Monthly Webinar | July 2026 | Bridging the Language Barrier Across Departments-Video Recording

Video Transcription

Video Summary

The webinar was a NGMA/Crow session led by Jonna Rogers on improving communication between grants and finance teams. Tip Tucker Kendall opened with NGMA updates, including upcoming webinars, trainings, the Grants Management Academy, and a needs assessment survey. Camille Coleman then reviewed housekeeping and introduced the session.<br /><br />Jonna shared a personal story about discovering a major indirect cost error caused by poor communication between grants and finance. That experience led her to become a “bilingual champion” who could translate between departments. Her main message was that many grants management problems are really communication problems: misunderstanding roles, using jargon, not asking the right questions, and failing to share timely information.<br /><br />She connected this to federal internal control standards, emphasizing that information and communication are core responsibilities under OMB/Green Book principles. She described common symptoms of breakdowns: grants staff fear finance, finance staff feel frustrated, people avoid each other, and both sides rely on long emails instead of conversations.<br /><br />Her practical strategies included admitting communication problems exist, finding bilingual champions, triaging issues quickly, keeping leadership informed, avoiding blame, providing strong customer service, and forcing short, direct conversations through meetings and better tools. The overall goal was to build trust and make cross-department communication clearer, faster, and less intimidating.

Keywords

grants management

finance communication

cross-department collaboration

indirect cost error

bilingual champion

OMB Green Book

internal controls

customer service

leadership communication