Managing budgets is part of every support manager’s job.  However the influence you have over how much budget you end up with can be fairly limited.  But managing versus leading are two very different things.  When you ‘manage’ you look at what you have and make the best of it.  When you ‘lead’ you imagine what could be and work to make it happen.

Many times after initial conversations with key training contacts we’re asked to speak directly with their internal ‘clients’.  Budgets are almost never discussed at the beginning of these conversations with good reason; it’s not how much you have but what you need that drives commitment in organizations.  Those conversations with senior leaders focus on what the behavior change is, what’s currently in place, and what will it take to move the needle.  We also focus on what it means for the business.  If we can make some of the behavior changes that better align with the goal what would it be worth?

It’s always a little surprising to me that while there doesn’t appear to be any money readily available for a training initiative, a senior exec will often ‘find money’ to pay for what they need.  Clearly budgets are not irrelavant but if you think of them more as a guide than the limit, you are able to come closer to the vision you have for your area as a leader than just being stuck managing what you have.

How do you sell internal clients on spending money you don’t have?  Share a comment here or tweet us @mohrretail.  Every day is a chance to learn. MOHR.

Posted in Editorial
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About MOHR Retail

For more than 30 years, MOHR Retail has developed the critical people-to-people skills needed to create results in the retail industry—and we’re just getting started. Through innovative classroom and online learning methods, as well as our ongoing national retail research projects, we continue to stay on top of the trends so we can fuel the success of specialty stores, chain stores, outlets, catalogue retailers, department stores, and more. Nowhere does learning meet experience as it does in a MOHR Retail training program.