Trust lies at the heart of our most important relationships. Elements of trust build the foundation for happy marriages, fulfilling partnerships, and successful businesses. And the same is true in education.
In fact, Harvard Business Review conducted a major research project around the issue. HBR identified three elements of trust that apply to every type of work environment. Read on to discover what those elements are. And why they matter so much to educators.
Three Elements of Trust
HBR reviewed data from the assessments of 87,000 leaders. Researchers identified these three elements that provide the foundation for trust in virtually every professional environment.
- Positive Relationships – HBR found that leaders who developed positive relationships with their colleagues were able to establish trust with them, as well. Trusted leaders were people who stayed in touch about issues affecting their employees. They successfully resolved conflicts. They gave honest feedback, and they inspired cooperation.
- Good Judgement/Expertise – Employees trust well-informed and knowledgeable leaders. Trusted leaders make important contributions to achieving results. They anticipate and respond quickly to problems.
- Consistency – The final element of trust is the extent to which leaders’ words and actions parallel each other. People rate leaders high in trust if they’re role models and honor their commitments and keep promises.
What Is Trust?
It may seem obvious, but if we’re going to examine the role of trust in education, it’s helpful if we’re all working with the same concept. One writer defines trust as a “willingness to be vulnerable”. That is, we’re willing to open ourselves up to someone else.
Another writer put it this way: “Trust is safety. Trust is comfort. Trust is feeling that someone has your back. Trust is an environment where individuals can be their best selves”.
Psychological safety translates to trust in the education space. In a trusting environment, teachers and administrators feel comfortable speaking their minds. They discuss issues openly and honestly. They’re willing to make collective decisions, to take risks, and to fail. These are all things researchers have found that are required for organizational and educational transformation.
Do the Elements of Trust Create Success?
Absolutely. Research shows very clearly that successful schools are places where trust has been built over time, and where teachers and administrators have learned to rely on each other. In fact, employees who work in close-knit communities report:
- Being 106% more energetic at work
- Feeling 76% more engaged with their jobs
- Experiencing 74% less stress
- Taking 13% fewer days off for illness
- Reporting 29% more satisfaction with life in general
Research has found that schools with collaborative and trusting environments are more likely to show signs of both improvement and innovation.
What’s the Connection Between the Elements of Trust and Education?
Positive Relationships
We can break it down one element at a time to see how the data is especially helpful for educators. The first element is Positive Relationships. This often starts with the principal and extends to staff and teachers.
A principal who trusts teachers communicates that they are valued and believed in. Principals establish trust when they acknowledge the vulnerabilities of others and themselves and actively listen to their concerns.
They build trust when they encourage the teachers and staff to make decisions together. They create a safe environment for teachers to try out new ideas without worrying about being criticized or punished.
Teachers who are trusted take risks. They collaborate with other teachers. They’re often willing to work longer hours. They are committed to maintaining a healthy culture. They build on this foundation of trust and collaboration to create engaging, rigorous learning opportunities for their students.
Good Judgement/Expertise
The second element of trust is Good Judgement/Expertise. Well-educated people and those with experience earn trustworthiness. It makes sense, doesn’t it? Take an auto mechanic. How long he has been in business? What types of vehicles has he worked on? Knowing these you make more informed decisions.
The same is true in education. Trust develops when teachers respect the experience of others and feel comfortable asking for their opinions. Trust builds when those same teachers believe they can work together because they understand the skills and experience each person brings to their work.
The research clearly shows that teachers’ trust in their principals is most influenced by competence, consistency, reliability, openness, respect, and integrity. Trust will be lost very quickly if a principal is perceived to be incompetent. A culture of trust can enhance school performance, and the school’s leader plays a critical role in establishing that culture.
Consistency
The third element of trust is Consistency. It’s difficult, if not impossible, to build trust if you don’t know what someone believes and how they’re going to act from one day to the next. If a teacher gives one version of an event to another teacher, a different version to the principal and the third version to a parent, trust goes out the window.
Teachers and administrators who are consistent in their beliefs and their day-to-day operations build trust much more quickly than those who don’t. A principal may have to deliver wildly unpopular information, but if he is consistent in both his delivery and his execution, he will build trust over time.
Trust and Education Reform
The elements of trust are critical in developing healthy, successful schools. Those elements are also vital any time a school or school district takes up a new way of doing business. Whether it’s a curriculum overhaul, a change to graduation requirements, or a simple revision to the dress code, trust is key to a successful transition.
For one thing, trust reduces the sense of vulnerability and fear that often comes with change. It helps facilitate cooperation among all the constituents, from teachers to parents to students. Encourage open lines of communication with your students’ parents. It will acclimate them to working together for a common purpose.
If parents are confident in the principal’s experience and skills, they’re more likely to trust her. If they trust her, they’re likely to be more open to change. Fear creates mental roadblocks. Trust clears those roadblocks away.
How to Build Trust
Since we’re talking about trust in education, it makes sense to approach the trust-building process somewhat like a lesson plan. Develop the steps you will take to create an atmosphere where trust can grow.
For education leaders, it may start with staff meetings. You might create time for staff and teacher recognition. Perhaps you dedicate a portion of the meeting to “safe sharing”, a time when teachers can voice their opinions without fear of retribution or criticism.
Peer Support Groups
Peer support groups can be very helpful in developing trust. Particularly among groups of people who share common work responsibilities. You could create a group for teachers. Then another for office staff. And even a third for management. The idea is to bring together groups of people who experience the same types of challenges. And if the groups are true peer groups, they speak freely. No one has to worry about saying something in front of “management” that could get them in trouble.
Peer support groups allow teachers to share their challenges and ask for help from colleagues who’ve been through something similar. They can lend a hand to newer teachers who might not feel comfortable speaking up in an all-staff meeting.
Parents are an important part of the trust-building process, too. You might create a parent workgroup to address critical issues facing your school. If parents have a voice in the issue, they’ll also have a voice in the solution. That goes a long way toward the first element of trust, Positive Relationships.
When teachers and administrators trust each other and have support from parents, they feel safe (and trusted) to experiment with new practices.
Remember, too, all those so-called “intangible” actions that can also build trust. These aren’t necessarily the things that fit into an agenda or on a to-do list. The intangibles are all those little things that gradually, people will notice.
Find a new way to greet students when they arrive on campus. Maybe a handshake from the principal who calls each student by name. Make it safe for a teacher to leave school to take care of their sick child without counting it against their attendance record. Students’ performance is the benchmark. Teacher evaluations are based on them. Consequently, outstanding teachers deserve recognition from the school administration
Similarly, recognize students for something OTHER than academic performance. Build trust with students by asking them to serve as mentors to new students or help out with an after-school tutoring program.
Final Thoughts
Ultimately, the elements of trust should remind us all that the real beneficiaries of trust-building in education are the students. Researchers found that as teachers collaborated more with each other, they became more invigorated by their work. They felt safe discussing new and different ways of teaching. That renewed energy led to a more engaging and thought-provoking curriculum for the students.
