different people who each distort it slightly that the final message that reaches the trenches is “Sending three an’ fourpence we’re going to a dance….” Cascade failure of point-to-point information is more likely the more relays it passes through. The more chances there are for interpretation between speaker and listener the more likely the chances of the incorrect message being delivered with serious consequences for success. Each person in the relay passes on what they think they heard with the following consequences:
- The message is diluted (emotion)
- The message is mis-communicated (facts)
- You get the opposite effect to the one desired
- Time and money poorly utilised in the roll-out
The Upside-Down Rollout Cake
Cascade failure of a transformation message is normally because workload tends to filer down whilst information stays at the top; also because it can often be a vehicle for organisational change engendered by engaging with a specialist Consultancy; a Consultancy that typically regards it’s customers as the senior management of the organisation it has been engaged by so targets it’s activity at them. Therefore the initial big launch at the high level may look suspiciously like a nice jolly from the trenches and is often unfortunately communicated insensitively. This occurs because the transmitters of the information are middle level management who didn’t get to attend the whole safari/tall-ships/Dhaka rally team building affair due to lack of budget. But they do get the job of explaining it all to their teams with the aid of a set of slides, some videos and ‘facilitator pack’!
Ironically of course, the most vital people to the success of the venture i.e. the people with boots on the ground receive per head, the least investment. The ultimate outcome ……? Well what do you think?
So what can management do to mitigate the risks of cascade failure? Here are my suggestions:
- The simple answer: don’t do it.
- As a CEO, CIO or Senior Leadership Team member if it’s your message; you own it until it’s in everybody’s head so invest in effective communication, tell the story from your personal point of view to as many of your staff as possible
- If that’s not possible then make sure your cascade team can match your enthusiasm and knowledge
- If that’s not possible – see first answer
The optimum solution is to involve your team from the start as much as possible to ensure they’re on the journey with you!
*With apologies to Douglas Adams and “The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
What’s at the bottom of your list?
I saw part of an interview with Ben Stokes today (The England Test Cricket Captain) as part of the Ashes build up*. He was asked what would he be saying to the England team before they went out to face the formidable Australian opposition and he explained that he keeps a list of things that are important with the word ‘result’ at the bottom of it. That is because in his view the bottom line is the result; everything else is secondary. He might write words like ‘technique’, ‘attack’, or even ‘strategy’ on the list but if the bottom line wasn’t achieved it was irrelevant.
That got me thinking about using a similar technique to plan Business Analysis activity. You start with the desired outcome at the bottom, say for example, an ‘as-is’ picture of a business team and their processes and you fill in the list accordingly from the bottom up.**
- Rich picture
- Context diagram
- Business Architecture Diagram
- Business Activity Model
- Business Processes
- Facilitated workshops
- Stakeholder Grid
- ‘As-is’ business model
You could even use it to frame your personal goals for the year, but the power of this technique only works if you get the bottom line right. It must be the word that you place the most value or importance on. If I were to use it to describe my mindset when taking on an assignment I might create a list that looked something like this….***
- Questions
- Facilitation
- Make options visible
- Flag consequences
- Clear communication
- Appropriate BA techniques
- Clearly documented results
- Right people involved
- Optimum outcome
What would be your bottom line?
*If you’re not into cricket the Ashes are a big thing in a small urn
** other lists may be available, list sequences may have been shortened
*** or might not, it depends on the situation!
Mind Your Language
Regular readers of this blog will know that I have quite strong views on the correct use of language and even stronger views on the incorrect use of it. By incorrect I mean the increasing tendency to use language to cover up what really happened. Here are two examples I have heard this week:
SpaceEx rocket undergoes an “unscheduled rapid disassembly” on launching. Actually, it blew up, but I guess that is a little too negative for the SpaceEx media team. It is an attempt to defuse the situation (no pun intended) and begs the question as to what a “Scheduled rapid disassembly” would look like?!?!
Russian warplane experiences an “abnormal descent of aviation ammunition”. Actually a Russian plane accidentally bombed a Russian city. Whether this was by systems failure or pilot error is kind of irrelevant to the people injured in the incident. If you think harder about the wording it makes even less sense; an “abnormal descent” implies that the bomb (for that is what the “aviation ammunition” actually was) descended abnormally. What, it went upwards? Did a loop-the-loop? No, it did what bombs do; it fell from the sky but over the wrong target. If the spurious language was to be more accurate it would need to say something like “an abnormal/incorrect initiation of aviation ammunition descent” occurred, but this would still be obscuring the bald facts.
Why is this important to a Business Analyst? Well, a BA must be constantly seeking for clarity about the accurate facts of a situation and not take anything for granted. Imagine if you were dealing with a stakeholder and they mentioned the following:
An “Unscheduled and unusual customer data donation” – doesn’t sound too bad does it? Until it becomes clear that it is actually a leak of customer data.
A “misaligned delivery data event” – i.e. the address details were wrong
An “inaccurate unit transfer occurrence” – i.e. the premium was wrong
Using inaccurate language can have potentially serious consequences. One of the clearest signs I have seen lately is that put up by UK National Power when excavating a hole in a search for a cable fault. In large letters it read “KEEP CLEAR – DANGER OF DEATH”……… Which certainly is clear and unambiguous!
It is vital that BAs add clarity to a situation therefore we must have the courage to challenge pernicious and obfuscatory nomenclature, or in other words, bad language!
Dealing With Scope Creep
It’s been quite a while since I posted anything for reasons that will become clear shortly but since today is World Parkinson’s Day I thought I’d put fingers to keyboard and post an update on my life with the aforementioned condition. Those of you that either know me or have read my previous posts will probably know that I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s at the age of 43 in 2010 and have lived with its highs and lows (or ons and offs) ever since. The first chapter of my journey came to a climax two years ago when I underwent brain surgery and had a Deep Brain stimulation device implanted in my brain in order to mitigate the main motor symptoms I was experiencing which in my case were a pronounced tremor, nil core strength, trouble walking and a hunched over posture. These symptoms manifested for the majority of the day and meant that I had real trouble doing virtually any simple task that relied on my hands and core strength, so that included dressing, getting up out of chairs, turning over in or getting out of bed, going to the bathroom, typing and my favourite hobby, drawing amongst many other things. It was also debilitating in the sense that I got very self-conscious socially, despite my ‘stage-life’ as a conference speaker!
I’m pleased to say things improved immeasurably after the operation and the stimulator was switched on. My tremor disappeared, my posture and gait improved, my core strength returned and I became able to do simple things again that others may take for granted such as tying up my bootlaces or actually reading a physical book or magazine once more. It was a phenomenal improvement and I remain hugely grateful to the team at Addenbrookes Hospital that took me through it.
However it became clear about a year ago that something wasn’t quite right. I began to suffer from anxiety and lack of confidence, together with a spiralling low mood that led me to quite a dark state of mind. Things began to seem pointless and I lost enthusiasm for activities that I’d previously enjoyed. I began to worry about everything, not helped by external global and national factors in turn exacerbated by the media fanning the flames of disquiet by creating crisis after crisis on a daily basis. The anxiety also manifested itself in communication problems; my voice would go very quiet or husky, I had trouble maintaining relaxed breathing when talking to anyone. In my head this became particularly obvious when conducting ‘work’ calls and became a vicious circle of worry and anxiety about not being able to communicate clearly which lead to further anxiety which lead to further communication worries! In the end I got to the point where I was so low that I stopped communicating altogether, thinking that if there was nothing worth talking about there was no point in saying anything at all. It was at this point that my Wife got very concerned and suggested I speak to someone about the situation, as did my Sister as she had also noticed my increasing taciturnity. After I talked openly about it I realised that when I had a low mood episode it felt different, almost as if it was out of my control and I was an observer. This seemed very similar to being ‘off’ physically prior to my operation so I decided to check out the Parkinson’s UK website about depression and was relieved (in a weird way) to find that it’s quite a common symptom in Parkinson’s patients due to the disease creating a loss of production of dopamine within the brain. Dopamine is not only a neural transmitter but it is also a ’happy chemical’ and prior to the operation I’d been taking 1200mg of dopamine enhancers a day just to try to remain normal! Now I was only taking 120mg daily, which was good from some perspectives but seeing as the deep brain stimulation only simulated the effects of dopamine instead of actually replacing it, meant I was down approx. 1000mg of ‘happy chemical’ a day! No wonder I was feeling depressed! This came as a bit of a relief to find that this ‘new me’ wasn’t who I really was but was chemically induced. I then spoke to the Parkinson’s specialist nurses who were able to prescribe some medication to counter this situation and after a couple of weeks I found myself again, with the strong feeling of emerging from a tunnel.
So now I’m back (from inner space)* and enjoying the everyday again. I feel once again privileged to be in a position where I can contribute to people’s careers through mentoring, share my experience via presentations and public speaking and generally make a positive difference in the world. The particular lessons I have taken away from this episode are:
When things change it can be scary
Don’t internalise anxious thoughts or anxiety in general, speak to someone about it. It doesn’t matter who; just get it out in the open and out of your head
When things change for the worse don’t assume they will never change for the better again; after all, life is change!
Count your blessings not your fears
and above all, enjoy what you have!
*to paraphrase Gloria Gaynor
The Power of Quotes
I like a good quote, as anyone who’s seen one of my presentations will know. I have several books of quotes that I refer to when in need of inspiration and there’s always something that can be taken from a nugget of external wisdom. Here’s a selection of quotes that have relevance (in my humble opinion) to not only life itself but the everyday work of a Business Analyst.
The following quotes are a selection that are relevant to the way a business analyst should think. We begin with an old favourite of mine:
“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s mind there are few.”
Shunryu Suzuki
Suzuki was on one of the first exponents of Zen who came to the West to spread its lessons and this is one of his most well known quotes. I take it to mean that a BA doesn’t have to be a subject matter expert on the area they are working on; more that they have to keep an open mind in order to get to the real problem they are trying to solve. This is reinforced by the following instruction from a learned Chinese Sage…
“Do not seek for the truth, only stop having an opinion.”
Seng T’san
Once opinions as to the right way or wrong way of doing something are discarded, room is made for an unbiased discussion as to the optimum solution.
“Much learning does not teach someone to have intelligence.”
Heraclitus
I interpret Heraclitus’ words as a caution about assumptions. You should never assume that something learned in an academic setting can be applied exactly as it was taught to you, or that because you have been taught something you are an ‘expert’. (See above). Life has a habit of catching you out……..
“A person must have a certain amount of intelligent ignorance to get anywhere.”
Charles Kettering
This quote by the American inventor suggests to me that it’s ok to not know something; that to be comfortable with ambiguity is a skill to be forged and it is the ability to navigate those ambiguous waters that is important.
“Let us train our minds to desire what the situation demands.”
Seneca
Here is an admonition by the Roman Stoic Seneca to remain focussed on the desired outcome of a particular situation and not to get side tracked by louder yet less consequential voices; something only too relevant for a business analyst. Seneca has further advice on outcome-based thinking here. “Our plans miscarry because they have no aim. When a person does not know what harbour they are making for, no wind is the right wind.” Further reinforcement of the fact that everything you attempt should have a clearly recognisable outcome.
“It is not enough to be busy, so are the ants. The question is, what are we busy about?”
Henry David Thoreau
Thoreau, the American naturalist and philosopher, wades into the same waters with this observation on activity being mistaken for achievement. This is particularly prevalent in times of crisis where people start paddling (to perhaps stretch our water-based analogy beyond breaking point) without clear thought about direction. This is the point that BAs can become leaders by asking clarifying questions that help people to understand the problem they are facing, rather than just following the shoal. (OK, enough of the watery metaphors now!)
“There are three essentials to leadership: humility, clarity and courage”
Fushan Yuan
Continuing the theme of BA as Leader the Chinese philosopher Fushan Yuan lists three qualities a great leader should have and they suit the Business Analyst role very well. To elaborate: BAs demonstrate humility by facilitating positive outcomes rather than dictating the direction. They should strive for clarity in everything they attempt which in turn takes courage to be comfortable with not knowing all the answers.
“Think not so much of what thou hast not, as of what thou hast.”
Marcus Aurelius
The Roman Emperor and Stoic philosopher wades in with a quote ostensibly about positive thinking but something that can also be applied to a seemingly intractable problem. You must always be aware of the resources at your disposal when faced with difficult situations, whether it be books, mentors, colleagues or people from your contact network. No matter what the situation there’s always somebody/something that can help you solve it.
“Practice is the best of all instructions.”
Aristotle
This statement from the Greek philosopher is so true. The more you practice something the better you will get at it, so if you’ve learned a new technique actively search out opportunities to apply it. Put yourself in different situations that are positively challenging in order to get better at dealing with them and you will get better at dealing with them!
Finally, advice that is vital to maintaining equilibrium in the sometimes stressful work environment and something well worth bearing in mind…….
“Rest satisfied with doing well, and leave others to talk of you as they will.”
Pythagoras
Happy New Year! (And you can quote me on that….!)
BA2022 in retrospect
Well BA2022 is over and what an action packed event it was! It was great to see people ‘non-virtually’ at last; some old acquaintances who I hadn’t seen face to face since 2019 and some new ones who I met during the pandemic through the online world. Apologies if there was anyone I didn’t get to say hello to but it was a busy couple of days!
Highlights for me were (in no fixed order):
The conference sessions – rather than single out anyone in particular, let me just say that all the sessions I attended were great; well thought out and presented with wit, professionalism and skill. One thing that this conference can be proud of is the care it takes to not only attract experienced speakers but to encourage and nurture less experienced or first-time participants too. As an ‘old-timer’ and self-confessed ‘presentation nerd’ it gives me great joy to see people taking their first steps on the presenting path. Speaking at the Conference for the last nine odd years has given me a lot of pleasure and self-belief and it’s nice to think it will do the same for others as well. The other thing worth commenting on was the sheer breadth of choice regarding topics; it was hard sometimes to pick a session from the sheer variety on offer.
The keynotes – another set of thought-provoking and in some cases, edgy, keynotes were presented by accomplished speakers on both days. The balance of subjects was good and the material heartfelt and delivered with enthusiasm. As a keynote speaker myself I know the responsibility involved in delivering one so congrats to all involved for getting us delegates engaged!
The food – a great variety on the menu from Etc Venues that hit the spot during every break!
The take-aways – there seemed to be a number of themes that emerged from the event that I took away to ponder. Again, in no particular order:
• The need to provide a coherent, structured professional service that allows BAs to justify their existence when challenged by non-BAs. What is it that BAs offer? Indeed what do we do? These are questions that seem to universally challenge the BA Profession and whilst I don’t see (or have) any concrete answers at least the question is being asked.
• The tension between the world of certification and/or accreditation vs the world of on-the-job experience. Should everyone be accredited formally? Who does this benefit ultimately? Will it favour the BAs working in big corporates with correspondingly big training budgets or should everyone have to pay for their own learning? Could this push some BAs into ‘qualification poverty’? #JustAsking!
• The need to expand our knowledge into areas that are less often associated with traditional business analysis and get radical about something globally important. Someone has to ask the difficult questions about climate, ethics and wellbeing on many levels and BAs have always been known as the people to do this so pick a cause and get invested!
The BA Community – the profession is wonderfully diverse, brilliantly inclusive and always open to innovation and should be proud of itself for its achievements so far. Thanks to all at IRM UK and the Conference Advisory Board and roll on BA2023!
Reflection on Reflecting
Another fact-oid about George Lucas that I’d like to share* is that when confronted by a situation that was described as impossible or unworkable, he’d simply say to the person “Just think about it”. Almost invariably after a time reflecting on the problem the person would identify a solution to the seemingly unsolvable challenge. This isn’t a technique unique to Lucas; it’s a well-known ploy by creative thinkers from past and present who have come to realise and rely on the power of the subconscious mind when problem solving. Whilst the conscious mind may not be able to see a potential solution and gives up, the subconscious mind keeps on turning the problem over in the background and quite often turns up the answer, seemingly ‘out of the blue’. It’s a bit like an anti-virus programme running in the background of your brain, except it’s an anti-fail programme, piecing together a puzzle without your direct awareness. It’s not an infallible process but it exists nonetheless. Chances of success can be greatly improved by giving the subconscious space to play; taking a break to read, create or even take a nap! By changing the rhythm and softening the focus of your thoughts you free up the subconscious to do its magic. Not for nothing did Archimedes have his ‘Eureka moment’ whilst taking a bath……..
This is important for a Business Analyst to realise as there are times when working with a group that the group will get stuck. Maybe it’ll be whilst working through a ‘to-be’ process model or whilst trying to develop a brand-new user journey; whatever the situation it will be recognisable as a sticking point and the group will get frustrated and argumentative with each other. It is at that point that the experienced BA Facilitator will suggest a break, or a different activity, or in some circumstances a complete halt to proceedings allowing the groups subconscious to work the problem. It is vital to change the collective focus completely in order to allow the subconscious aspect of the groups intellect to manifest. As mentioned before it’s not a nailed on certainty that a solution will be found but the odds are greatly improved.
The final thing I would mention is the effectiveness of Lucas’ communication. By simply saying “Just think about it” he wasn’t giving an order such as “You’ve got to fix this”, which can be counter-productive in these situations. Nor was he giving a mandatory deadline. “Think about it and get back to me by tomorrow”, which can be equally unproductive. In effect he was asserting his trust and faith in his colleague and leaving them room to go through the reflective process in their own time. Maybe he was encouraging them to put their trust in The Force!
So next time you encounter an apparently insolvable problem, switch off your targeting computer and just take a moment (or several) to let your subconscious mind look for an answer. You may be surprised at what comes up!
*I’ve been watching ‘Light and Magic’ on Disney+ which is the story of Industrial Light and Magic, the ground-breaking special effects shop that Lucas set up to do the special effects for Star Wars. These guys didn’t just break the mould, they invented new ones………….
May The Ripples Be With You Always…
I learnt something last night that really shocked me; George Lucas survived a horrific car crash when he was in his late teens. It gave him a sense of purpose and a desire to do the things that were important to him and so he became a film director, who after a while decided to write and direct a space opera styled movie that was known as The Star Wars. The rest as they say, is history…. But in this case it’s not just impersonal history, it’s my history as well. I saw Star Wars when I was ten years old and as discussed elsewhere on this blog it changed my life. Without Star Wars I wouldn’t have had my childhood imagination kindled that led to my lifelong enjoyment and stimulation of the cinema, which led to my enjoyment of drawing, which has stayed with me to this day and has been a great source of pride, learning and fun over the years. Without Star Wars my interest in mythology wouldn’t have been kicked off and I would never have heard of Joseph Campbell and his model of the ‘Hero’s Journey’ that has sustained me in times of trouble and prompted a satisfying secondary career as a conference speaker, in particular my keynote speech on the Power of Change and living with Parkinson’s disease wouldn’t exist without this knowledge. Based on feedback I have received if the speech didn’t exist the help it has given many other people in their personal journey wouldn’t either. And this is just one life that Lucas has influenced; but it would have never happened if that crash had been worse (or maybe hadn’t happened at all – Lucas could have continued working in his Dad’s store). The world would be markedly different for many people even though Lucas has never met 1% of them.
So what’s the point I’m trying to make here? Well I’m reinforcing my ‘ripple effect’ belief. i.e. the belief that we make ripples in life that effect many others, even though we are unaware of them. There are two ways by which we can do this, in my opinion.
Firstly by what we do i.e. our day job. We Business Analysts are so lucky here in that there are numerous ways to make a difference for people both within the requirements we facilitate and the questions we ask. We can influence the way a process flows so that it is more efficient for the processor, or the way a user journey flows so that it is easier for a differently-abled person (a subject close to my heart), or influence the way that personal data is held on a system to make fraud harder. Whatever way is relevant we have any number of opportunities to make a difference to someone every day.*
The second way is by who we are. Our manner, beliefs and attitude as we go through our everyday lives also make a big difference on those around us and although harder to discern may be the most important measure of the difference we make. It may be in the most surprising way but it is happening to us all, even if we are unaware of it.
So, what ripples have you made today?!?
*this isn’t limited to the Business Analyst role – everyone has opportunities for helping others in their job in some way, shape or form. It may take a bit of imagination but they are there.
Breathe Like A Leader*
I was watching an interview with Eoin Morgan, the former England Cricket Captain on Sky the other day and was fascinated by the amount of thought which he put into his captaincy and leadership of the team during his tenure. One of the insights I got from him was the value of breathing correctly; but not as you’d expect, during his time when he was batting, but during the time when he was communicating with his team-mates whilst England were fielding.
Before talking to any of his players he would read the match scoreboard aloud to himself because he realised that if he was breathless whilst doing it he was in the incorrect breathing state to communicate clearly. To remedy this situation he would take a few deep mindful breaths in order to ensure he was in a calm and present state whilst communicating. This method ensures that the communication is not rushed or incomplete. ‘High’ breathing (i.e. breath that starts high in the chest and is of a short cycle) means that you can run out of breath before you have imparted your message and human-nature being what it is, allows the listener to reload and reply in the middle of your sentence without understanding your purpose. ‘Low’ breathing which starts in the lower lungs/diaphragm or navel/abdomen area automatically assumes a more grounded delivery rhythm, leaving less time for interruptions.
He would also position himself on the field of play so he didn’t have to run over to the bowler if he wanted to talk to him; thus increasing the chance of his communication being clearer and not hurried and breathless. If it’s worth saying, it’s worth taking the time to do so.
He would also be conscious of his posture and make good eye contact whilst talking, making sure he was open in his body language and not obscuring his mouth or face with his hands. (This is one I must consciously work on as I have a habit of obscuring my mouth by putting my hand to my face a la Rodin’s ‘The Thinker’ when talking, which is particularly obstructive when using video technology. I am eliminating a good percentage chance of my communication being successful every time I do this).
These insights are particularly timely for me as a weak voice is a symptom of Parkinson’s Disease and one that I have started to suffer from. It particularly affects me when I am nervous and/or sitting down; which is more the case these days in this time of virtual working so I need to work more consciously on keeping my breathing ‘low and slow’, not ‘high and fast’. Although I have medical reasons for heeding this advice, I believe these insights can help anyone who is a regular communicator and let’s be honest, who isn’t these days!
*for some reason I kept thinking of the ‘Killers’ lyric “Smile like you mean it” when typing this title, probably because the cadence matches. The principle is the same when you think about it…..
The Samurai Business Analyst 