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October 10, 2010
Trust Matters
by Bob Tschannen-Moran
Laser Provision
Today's Provision could not have been written without the research and work
of my wife, Megan Tschannen-Moran. For the past 15 years, Megan has made trust
one of her primary academic and professional interests. But trust is not just a
theoretical construct to be studied, understood, and described. Trust is a way
of being in the world. My wife embodies that way of being as does every great
leader. Trust matters. Read on to see just how much and how it works.
LifeTrek Provision
I am gratified
by those who have received my recent Provisions as helpful commentaries on how
to evoke excellence in education. Although the leadership principles we have
been discussing apply to any setting, I have been focusing on the debate
concerning American public schools because of the work we are now doing through
the Center for School
Transformation.
If any sector of society needs great leadership, it's education. That's true not
only in the USA, but in every country around the world. As the globe becomes
ever-more connected and interdependent, education becomes more rather than less
important. It is no exaggeration to say that the future of our planet depends
upon the quality of our education. Our present challenges will be met through
the awareness and ability that education brings.
This past week I had the opportunity to hear a keynote address by Diane Ravitch,
formerly with the US Department of Education under both Presidents George H. W.
Bush and Bill Clinton and author of the best-selling book,
The Death
and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are
Undermining Education (2010).
In her address, which she has been delivering to hundreds of audiences around
the country, Ravitch offered a devastating critique of both No Child left Behind
(NCLB) and Race for the Top: the two primary school-improvement initiatives that
have driven education policy in the United States for the past decade.
Originally a supporter of NCLB, Ravitch decries how it is now being used to
measure and punish schools and teachers in ways that are undermining not only
the quality but also the very existence of American public education. By
documenting systemic failures through NCLB and now Race to the Top, a case is
being made for the privatization and eventual elimination of public education as
a universal need and a fundamental civil right.
Ravitch views that as a travesty, especially since the data that are being used
to condemn teachers and schools are neither reliable nor helpful. They cannot be
counted on as either performance indicators or as guides for school improvement.
But they can be counted on to undermine trust -- a critical element in both
society and organizations.
Since the advent of NCLB, there have been more headlines about school failure
than at any other time in American history. And not just general school failure,
but specific school failure all the way down to individual buildings, leaders,
and teachers. When the Los Angeles Times published the names of teachers
whose students do not make progress on the NCLB tests, there was humiliation and
a sense of violation.
What does that accomplish? Does it facilitate school improvement to name and
shame teachers in this way? The answer is a definitive, "No!" Everything that we
have learned through the Center
for School Transformation, everything that we know about adult learning and
growth fostering relationships, and everything that contributes to effective
leadership and organizations, argues against such punitive approaches.
Yet, that is the world in which educators live today. They have gone from a
respected and trusted place in society to a disrespected and mistrusted class of
expendable cogs in the wheel. No wonder there is so much stress in the system
today. No one knows where the next shot will come from and who will be taken
down. It is an unfortunate state of affairs.
Especially since there has been ample evidence all along that other approaches
work better. My wife, a professor of educational leadership at the
College of William & Mary in Williamsburg,
VA, has based her career on the study and application of trust in schools. If
there is any single ingredient that predicts school success, it is the quality
of school climate and social relationships. Trust matters when it comes to both
effective leadership and effective schools.
In her 2004 book by the same name,
Trust
Matters, my wife defines trust and describes how it works. Public naming
and shaming are clearly not part of the equation. Yet trust is not just a
feel-good commodity where no one ever talks about hard issues. On the contrary,
trust is the willingness to engage in authentic dialogue -- even around hard
issues -- based on the confidence that one is operating in an environment marked
by benevolence, honesty, openness, reliability, and competence.
Those are the attributes that trustworthy leaders carry with them and seek to
infuse in their organizations, be they schools or any other:
- Benevolence means that we want nothing but the best
for people. We truly care about how they feel and what they need. We want
them to succeed and they know that we want them to succeed. They trust that
we have their back, not blindly, but authentically sharing a sense of
purpose and destiny.
- Honesty means that we have no hidden agendas and play
no games. Teachers can see through the debate. Although the talk is about
school choice and improvement, the reality is about school punishment and
closure. Costs are king. When the debate is not honest, it does more harm
than good.
- Openness means that we share what is there. Although
leaders always have to make decisions as to issues of confidentiality,
sometimes protecting our sources, the presumption of great leadership errs
on the side of openness and transparency. People want to know what's going
on.
- Reliability means that we carry ourselves in
consistent ways and that we do what we say. Broken promises undermine trust
every time. Leaders go out of their way to avoid over promising and under
delivering. We want people to count us because that's when they call on us
for help.
- Competence means that we have the skills and
understand the job well enough to get the job done. In the case of
leadership, this involves both technical and people skills. School leaders
have to set up systems but they also have to treat people right. That's when
things get better.
We would do well to introduce these elements into the debate
surrounding school reform. Diane Ravitch is right: we are not going down a path
that will make things better for millions of American school children. We are
making things worse by our untrustworthy use of data and decision making. In the
process, we are killing the goose (the Great American School System) that has
been laying the golden eggs (education, innovation, and creativity).
In our new book,
Evocative Coaching: Transforming Schools One
Conversation At A Time, Megan and I describe a different way forward.
Until school leaders learn how to talk and work with teachers and other
educators in ways that facilitate trust, no transformation will be possible.
Once trust gets established or reestablished and becomes the norm, that when the
shining rocket of education will really take off.
I hope you will join us in making it so.
Coaching Inquiries: On a scale of 0 to 10, how would you rate yourself when it
comes to trustworthy leadership? What examples do you have of standing in trust
and experiencing its transformative power? How could you strengthen your
understanding and practice of trust? How could you make your school or
organization more fully embody the five facets of trust? What is one thing you
could do today that would move things forward in a positive direction?
To reply to this Provision, use our Feedback
Form. To talk with us about coaching or consulting services for yourself
or your organization, use our
Contact for Coaching Form to arrange for a complimentary
conversation.
LifeTrek Readers'
Forum
(selected feedback
from the past week)
Editor's Note: The LifeTrek Readers'
Forum contains selections from the comments and materials sent in each week by
the readers of LifeTrek Provisions. They do not necessarily reflect the
perspective of LifeTrek Coaching International. To submit your comment, use our
Feedback Form.
I just forwarded your last Provision,
Happiness
Matters, to the administrators at my children's school. It reminds me of how
important it is to make our schools more fun. Your Provision not only does a
fabulous job of capturing the nature of education as it is today but also of
suggesting how we may turn things around to make our environments more positive,
happy and motivating. Thanks!
Have you seen the
Volkswagen Commercial
in which designers got people to take stairs, instead of an escalator, by
turning the stairs steps into a functional piano? They made exercise fun! It's a
great video. I think it goes along well with your Provision on the importance of
happiness. Thanks for your thoughtful words on the subject. Top
May you be filled with goodness, peace, and joy.
Bob Tschannen-Moran
President, LifeTrek Coaching International,
www.LifeTrekCoaching.com
CEO & Co-Founder, Center for School Transformation,
www.SchoolTransformation.com
Immediate Past President, International Association of Coaching,
www.CertifiedCoach.org
Author, Evocative Coaching: Transforming Schools One Conversation at a Time,
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