Trust During Transition: Strategic Leadership and Trust Development During Principal Succession

Abstract

With an ever-increasing number of administrator turnovers and retirements the need for strategic leadership and trust development on the part of succeeding principals to develop and sustain organizational learning and school improvement initiatives is paramount. This chapter addresses how one principal faced with the consolidation of three schools successfully developed trust and utilized specific leadership goals and strategies to develop a positive and cohesive school culture aimed at increasing teacher effectiveness and student achievement. While attending to trust criteria focused on ability and interpersonal skills the principal explicitly communicated and reinforced the congruence of his actions, policies, and values (APV) to help his staff quickly progress to ‘integrative’ levels of trust along the trust continuum. Working to purposefully develop the ‘strategic architecture’ of the school including relationships, culture, learning and resources, the principal’s goals and associated practices addressed the technical, intellectual, socio-emotional and socio-political dimensions of teachers’ work as identified by Bascia and Hargreaves.