Budget Season Demands Full Transparency
In uncertain times, honesty builds the credibility you’ll need to lead
Welcome to The Good Governance Brief, your midweek guide to leading and communicating with greater clarity, credibility, and trust. Each week, I’ll share one essential idea to help local government professionals navigate today’s challenges with confidence.
This week’s focus: budget communications.
We’re in a time of real uncertainty. Cuts to federal funding through DOGE are already impacting resources local governments have relied on for years. At the same time, new tariff policies at the federal level are creating ripple effects in the economy no one can fully predict yet.
In this environment, it’s critical to be upfront about the challenges you’re facing.
As budget season ramps up, the most important thing you can do is treat your residents like adults.
In fall 2023, I wrote too many leaders spin tax changes or hide cost increases instead of trusting citizens with the truth. That only feeds distrust. You can revisit that post here:
Full transparency builds credibility, even when the news is tough. Respect your community enough to tell them what’s really going on. They’ll return the favor.
🔹 Over the next month, I’ll be sharing more Good Governance Briefs on effective budget communication.
🔹 Coming Friday: Our deep dive on Element 2: Organizational Leadership of our High Performance Communications series. Why where you sit, and how you show up, shapes everything.
Onward and Upward.