I am a county health services director in the southern United States who oversees public health programs and the county hospital.  We are facing a lot of scary challenges.  Due to our stagnant local economy, federal funding cutbacks, and policy edicts (such as a decline in Medicaid reimbursements), we must cut program budgets, close several clinics, and eliminate some services, including those that serve immigrant and other high-need groups.  In doing so, county administration has already instituted a hiring freeze and will soon announce layoffs in targeted health care areas.

The health department staff are not only concerned about their jobs and the impact on their families but also feel that we are abandoning clients and hurting the people we serve. 

I’m scared. Everyone is scared.

How do I tell the truth to our dedicated employees without creating panic?  How do I highlight all the good that we do without creating a false sense of security?  How do I get staff to partner with me to figure out how to overcome some of this adversity?

I love my leadership position and am very committed to our public health mission, but I feel overwhelmed.  Help!

It is a scary time for local government leaders and employees.  It is a “liminal” experience for all of us committed to public service.  Liminal experiences are those experiences that involve a break from the past, yet do not yet replace the past or the familiar.  We all feel suspended between what was and what is yet to come.  Because we are in limbo between the past and the yet-to-be-determined future, we feel unsettled, uncertain, and worried about the future.  (See Laura Empson and Jennifer Howard-Grenville, “How to Lead When the Future Feels Unpredictable,” hbr.org, Nov 1, 2024.)

Leadership Tasks

As leaders, we have several critical leadership tasks as we confront this kind of adversity.  We must:

1. Manage our own anxiety and fear so we can model appropriate attitudes and behaviors for others.
2. Reframe the adversity for ourselves so we can focus on reflection, learning, and leading others to a better place.
3. Communicate with employees and stakeholder groups so they understand the new realities but not devastate them or paralyze them from moving forward.
4. Offer concrete opportunities for staff and stakeholders to perceive their own agency and thus engage with you in creative problem-solving.

A Surprising Gallup Survey

In a global survey, the Gallup Organization asked employees to identify the most important traits of effective leaders.  The top four traits or attributes:

• Hope.
• Trust.
• Compassion.
• Stability.

The ability of leaders to inspire hope and point to a clear path forward amid uncertainty was the #1 trait identified by 56% of respondents. Trust was a distant second selected by 33% of the respondents.  Compassion and stability were ranked third and fourth, selected by 7% and 4% respectively.  (See Jon Clifton and Benedict Vigers, “What Do People Need Most from Leaders?” gallup.com, Feb 11, 2025.)

A Leadership Paradox

Leadership is often about paradoxes.  (See Career Compass No. 56 “The Paradoxes of Leadership.”) One key paradox facing leaders in scary times is that we must tell the ugly truth yet spread hope and optimism. (See James Lucas, “Managing Through Meltdown,” MWorld, Fall 2002.)  Followers need leaders to be transparent about new realities and they need us to demonstrate hope for the future.

Hope Is an Action Verb

So, what is hope?  Hope is defined as the desire for something good to happen in the future.  However, it is not simply wishful thinking or an optimistic feeling.  Hope is aspirational yet practical and realistic.  Hope requires action.  To hope is an action verb.

Hope requires:

• Setting realistic, achievable goals.
• Identifying a path forward.
• Believing that you can make good things happen.
• Taking action and making adjustments.
• Tracking progress.

“There’s no hope without endeavor.  Hope has no meaning unless we are prepared to realize our hopes and dreams.” 

 Aung San Suu Kyi, Activist, Political Leader, Nobel Prize Recipient

A Suggested Approach

As a leader confronting scary times, you have the opportunity to make a big positive difference.  Here is one suggested approach to fulfill your leadership role.

Managing Your Own Doubts and Fears

Since people inside and outside the organization will take their cues from you, you must first process your own anxiety and even fear. You are doing a disservice to followers if they sense that you do not have the confidence about helping shape the future.

To manage your emotions, you must pause, take several deep breaths, and then acknowledge your emotions. To counter the negative emotions that might inhibit your leadership, reflect on times in your personal and professional lives when you were fearful yet were able to overcome your fears and confront adversity.  In doing so, assess key ingredients that helped you act with courage.  For example, did you name your fears and share your fears with others?  Did you get coaching or advice from trusted colleagues or emotional support from friends or other love ones?  Did you reflect on the costs and consequences of not exerting positive leadership in the midst of the craziness?

Courageous people have fears but then act anyway. (See Career Compass No. 39 “The Courage to Do the Right Thing.”)

Reframing the Situation

As part of managing yourself and leading others, it is important to reframe the situation in order to “see the good.”  (See Rebecca Knight, “How to Communicate with Your Team When Business Is Bad,” hbr.org, July 7, 2025.)  While there is a great deal of harm due to federal health care cutbacks and policy decisions, leading your health services department in finding a path forward may provide great opportunities to:

• Reflect on your values.
• Appreciate all the good your department provides the community and the progress made in improving the health of community residents.
• Learn a lot about leading in turbulence.
• Minimize damage to others.
• Develop new leadership, communication, and collaboration skills.
• Protect services most important to key at-risk groups.
• Make changes that you have wanted to make for a time but you were reluctant to do so for political or other reasons.

You have an opportunity to make a huge difference.

Communicating with Employees and Stakeholders

To communicate hope, consider these ten tips:

1. Focus on the goals. To shape your communications, you must keep your goals in mind: 1) Share the brutal reality; 2) focus on credible hope for a better future; 3) point the way forward; and 4) enlist people to join you in addressing adversity.
2. Understand what you can control and influence.  You can control what you recommend in terms of the health department’s upcoming budget. You may be able to influence the county board of supervisors so they advocate with your Congressional representatives against cuts in Medicaid reimbursement.  However, you won’t be able to control or influence actions by ICE agents in rounding up undocumented immigrants in your community.

3. Prepare. Leaders need to prepare for important communications and engagement.  What are the hard data (i.e., reductions in reimbursements, budget #s, vacancies frozen) and soft data (i.e., customer or team stories) that you want to share?  What is the direction or vision that you want to emphasize?  What is your call to action?

   In your preparation, have some empathy for your audience.  It is not all about what you want to tell them; it is rather what they need to hear. Understand that employees and stakeholders will respond in both a rational and emotional way.

4. Emphasize mission and values. In communicating, make sure you emphasize the shared mission, such as promoting the physical and emotional health of residents, especially residents with little access to health care.

   As you make difficult decisions about budget, programs, and facilities, what are the value choices or principles (i.e., humanity, compassion, fairness) that will shape decisions?  In protecting services, will the most at-risk be a priority? Will protecting jobs be a big consideration?  What kind of support will be provided for those laid off or those who have lost services? (See David Lancefield, “Talking About a Difficult Decision—When You Can’t Share All the Details,” hbr.org, Aug 11, 2023.)

5. Avoid jargon and platitudes. You want to avoid health care jargon as well as certain phrases.  For instance:
   • Avoid saying “We are a family.”  Instead say, “We are a team, and we’ll support each other professionally in these ways.”
   • Don’t say “We are tightening our belts.” Instead say, “Here’s how we plan to cut costs across all divisions, and what we are doing in the process to protect key services and as many jobs as possible.
   • Don’t say “We hear you” (if you are not acting upon what you are hearing).  Instead say, “This is what we will do in response to your concerns.”
   • Avoid saying, “This was a hard decision for me.” (Who cares?!)  Instead say, “This was a necessary decision given the new realities, and I take responsibility for it.  I will do my best to mitigate the negative consequences in these ways.”
   • Don’t say, “We will figure it out.”  Instead say, “This is how we will proceed.”

6. Identify a path forward. You can’t map out the whole journey to a better place. There is simply too much uncertainty and you do not control everything.  However, you can point out the general direction and identify a few initial steps forward. 

   Action creates clarity.  Let people know that the team will see what works, what doesn’t work, and then make adjustments.  Ensure that the process allows for participants to get their “fingerprints” on the solutions so that people own the results.

7. Share some positive opportunities. No one looks forward to the suffering from budget cuts, layoffs, and other adversity.  However, crisis does offer a number of positive opportunities that you can seize, including:
   • Streamlining processes and “subtracting.”
   • Reforming meetings.
   • Providing new learning and growth opportunities for staff.
   • Investing in the long term (i.e., new technologies).
   • Creating entrepreneurial opportunities (i.e., pay for certain targeted services)
      
8. Make a call to action. You can’t do it all.  In order to move in a positive direction and overcome the uncertainty and adversity, you will need the perspectives, ideas, energy, commitment, and leadership of others inside and outside the department.  How can people join you?  To address the challenges, what will be the structure for any team or teams?  What resources will be provided?  How will you support the effort?
    
9. Be available. Ensure that you are available after any meetings or sessions so that you can answer additional questions or listen to concerns that people might not feel comfortable presenting in a larger group. You can also use an online platform for employees or stakeholders to share views.  In addition, it is a good idea to schedule some informal opportunities (such as “coffee with the director”) so employees or stakeholders can not only share their concerns but also connect with you.

10. Overcommunicate. In the midst of adversity, people only hear 20% of what you are saying.  Therefore, when you feel that people are sick of hearing what you have to say, say it some more.

    It is especially important to communicate along the way.  You will need multiple opportunities to communicate the new realities and your hopes for moving forward. 

    As you communicate, be sure to track and celebrate progress. Since positive results take so long to achieve, people will tend to lose enthusiasm, energy, and momentum unless you demonstrate and celebrate progress. 

Creating a Hope Story

A key role for leaders is “sense-making.”  One way to create some sense of the chaos and craziness is to create a story or narrative for the organization going forward.

Therefore, as part of your communication and engagement efforts, your team needs a positive “hope story.”  This hope narrative includes the hopes and dreams of the team leading the change effort, the challenges that must be addressed, the champions who are addressing the challenges, the opportunities that the team or department is pursuing, what success looks like, and the good that will be achieved.

A good story must be practical and realistic or it is not authentic.  For example, the hope story for the public health department may include these messages:

• Key services for the most at-risk will be preserved, and this is how we are going to prioritize services.
• We will stabilize our department finances, and this is how we will create a sustainable financial base.
• We will grow our revenue base, and this is how we are going to do that.
• We shall invest in people, technology, and health system infrastructure, and here are some examples.
• We will strive to become more efficient in our operations, and we will initiate an organizational and operational assessment to do that.
• As we struggle forward, we will promote a stronger sense of cohesion and belonging, and we will be forming a “belong team” to take the lead.

To express this hope narrative, your team might want to sketch story cards or boards, draft a newspaper or social media headline, or develop a tweet.  This hope story is then posted and shared with other internal and external groups, thus creating enthusiasm and fostering collaboration.  (See Career Compass No. 88 “Leaders Are Dealers in Hope.”)

Leading in Scary Times

Yes, leading in scary times is difficult and challenging. Consequently, as you proceed, it is important that you seek guidance and coaching from trusted colleagues as well as emotional support.  (See Career Compass No. 118 “Overcoming the Emotional Burden of Leading Others.”)  Of course, self-care (good nutrition, exercise, leisure pursuits, family time) will help sustain you.

In spite of the difficulty of leading your organization during liminal times, you can make no bigger contribution than providing a sense of hope and helping the organization achieve that hope.

Sponsored by the ICMA Coaching Program, ICMA Career Compass is a monthly column from ICMA focused on career issues for local government professional staff. Dr. Frank Benest is ICMA's liaison for Next Generation Initiatives and resides in Palo Alto, California. Read past columns of Career Compass in the archive.

If you have a career question you would like addressed in a future issue, e-mail coaching@icma.org or contact Frank directly at frank@frankbenest.com.

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