Budget reaction ☹

So, your department has just missed budget, maybe a big contract got cancelled, a big project was postponed. What happens next is an all-too-common story of action and involvement from up the organisation, lots of stick chasing, lots of focusing on re-forecasting for the next quarter. A cynic might suggest that this is all stuff that makes the boss feel better, it is very reinforcing to see people hurrying around, and might cover up any sense of embarrassment that maybe they should have seen it coming or paid better attention. Now if you work in short timeframe delivery activities, maybe this makes sense, but if you work in projects that are delivered in years not weeks and months, it makes no sense at all. The problem here is that the things that tend to be focused on are not the things that will get the budget back on track. Reforecasting, more reports to the boss, justifying your previous budget, do not get you back on budget. What is needed is a focus on wealth creating behaviours, figure out what daily behaviours we need to be doing to be successful, do more of that.