Leadership

Six Tips for Successfully Communicating Budget News During Difficult Times

By John Almond - February 19, 2010

Budget cuts and staff reductions translate into reduced services, which in turn adversely impact the quality of education for students.  When districts are forced to cut staff, successful programs are cut along with them.  Other critical services that create successful learning environments suffer during a budget crisis, especially when the budget crisis is of the magnitude that we face today.  Ultimately, students are the ones that have been most victimized by California’s unresolved school finance issues.

Research shows that very often management is reluctant to communicate bad news.  But if open and honest communication is not a part of a school district’s culture, then communicating bad news will result in more bad news.  Without a well established framework that supports a dialogue of full disclosure, there’s very little that can be done at the last minute to make the communication of bad news anything other than a disastrous disappointment.

Highly effective leaders, however, recognize the importance of communicating on a regular basis and use the opportunity to establish credibility with their colleagues and employees.  In good times and bad, the best leaders can inform, motivate and move forward using tactics such as these:

1. Have a disciplined process.  Make certain that there is a communications infrastructure in place to support the sharing of information across the district.
2. Be consistent.  Consistency in message delivery and the messages themselves are important elements of a good communications process.  Communications tools that are used regularly can reduce downtime caused by the fear factor of an upcoming announcement.
3. Be honest and don’t sugar-coat the message.  When you have good news to deliver, you usually can’t wait to share it.  All too often, however, when the news isn’t so favorable, we suddenly feel the need to sugar-coat the message.  Not only is sugar-coating unfair to everyone in the organization, it can also be a time bomb for your credibility.  If you create a fantasy scenario because you believe that your staff can’t handle the truth, you’re setting yourself up -- as well as the people who depend on you --for disappointment.
4. Make certain that your administrators and supervisors are informed members of the leadership team.  Share the information with your administrators and supervisors in advance, so that they can be prepared to intelligently respond to employee concerns and questions.
5. Take the opportunity to measure.  If you use a staff meeting to deliver unfavorable news, take the opportunity to truly assess their reactions.  Don’t assume that all responses will be bad just because the news was bad.  It’s a great time to check the pulse of employees.  The feedback that you get from employees can often be used for subsequent communications and planning.
6. Share feedback.  Give staff members honest and candid feedback.  Let them know that their views count, and that their voices are being heard.  When staff members know that their questions are being addressed, the rumor mill is cut down tremendously.  Reliable feedback will also establish you as an administrator who is a credible source of information.

In essence, nobody likes being the bearer of bad news.  However, there can be opportunity for improvement even in the delivery of bad news.  Don’t make an unfortunate situation worse by failing to communicate effectively.

Source:  John Almond is the Director of District Support Services for the educational consulting firm Total School Solutions (TSS).