Today I want to reflect on a paper that really gets to the heart of what makes a school thrive. It’s an older piece, but its insights are more relevant than ever, especially for those of us in leadership roles, whether you’re a Team Leader or part of the Senior Leadership Team (SLT), or working in a school with a distributed leadership model like MMi. The article, “Trust in Schools: A Core Resource for School Reform” by Anthony S. Bryk and Barbara Schneider, isn’t just about ‘being nice’; it’s a powerful argument for how relational trust is the essential ingredient for successful school improvement.
What is Relational Trust?
Relational trust is the kind of trust built through the day-to-day interactions between teachers, students, parents, and school leaders. It’s more than just a feeling of goodwill; it’s a mutual understanding of each person’s obligations and expectations within their specific role. The authors argue that all participants in a school community depend on each other to achieve desired outcomes. This interdependence creates a sense of vulnerability, and when people take deliberate action to reduce this vulnerability in others, trust is built.
The paper outlines four key considerations people use to discern if trust exists:
- Respect: This comes from genuine social discourse where everyone’s views are listened to and considered, even during disagreements. Without this, social exchanges may stop or erupt into conflict, as seen at Ridgeway Elementary School where a lack of respect among adults hindered reforms.
- Personal Regard: This is about going beyond the formal requirements of your job. The principal at Holiday Elementary School is a great example—he cultivated a climate of personal regard by being open and reaching out to parents, teachers, and students.
- Competence in Core Role Responsibilities: People need to know that others are capable of doing their jobs well. The authors found that instances of negligence or incompetence, if allowed to persist, erode trust.
- Personal Integrity: This is about keeping your word and having a strong moral-ethical compass, with a primary commitment to the education and welfare of children. A principal at Ridgeway lost trust because his actions were not seen as being in the best interest of students.
Why Relational Trust Matters for Leaders 🤝
As leaders, we’re the ‘connective tissue’ that holds our schools together, and this research confirms just how critical that role is. Here’s why this is especially important for Team Leaders and SLT, particularly in a distributed leadership model:
Fostering an Environment for Reform
The study, which included a longitudinal analysis of 400 Chicago elementary schools, found a direct link between relational trust and school improvement. Schools with high relational trust were far more likely to see significant improvements in student learning, with some recording increases of 8% in reading and 20% in math over a five-year period. The data is stark: schools with low trust had only a one-in-seven chance of improving academically. This demonstrates that trust isn’t a “nice to have”; it’s a powerful resource for reform.
Acknowledging and Reducing Risk
Distributed leadership models rely on individuals at all levels taking initiative and risks. Relational trust is the social safety net that makes this possible. When team members trust one another and feel supported, they feel safe to experiment with new practices. Without this trust, genuine, honest conversations about what’s working and what isn’t—which require vulnerability—are unlikely to happen. It also gives teachers the moral imperative to take on the difficult work of school improvement, as they understand that it’s the right thing to do for the students.
The Principal’s Central Role 👑
While trust is a shared responsibility, the principal’s actions are key to developing and sustaining it. They build respect and personal regard by actively listening and avoiding arbitrary decisions. In a troubled school, a principal might need to reshape the staff by hiring strong, mission-aligned people and counseling out those whose practice is inconsistent with school values. The principal at Holiday Elementary, for example, built trust by skillfully hiring new, effective teachers, while the principal at Ridgeway undermined trust by allowing incompetent teachers to remain.
This is a huge takeaway for SLT and leaders everywhere. Your hiring and personnel decisions don’t just affect individual teachers; they directly impact the entire school’s social fabric and its ability to improve.
Practical Takeaways for Team Leaders and SLT
This article provides some clear, actionable insights for us:
- Be Deliberate in Building Relationships: Trust is built in the small, daily exchanges. As leaders, we need to model respectful listening, show personal regard by checking in on our team members beyond just their professional roles, and demonstrate our own competence and integrity.
- Address Incompetence: It’s tough, but the paper is clear: allowing negligence to persist undermines trust across the entire community. Leaders must address issues with problematic teachers or staff head-on.
- Support Teachers in Parent Outreach: The article notes that teachers often aren’t trained for working with parents, and socioeconomic and racial differences can create distrust. As leaders, we can support our teachers by recognizing this as a crucial part of their role and providing them with the skills and support needed to build these relationships.
- Consider Structural Factors: While we can’t always control a school’s size or stability, we can be mindful of how these factors affect trust. For example, in a larger school, we might need to be even more intentional about creating opportunities for small-group interactions and community-building to overcome bureaucratic relations.
In a model like MMI, where leadership is distributed, the health of the ‘connective tissue’ of relational trust is arguably even more important. Without it, the collaborative work and shared decision-making crucial to the model’s success will fall apart, as seen at Ridgeway where even simple problems became sustained controversies. Let’s keep this at the forefront of our work and intentionally nurture relational trust in our schools.
shem banbury 
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