My staff ignores my cost budget. Help!

Dear Aunty B,

I am having a great deal of trouble driving it into the heads of my staff that we have no money.

I turn my back for a split second and our costs blow out. My sales staff discount, my IT budget always gets blown and I spend half my life signing cheques for petty cash. I feel like a lotto machine at a casino.

What can I do to make my staff stick to the budget?

TR
Vic

Dear TR,

Yell. This is a method of leadership that is widely discredited with management gurus. But believe me, it is a good start. Then take action.

With your sales staff, link their bonuses and commissions with the profitability of the sale. If they discount, they get less. Make sure with your IT budget that you have allocated a significant amount. And then tell them up front, that there isn’t any more and that they’ll have the next few months without a cent to spend.

As for your PA, have a regular sit down and run through the expenses.

Make a point of getting rid of somehting every time. Drum home the need to watch costs.

Make it a rule with all staff that you never do a deal unless it makes you money. Make it a founding principle that the company needs to make money and teach staff what this means.

Lastly, you can also turn cost control into a game. Have a weekly prize for anyone who brings to you a cost that can be cut out of the business.

Good luck,
Your Aunty B

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