Epigraph: “…But the cannibal replied – No!” K. Chukovsky, Barmaley.
This text will be useful for regional managers to understand the logic of their managers from the central office, who “up there, see nothing at all.”
One can talk endlessly about budgets, rules, standard expenses, and the like, but any rules should exist to facilitate business, not complicate it. Despite the established and approved budgets, there are always scenarios where a company decides to incur unforeseen expenses for the purpose of business development. (I’m not referring to expenses related to dealing with unexpected troubles.) For example, if a trading company has the opportunity to recruit a successful regional division of a competitor, complete with all its connections, processes, and personnel, the company will go ahead with it, regardless of the fact that the budget only accounts for maintaining a certain number of divisions.
So, you (as a regional manager) approach your superior with what seems like a trivial request. For example, you need to purchase a portable hard drive to store training materials, which would clearly be beneficial for business development. If you were asked to write a case for it, you would do so, and the logic of your case would be impeccable. However, you aren’t even asked to write a case; you’re simply told “no.” You’re puzzled. After all, we’re talking about a minimal expense. You’re even allowed to have more staff than you currently do, but you can’t buy a portable hard drive. Is the budgeting logic really detrimental to the business? You even try to negotiate, telling your superior that you’re willing to forgo filling the office manager position, thereby saving money for the hard drive, but you’re still met with a “no!” What’s going on? Why is upper management acting so irrationally? Perhaps they are indeed so shortsighted that they blindly adhere to the budget. However, in this case, blindly following the budget is the right tactic for those in high positions who still don’t understand why a regional director can’t buy a hard drive for themselves.
Why can’t you buy a Winchester? Simply because the higher-up “country manager” immediately multiplies your request by the number of regional branches the company has. If the company has 60 branches, then in their mind, it’s not just one Winchester, but 60. The multiplier effect is at play.
Not only does he see hard drives in his nightmares, but also cameras, scanners, new chandeliers, poufs for visitors, doormats, and flower pots. If he allows any expense that goes beyond the expected budget for one person, he won’t be able to deny something similar to someone else. He will doom himself to an ever-increasing clamor of demands from various places, and the more requests he satisfies, the more new ones will arise, and the louder they will become. If the regional office has only a desk and a chair, they will demand a chair for visitors. If there is already soft furniture, they will ask for a flower pot, a coffee table, and a vacuum cleaner. Expenses lead to even greater expenses. And the noise of demands distracts the higher-up manager from more important issues of running the company. There’s no need to write memos or reports. The answer will still be no! There’s no need to try to “sell” him your idea. The response will be no! There’s no need to jump through hoops and bring trivial matters to the Board meeting. The answer will be no! And you might even get reprimanded for it.
If you suddenly feel it’s necessary and believe that this is important and you want to acquire it at the company’s expense, then talk to your boss in his language, not yours. Suggest a general rule under which what you need will be provided to you. The best approach would be to frame the rule in such a way that other offices won’t claim the same thing. If you can’t come up with a reasonable rule that justifies the benefits of its implementation for the business, then it’s not worth pursuing. The supply rules for offices are not universalized for the sake of saving money or complicating life. If you need something for work, it will be provided to you, as the higher management is interested in your success (or at least should be). The supply rules for offices are universalized for disciplinary purposes: to prevent disorder and chaos. And disorder and chaos are primarily undesirable for regional offices. In a chaotic environment, it will be completely impossible to get the head office to address more important issues, as your manager simply won’t have the time to resolve them. A manager who can be easily convinced to approve trivial expenses is not a good manager.
Final note: If your office is exceptional, the best of the best, you can demand not only a hard drive but also a plasma TV, provided there are serious business needs for it. The higher-up manager will always have a couple of arguments for the other offices and for even higher management on why it should be you and no one else.
a) He (that is, you) knows more than the others, and if he says he needs something for work, then it’s necessary. We’ll test it out, evaluate it as a pilot project, and if needed, we’ll implement it everywhere.
b) Look at everything! Ivanov’s office (that is, yours) gives out more money and gets the most of all! Want to get something beyond the rules? Show that you’re the best!