A Culture of Trust
So as I was taking part in last week’s Middle School curriculum leaders meeting, I was once again struck by the importance and necessity of a positive school climate and culture. We were all busy and engaged in providing meaningful feedback through a critical friends protocol, when it occurred to me that the trust that was being shown by everyone in that room as colleagues was three years in the making. A culture of trust, where people are able to be vulnerable, open-minded, accepting of professional feedback, and eager to learn from each other takes a considerable amount of time and effort to develop….and it’s such hard work! It’s an everyday commitment that needs everyone on board, but when it finally arrives it’s like a whole new world of possibility becomes unearthed. In my opinion, a culture and climate of trust is the cornerstone of everything meaningful that can happen in schools. Without it, I will suggest that a school will never transition from good to great, and will never be able to truly focus on what’s best for their students. The issue is that it’s not something that you can just implement overnight…or purchase as a new school program…there is so much that plays into it, so much that cannot be taken for granted, and so many moving pieces that it’s a staggering undertaking on the part of the entire community. It’s about people, and their mindsets, and their passion….it’s about leadership, and priorities, and expectations, and follow through, and it’s about coming together over a shared purpose…but when it happens everything becomes easier, and the work can start to focus on the things that NEED to matter in order for student learning to be maximized. For us, it was a long journey and it took all of us to take ownership of what we’re trying to accomplish for our kids and each other…but it’s here now and it’s exciting to be digging into a new kind of work, the work that seemed like only a dream three short years ago.
I mentioned in a previous post how I was inspired by the work of Ron Ritchhart, and the 8 cultural
I mentioned in a previous post how I was inspired by the work of Ron Ritchhart, and the 8 cultural