I recently spoke to NGMA members about a subject near and dear to my battle-scarred heart: Getting grants people and finance people to speak the same language across their respective hallways and tasks. I’ve spent 30 years and raised $400+ million while living between these two departments, and I can tell you with confidence, I am not an expert. I am, however, a survivor with tales to tell.
If you missed my presentation, below are five takeaways worth carrying with you long after the webinar recording expires.
- Somewhere in your building, a bilingual champion is hiding in plain sight.
Every organization has at least one person who speaks both grants and finance relatively well. Or, at a minimum, there’s a beautiful soul who is brave enough to admit they don’t know everything and regularly seeks help. Find that person. Recruit that person. Train up that person. Buy that person coffee.
I became my organization’s accidental translator (or “grants-lator”) purely because I had a business degree, a love of writing, and what I can only describe as a permanent “more work for me” face. You don’t need a title change to become the bridge. You just need to be willing to walk across it.
- Triage your communication gaffes like they’re actual emergencies, because they are emergencies.
Lost paperwork. Mystery purchase orders. Veteran staff who treat their budget like a mystery novel that they are in no hurry to finish. None of this is new, and none of it fixes itself with a strongly worded, overly long email. The fix starts with a simple question: Is this a quick correction, or does it need an actual organizational investment? Naming the difference out loud is half the battle. Yes, we can pretend the monthly 3 p.m. Friday reporting crisis is a personality quirk of the grants office. It isn’t. It’s a recurring process problem both sides can fix together.
- Outstanding customer service goes in both directions.
Here’s my favorite personal confession: I can talk circles around 2 CFR 200, yet I still butcher a purchase order. Why? Because no one ever lets me buy anything! I never get to practice.
If you’re the finance person rolling your eyes at a grant person’s paperwork, ask yourself whether you’ve shown them how it’s supposed to look or whether you’ve just been quietly grading them on a test they didn’t know they were taking. Cross the hall. Put on your customer service hat. Teach and support in kind and discreet ways, or in small groups where employees may be more comfortable. Create a buddy system where colleagues support each other. Practice does make perfect.
Gladly accept and answer questions. Period. Someone’s seeking your help. Cherish the trust they have in you.
- Force the conversation; literally schedule it.
Email is not communication. If your organization’s entire cross-departmental relationship exists in a Slack or Asana thread that nobody reads, you don’t have a communication strategy, you have a paper trail. Small group meetings, one-on-ones, staff meetings with a “grants management minutes” segment, and new forms rolled out at Taco Tuesday (you bring the tacos) all work because they force actual humans to talk instead of firing off strongly worded, reply-all messages.
- Use humor, because no one crosses the bridge for stuffy people.
Finance has a reputation for being buttoned up, and grants folks have a reputation of being anxious paperwork gremlins. Somehow both reputations are both fair and exhausting. A little humor goes a long way toward making people feel safe enough to ask the “dumb” question before it becomes an expensive mistake. Smile. Laugh. Tell the story about the beach ball. Donuts work, too.
None of these strategies require a system overhaul, a new org chart, or a task force with a catchy acronym. They require people willing to admit there’s a problem and do something slightly uncomfortable about it, like walk down the hall or jump on a three-minute call instead of hitting send. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) agrees: Information and communication are core components of internal control, not an afterthought, and not an accident.
But honestly, you didn’t need a federal circular to tell you that the silent treatment between grants and finance was going to cost somebody money eventually. You’ve probably already experienced it. The question is, what are you going to do about it? We all have some bridge building left to do.
Missed the live presentation? This and all other recorded webinars are available in Grants Management Academy, NGMA’s education portal. (Member login required)