There are two problems with this question, one is a problem of perspective and the other is a problem of leadership. Let's tackle perspective first: the idea that it's yours at all. It is not. It never was and never will be. It's not about you. If you are not there does the department cease to exist for that reason? Did it increase momentously the day you arrived and just because of it? Your firm has determined - for the time being - that the function you manage requires some allocation of it's limited resources to ensure delivery of results for it's customers. That's all. It's just a number. Your client doesn't know what it is and doesn't care about anything but getting results / service / satisfaction from you.
The second, and in my view more significant problem is one of leadership. Do you sit around waiting for the finance people to tell you what your resources will be? Do you begin dropping hints that service is going to suffer if your department's budget is reduced, let alone failing to provide the increased resources you are asking for? I've heard these arguments and I can tell you from experience they (1) aren't accurate and (2) suggest a lack of commitment to results.
There is an opportunity for you to change - forever - the way you and your business peers look at budgeting that will release you from the death-spiral conversations of the past and increase your engagement and results. Interested? Here are three steps to budgeting freedom. They are difficult but not complicated.
- Understand deeply your organization's strategy, current performance and the role you and your team play in it. Do you really grasp how your business is performing against the most critical measures? Understanding this can help you anticipate future actions that may be taken if earnings are down, expenses trending the wrong way or there is a change in focus. We all want to believe that our function/team/role in the equation is absolutely mission critical and should be treated as a fixed cost (unless you want to increase it). I worked for a wise man once who said something that stuck with me: "At some point, every expense is a variable expense." I want to tell you he's been proven prophetic in my career more than once - and you know it to be true as well.
- Look at your budget as an investment in the business that requires a return. No matter what the number you are given, your mission critical results must be delivered to clients without whining about it. This perspective helps the leader on two levels. First, it helps you communicate with your team in a positive way when things get difficult and it helps you focus on the parts of your organization that are the most critical to your mission. Your budget is no longer cut, but rather the company can only invest so much in what you do. Secondly, and maybe most importantly it helps you think of your area of responsibility more strategically. Are we doing the right things? Can we make a bigger impact by focusing resources differently? Can I actually argue that I should give some of the investment back because I can get the results with less money, raising the ROI of my team?
- Challenge your team to think as if they are a supplier rather than a department. So much of what's wrong with our thinking inside companies today is due to a lack of competition. What if you started thinking like your company had a choice: it can buy from you or from an outside firm? It's a little bit of mental gymnastics but you can get good at it. You will research outside businesses to see what they're doing. You'll have ideas pouring into your office. Oh yes and one other thing - you will have to start marketing your results to the organization. You're the top sales person for your corner of the world, so you have to make it happen.
