Dealing with Limited Resources - 1
The No Money Story
The same old stories often appear with the birth of a good idea.
It’s fine when you get your great idea, your added-value. But when it comes to carrying out the great idea you’ll often you’ll hear:
Sorry - no money left in the budget
Sorry - I can’t spare anyone to help
Sorry - my diary is horrendous - we haven’t the time
This can be a big hurdle, but never be put off if Resource Holders initially present this attitude.
What they’re really saying to you is that they’re not yet sold on the great idea. They may well be secretly warming to the idea, but feel that it isn’t quite up to scratch for them yet. Or perhaps they don’t properly understand it.
It means that you have to try a bit harder. Which is fine. It’s what you’re trained to do.
Here are a few positive ideas to start grasping that can act as a useful counterbalance when Resource Holders give the No Money knee-jerk response (because that’s what it often is - a knee-jerk response):
Positive Idea 1
The more difficult people try to make things, the better the ideas get
Never stop believing this.
Or even better:
Positive Idea 2
The tighter the box, the better the solution.
This is perhaps the best of all.
Solutions can come from the most unlikely quarters, and often when least expected.
Take it as a point of pride that when things are difficult, the answer is going to be even better.
Experience shows this is so often the case.
This is because so often we’re trapped in our everyday way of thinking. We need the pressure of limited resources to get our brain cells churning in the right direction. Necessity becomes the mother of invention.
These truisms indicate that there’s always a solution if you look for it.
Always let positivity prevail.
Try looking at things from the other side of the coin too.
Pouring money and resources into ideas has never been a sure-fire formula for success. If it was then every well funded idea would work. But they plainly don’t.
If you listen to senior budget holders in any organisation they’ll all tell you the same thing - that staff are always asking for more - regardless of whether their ideas are any good or not. People always want more of this, more of that - always saying how more money would make such a difference to them.
But senior budget holders also know that these requests for more budget can often be translated as:
Fred, I badly need prestige. I need to look and feel better so please give me more money so I can have a an extra member of staff
or
Irene, I can’t budget properly. So how can I manage unless you give me more money
or
James ... here’s a marginally useful idea that costs a lot for what we get back in return. But I’d still like you to back me and throw money at it.
Senior Budget Holders have heard every excuse for more money under the sun. And they’re no longer listening. They’ve gone deaf - like rock musicians.
So what are we saying? Are we saying we should hold successful meetings and generate great ideas, only to be told that there’s no money or resource to make the ideas work?
Of course not.
What we’re saying is that great ideas shouldn’t have to cost lots of money or require lots of resource.
Learn to develop ideas that make good economic sense.
Start to believe that the tighter the box, the better the solution.
Have ideas that save money rather then spend it.
Stay positive, and you have every chance that a great idea will come. Make it a personal challenge to the group.
If you look at the history of good ideas in business you’ll see that most of them didn’t require a big spend.
What you’ll also see is that when an idea is truly great, it often attracts the resources it requires.
Great ideas attract resources.
Weak ideas attract nothing (we hope).
And it’s often when things look the most difficult that the best ideas emerge.
Necessity has always been the mother of invention.
So when you get ideas and don’t get the corresponding funds or resources to back them up, then don’t be afraid to go back to the drawing board and improve on your ideas. Relish the challenge. Don’t sulk.
And if the idea really can’t find any backing, then go and have another idea, a better one - a cheaper one - a great idea that will attract backing.
If at first you don’t succeed then try, try and try again. All successful people will tell you that they’ve had to persevere. |
