Creating Trusting Cultures

“If we do not trust one another, we are already defeated.”

— Allison Croggon

Trust is the glue that holds us together, it is pivotal, yet fragile, and indeed a term much bandied about. We all know trust is important and sense immediately whether or not we are in ‘trust’ with someone or something (whether we listen to this sense is another matter). Yet we probably have rarely thought about how we create trust. Why is it that it flourishes with some but not with others? What are the building blocks, the foundational elements, the preconditions?

Trust does have a road map. We can learn how to create it and indeed we offer up to you a model to enable you to build and sustain trust in your school or education setting.

Diagram showing hierarchy from catalysts to outcomes with elements like trust-based culture, abilities, and feedback.

This model is read from the top and works by digging below each level asking the question: If you want what is in this level, what do you need beforehand? Hence the first level. Outcomes, is what we are aiming for.

If we want the outcomes of enhanced social capital, which generates collaboration, enabling staff to upskill one another, take risks, innovate, improve teaching and learning and feel better about themselves, and one another, then we need a culture that enables this. The culture desired is a trust-based culture and to enable a trust-based culture certain preconditions need to be in place. By this I mean certain concepts, mindsets and actions need to prevail in the staff body to enable trust. Underpinning each precondition is a catalyst. These catalysts are the giants upon which this model stands. They are empirical theories from some of the greatest minds in this field, drawing on behavioural psychology, coaching and leadership and management theories. What we hope is to give you is a model which encapsulates this important work and enables you to harness it in your educational setting.