Budgets are tight everywhere

Budget Woes

The Scenario 

Budgets are tight everywhere, and in the department Dan leads, there is no exception. Every director in his division was required to cut 15% from their budget for the next fiscal year. As Dan considers the options, he knows that there will be hard feelings and potentially resentment among his eight team members as well as significant competition among the other directors to make the cuts as limited as possible while protecting people and projects.

Dan decides the only way to get through the tough decision is to involve the whole team in making a proposal regarding what can be cut. He considers his plan for a series of meetings he will facilitate to get to a proposal that he is comfortable with and can take to his V.P. 

The Strategy 

He wants everyone to have a voice and to feel engaged, and she wants to strengthen the sense of community among team members so they work collaboratively in the decision-making process. He lays out four meetings, each about 90 minutes. He opts to use Grounding to start the first meeting and creates Agreements for the work ahead. He chooses Collective Statement to build a common understanding of what the decision involves. Then, he plans to facilitate Focusing Four and a Decision Flowchart to explore the options the team generates. He intends to end the last meeting with Evaluation Think to assess the team’s work.

The Payoff 

Dan feels comfortable with the plan, yet knows that he wants to stay flexible to substitute other strategies if necessary. He is glad he has alternatives in each category he is using.