How to deny a budget request without frustrating your team

How to deny a budget request without frustrating your team


As corporate budget makers know all too well, it’s not just accumulating money that can be challenging — it’s parceling it out. 

Anybody who manages an organization appreciates it is a limited resource that must be reasonably rationed in the business and personal worlds. Every organization has to set a budget for each of its operations and divisions to ensure that tasks are adequately financed and ultimately performed. 

With any budget request, the issue may simply be who gets what. But how that decision is communicated often presents a challenge.

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Whether denying all or part of a request, the message has to be delivered clearly and sensitively so the turndown is understood and the requester is left only minimally frustrated. Motivating people to perform at the highest level is a key component of leadership. The leader doesn’t want to deflate his or her team with a harsh denial (except perhaps in the case of frivolous requests, which are not the subject of this chapter).

The scripting process will facilitate crafting a clear and respectful communication.

The key to a smooth budget denial is a well-expressed rationale. A subordinate who is given a rational basis for being turned down is likely to feel better about his organization and his manager than one who believes his carefully constructed request has been summarily dismissed. Spending some time crafting the denial — and then trying it out on another manager — will build a better case that can serve as both an explanation and a guide for future conduct.
