Involve Others

I really like the following post. When the chips are down, dont try to "go alone". Involve the staff, they have some good ideas! Many times, leaders think they have to make the decisions "top down", but the people on the front line might have more clarity to how an issue can be addressed.


How to Cut Budgets Without Destroying Morale
Posted by David Mammano

http://blog.inc.com/start-up/2008/10/how_to_cut_budgets_without_des.html?partner=rss

I am not sure if you noticed but budgets are being cut. My company, Next Step Magazine, gets most of its revenue from colleges, student loan companies and the military advertising. We've already seen the student loan companies disappear due to the liquidity crisis. As the recession deepens, we need to be prepared to feel the pain from other advertiser cuts as well.
So far, we're hanging in quite well. But just a few bad few months can reverse a small business's success. So what is a maverick small business guy to do? (Sorry, just wanted to say "maverick.") Cut the budget, of course. The last thing you want to do, however, is cut payroll and thereby derail the morale of your coworkers. The first thing to do? Engage everyone in the process.
That's what I did yesterday. We held a non-mandatory budget cut meeting. Since Next Step has an open book management philosophy, everyone knows every line item in the budget anyway. So about half the staff showed up to offer their thoughts on what we can cut.
They shared some great ideas and seemed to feel excited to be part of the process. They thought of things that I hadn't. Their ideas ranged from postponing new computer purchases to having the staff volunteer to bake birthday cakes instead of the company buying them.
My role was to shut up and listen. Of course, that was not entirely possible, but I think I did quite well!
Bottom line, I expect their suggestions to save us around $50,000 a year, which will be a real help. And it also helped that the staff was involved. Nobody likes heavy-handed, top-down decisions that don't allow for any feedback. Granted, you won't be able to implement every suggestion you get from your staff. But the environment you'll create by sincerely listening can make the hard times ahead feel that much less painful.