Have you ever been asked to accomplish something important without the resources you believe are necessary to do it?
Not enough people.
Not enough funding.
Not enough time.
It is one of the most common frustrations in leadership, and we experience it at work, at home, and everywhere in between.
When resources are constrained, it is easy to focus on what we cannot do. We postpone ideas. We protect existing work. We wait for circumstances to change.
Many of us may be feeling this way more often than not, especially in higher education where budgets are increasingly tight.
Sometimes the gap between expectations and capacity needs to be named clearly. Leaders have a responsibility to be honest about what is possible, what is at risk, and what tradeoffs will be required. These are difficult conversations, which can be made more challenging in high pressure, low safety cultures (but that’s a post for another day).
Insufficient resources require us to get much clearer about what matters most and where the team can have the greatest impact. What can we stop doing? Where can we simplify? Who else might bring expertise, capacity, or perspective to the challenge?
I’ve found that the strongest leaders are excellent stewards of resources. They are skilled at prioritizing and willing to have the difficult conversations that tradeoffs require.
They create a culture where their teams have permission to focus rather than and an expectation to absorb more and more.
To create this space, we must take the heavy load of asking those questions and making decisions. Yes, we can consult all the stakeholders and conduct all the research, and in the end, we must decide what not to do.
There will always be a tension between ambition and reality. My goal is to make better choices within that space.
