Getting Teams to Think Like Owners About Spending
At the organizational level, senior leaders cannot (and should not) make every spending decision themselves. They need managers and teams who understand how their choices affect the lab as a whole and who can be trusted to use resources with the same care they would bring to other important organizational decisions.
In this session, attendees will hear from a senior leader about how to create that sense of shared ownership around the budget. The discussion will focus on building trust with managers and staff, giving people enough context to understand the reasoning behind budget priorities, and helping teams connect everyday purchasing decisions to broader organizational goals
Attendees will also consider how leaders can give others greater decision-making authority while maintaining appropriate accountability and how open communication about constraints, tradeoffs, and priorities can strengthen financial stewardship across the organization.
Key learnings
Attendees will learn how to:
- Build trust with managers and teams so budget responsibility can be shared across the organization
- Help staff understand how individual purchasing decisions connect to broader lab and organizational priorities
- Give managers appropriate autonomy to make spending decisions while establishing clear expectations and accountability
- Communicate budget priorities and constraints in ways that encourage thoughtful decision-making rather than top-down compliance
- Create a culture in which staff view organizational resources as something they have a personal responsibility to steward