Research School Network: It takes trust to build a team ELE Tara McVey discusses trust – what it means and how important it is in teams


It takes trust to build a team

ELE Tara McVey discusses trust – what it means and how important it is in teams

by Durrington Research School
on the

My youngest son is very literal and can sometimes struggle with analogy. Therefore, yesterday, we spent a longer time than I might have wished discussing what someone actually meant when they said that there is no I’ in team” (even though, as he adamantly told me, he already knew how to spell it perfectly). But, as I patiently explained it for the third time, I realised that the cliche, like most cliches, was true. There is no I’ in team…

One of my favourite questions to ask staff interviewing for leadership positions has always been, Why would people follow you?’ Recently, I’ve realised that I’ve got it all wrong. There are two reasons for my concern. Firstly, the question is framed in such a way that it appeals to the ideas that Tom Rees and Jen Barker have talked about many times as the hero paradigm’ of leadership – where effective leadership is defined by personal traits, referenced by the range of adjectives in adverts for school leaders where they are looking for someone visionary’ or dynamic’ or inspirational’ or charismatic’. When scrutinised, these empty adjectives lack the substance that tells us what real effective leadership actually requires. My second issue is that the question suggests that the you’ is singular, whereas, I am increasingly of the view that it has to be plural.

In the ResearchED guide to Leadership, Stuart Lock, in his introduction, talks about the shift in conversations from generic leadership approaches to a focus on the domain specific knowledge that is required for effective leadership in schools. This is a shift that I absolutely welcome and so I am not arguing here for a return to the generic. However, if there is one generic thing that I believe is fundamentally necessary to sustainable school improvement, it is trust.

In his leadership fable of the same name, Patrick Lencioni identifies the five dysfunctions of a team. The first is lack of trust among team members stemming from an unwillingness to admit mistakes or weaknesses. This leads to the second which is fear of conflict which in itself leads to lack of real commitment and buy in. This then allows for an avoidance of accountability. And finally, team members who do not buy in and who lack accountability don’t pay enough attention to the results as they put their individual needs (such as ego, career development, or recognition) above the collective goals of the team. I first came across these dysfunctions when I was working as part of a team which exhibited many of them. It was a real lightbulb moment for me as it articulated so many of the things that we didn’t ever talk about. And the fact that we didn’t ever talk about it was down to the first dysfunction itself – lack of trust.

Amy Edmondson first identified the concept of Psychological Safety as a key attribute of effective teams in the late nineties. She defines it as a shared belief held by members of a team that the team is a safe space in which to be honest. In the HBR IdeaCast she says it is about being direct, taking risks, being willing to say, I screwed that up.’ And she talks about the idea that psychological safety, which is there when colleagues trust and respect each other and feel able, even obligated to be candid, is something that has to be deliberately created and maintained. If we don’t work to achieve this, people won’t speak up and won’t be honest because they want to stay safe and look good. That’s human nature. Unless we make it happen in our schools, people won’t speak out about things they – or us – or others – have to improve, because they won’t feel that it is safe to do so. We have to create the psychological safety. We have to create the trust.

In our school, what changed us, what led to meaningful improvement was honesty and trust. This started with honesty and trust within the leadership team and led to honesty and trust within the whole staff team. As Bryk and Schneider recognise, regardless of how much formal power any given role has in a school community, all participants remain dependent on others to achieve the desired outcomes and feel empowered by their efforts.’ They also recognise that trust cannot be built through a single speech – or an one off inset – trust is built through the day-to-day exchanges. It is not built on what we say; trust is built on what we do.

Megan Tschannen Moran has spent much of her career researching the role of trust in school improvement. Trust, she says, is strongly correlated with the overall performance of a school and therefore implies that we need to create high trust schools in order to create high performing schools.

She is clear about the behaviours that generate trust:

Benevolence and genuine care. I’ve been in sessions where it was suggested that you can fulfil this by asking about peoples’ families. While that is lovely, it’s not enough. You can’t fake it. Benevolence is about having the best interests of staff at heart. What have we, as leaders, done to back our staff, to reduce their workload, to genuinely make life better? What do we do each day which shows we are on the same team? When do we offer thanks and recognition?


Honesty anchored in moral principles. Firstly, this is about being objective and fair. But, honesty is more than that – our actions have to align with our words. We have to admit when we’re wrong – and we have to give others the respect of being completely honest with them. We publicly support but we privately challenge. And we must challenge, have the fierce conversations when we need to, because, being upfront and honest when you need to be will ensure that staff know that praise is sincere and genuine when you deliver that.


Openness and trust of others. People need clarity. So, as leaders, we need to be open and clear about why we are doing things. There can be no hidden agendas. We need to extend our trust to others and include them in the discussions. And, when they are open with us, we need to ensure their psychological safety; we need to create spaces for open and honest feedback and then really listen. It is often too easy for leadership teams to respond defensively, even amongst themselves, with but we already do that.’ It is much more difficult – but much more fruitful – to realise that we might do that but we’re not doing it well enough.


The final two behaviours are those that really stand out: reliability and competence. I have been on leadership teams where people were too busy to do something that they’d promised or to stop and deal with an issue as they rushed past and, through this, trust eroded. As leaders, we need to embody reliability. We need to do the things we’re meant to do. We need to ensure that we always follow through and always follow up. We need to do the things we say we will do. It’s so simple but, at times, is the thing that slips.

And the final behaviour which will create trust is where the generic meets the domain specific – competence. People will trust leaders who are competent. And that means knowing enough; it means reading up, following the evidence, continuing to learn. If you’re a line manager for HIstory, you can only really have a competent conversation about curriculum if you have put the time in to learn about it. Competence is continuing to improve your own teaching, while also continuing to learn more about how to run your school.

And competence isn’t glamorous – it isn’t visionary or dynamic or charismatic. Competence is about walking the walk every day. That’s how you build trust. That’s how you build a team. That’s how you improve a school. And it takes a we’, not an I’.

Tara McVey

References:

Jen Barker and Tom Rees https://schoolsweek.co.uk/no-more-heroes-time-to-change-the-record-on-school-leadership/

Patrick Lencioni: The Five Dysfucntions of a Team

http://media.virbcdn.com/files/98/b8fa9ecdbc5f692d-The5DysfunctionsofaTeam.pdf

Amy Edmonson on Psychological Safety HBR Ideacast Episode 666

https://hbr.org/podcast/2019/01/creating-psychological-safety-in-the-workplace

Bryk, A.S., Schneider, B. (2002) Trust in Schools

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar03/vol60/num06/Trust-in-Schools@-A-Core-Resource-for-School-Reform.aspx

The ResearchED guide to leadership

https://www.amazon.co.uk/researchED-Guide-Leadership-evidence-informed-teachers/dp/1912906414

Megan Tschannen-Moran

https://wmpeople.wm.edu/site/page/mxtsch/scholarship

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