What Changed

The conditions leaders work in moved faster than the patterns that built their careers. What has always worked is drawing different responses than it used to.

What everyone lived through

The change was gradual until it was not. For years, small fractures were forming: wages against costs, security against loyalty, performance against protection.

Then came the shutdowns: empty streets, graduations watched from car windows, funerals on a screen. For a few months, most organizations put people first. Leaders communicated every day, flexibility became ordinary, and many employees felt that the organization cared whether they were all right.

Then the crisis faded, and many of the old patterns returned. Public servants stood where the lines crossed, enforcing policies they did not write. Leaders and staff alike now work with habits that served them well and land differently than they used to.

None of this is a story about people who stopped trying. The work of leading has not changed: building the conditions where people can do their best work and feel safe saying what they see. The conditions that work happens in have changed, and from inside a role, that change is the hardest thing to see.

The national figures below show three of those changes.

Political Dynamics

65% of U.S. adults trusted their local government to handle local problems in September 2025.

020406080%19721998202565% in 202572% in 2018
020406080%19721998202565% in 202572% in 2018

Source: Gallup, September 2025

Staff carry residents’ trust in person, at the counter, on the phone, in public meetings.

Illustrative situations

These are illustrative situations, not measured incidence or a documented combined event.

  • Employees personally attacked during meetings
  • Online attacks naming employees
  • Recorded personal attacks naming employees
  • Council member attacks council colleague
  • Council member attacks the manager
How it moved, and the figures behind the chart

It was 72% in 2018. In 2025, 59% trusted their state government (Gallup). Pew Research Center asks a different question: in September 2025, 17% trusted the federal government to do what is right always or most of the time.

An employee is named in a personal attack at a public meeting or on social media.

An allegation about that employee is unsubstantiated. The manager weighs a factual response and support for the employee.

If the meeting is recorded, the response may need to reach people who watch later.

Evidence: A county manager’s published account describes staff named in online campaigns and unsubstantiated public accusations. Official meeting archives separately show recordings available after adjournment.

Limits: These sources do not document one combined incident or measure lasting harm after correction. Public criticism and disagreement remain legitimate; naming an employee alone is not an attack.

Sources

The full research on Political Dynamics
Trust and local news

21% of U.S. adults followed local news very closely in December 2025, against 37% in 2016 (Pew Research Center).

Workforce Expectations

49% of U.S. employees strongly agreed they know what is expected of them at work in February 2026.

0204060%20072016202649% in 202656% in 2020
0204060%20072016202649% in 202656% in 2020

Source: Gallup, February 2026

With each new assignment, some staff and leaders know what is expected; others work it out as they go.

Illustrative situations

  • Workplace policies needing clarification
  • Decisions spanning several departments
  • Agreeing when teams are available
How it moved, and the figures behind the chart

It was 56% in 2020 and 44% in February 2024.

Gallup, February 2026

Staff seek clearer explanations of workplace policies and consistent application.

Work crosses departments. Teams need shared expectations about feedback, decisions and availability.

People doing the work want a part in shaping decisions that affect it.

Evidence: A small local agency’s 2026 employee survey identifies policy communication, collaboration and involvement in decisions as improvement areas within a positive, improving culture.

Limits: A separate state employee survey examines expectations, feedback and work boundaries. Neither source establishes how often these situations occur in cities and counties.

Sources

The full research on Workforce Expectations
Time on the job and succession

5.4 years: median time local government employees had been with their current employer in January 2026, the first reading under a revised count (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics).

AI Transformation

52% of U.S. employees had used AI at work in 2026, 40% in 2025 and 21% in 2023.

0204060%202320242025202652% in 202621% in 202340% in 20257 readings, 2023 to 2026
0204060%2023202652% in 202621% in 202340% in 20257 readings, 2023 to 2026

Source: Gallup, second quarter of 2026

Some staff and leaders now draft memos and council agendas with AI open.

Illustrative situations

  • Suspected AI-assisted records requests
  • Emailed AI drafts awaiting review
  • Who can access camera data?
How it moved, and the figures behind the chart

21% in the second quarter of 2023, 40% in 2025, 52% in 2026: seven readings over three years.

A records request appears to use AI. Staff need to clarify which records are sought.

An AI-produced draft arrives by email. The reviewer needs to establish what was checked and who owns the recommendation.

Police license-plate cameras raise questions about who can search, what is retained and how use is reviewed.

Evidence: A 2026 Maine municipal survey reports requests described as AI-generated. A county policy assigns human verification of AI-produced work. Two cities document license-plate camera oversight.

Limits: These sources establish reported experience and governance responsibilities, not national frequency. Camera oversight is a separate technology question; not every camera uses AI.

Sources

The full research on AI Transformation

What this means

Read together, the three figures describe conditions moving on three sides at once: the tools in daily use, how clear the work is, and how far residents trust local government.

Those conditions are shaped every day by leaders and staff together, in what gets said, asked and decided.

The figures are national; how these conditions show up in any one city or county is for the leaders and staff who work there to see.

Further reading

The full research library

Two pages on what leaders and staff build from conditions like these.

The Shift That SticksFace the Truth, on seeing conditions as they are