Your team is facing budget constraints in forecasting. How do you keep them motivated and engaged?

I often use this phrase with my team and cross-functional team leaders: "Over-communication is Better Than No Communication." It's important to clearly communicate with team members about the cause of the budget constraints and the mitigating actions being taken. There could be many reasons for budget constraints, and sometimes, it could simply be the prioritization of spending in different areas of the business, fueling growth, expanding new business lines, and inventing tools and technologies that are critical for the business's growth and long-term success. The impact on the individual members, their projects, and their concerns, including their career impact, needs to be openly and honestly discussed and available information shared.

The key word here is the "Prioritization". Regarding budget constraints or budget cuts across the board or in specific business and functional areas, the goals must be looked at, and projects and tasks must be prioritized in the order of criticality and importance, some of which could be slowed down. Not all projects' return on investments can be calculated and prioritized based on ROI. Still, some are to avoid the risks that could be very costly to the organization and sometimes could be related to systems integrity, safety, and security of the systems, and/or it may just to develop the infrastructure for future growth.

Intangible recognition of one's effort goes a long way in boosting the morale of the team members and fostering confidence and collaboration. I read that Russia's Catherine the Great used to say to “praise and reward loudly, to blame quietly, “ and that was in the 18th Century! In recent times, I read that Vince Lombardi, a famous football coach, stated that his team's success relied upon the paradigm of “praise in public, criticize in private.” I have read it long back, and in my entire career, that's the rule I've followed. My former team members would vouch for it. I praise my team members in public meetings and in the big announcements. If I'm to coach, it's always in private one-to-one sessions.

One thing employees must remember is that even in budget-constrained situations, funds could be made available for good projects. For example, a project that would enhance revenue or optimize cost with minimal investment and where low efforts have big impacts. Employees should never hesitate to bring forward projects that help mitigate risks to the company; some must be done for the company's system integrity, safety, and security. Not doing some projects may cause systematic risk and existential threat to the organizations.