Tschannen-Moran, Megan. (2004). Trust Matters.
Leadership for Successful Schools. San Francisco, CA:
Jossey-Bass.
Pp. xix + 242
$28.00 (Paper) ISBN 0-7879-7434-X
Reviewed by Ruth Rees
Queen’s University
Kingston, Ontario Canada
August 9, 2005
What began as a dissertation has ended up as a readable,
informative, and contemporary book on helping school principals
lead successful schools. How? By developing trust –
first, developing their own trust in others (e.g., school and
board administrators, teachers, students, parents, public), and
second, by cultivating a climate of trust within their
schools.
The author contends that without trust, schools will never be
successful. Moreover, her extensive literature review supports
that assumption. Starting from that premise, Tschannen-Moran has
written a primer on trust. I call it a primer because it is a
very pragmatic book, based on research which is referred to
throughout the book; some of it is her own. The author started
this topic while a graduate student under, in my opinion, one of
the pillars of the field of Educational leadership in North
America, Wayne Hoy. Three of the urban elementary schools
that Tschannen-Moran researched were used as case studies
throughout this book to illustrate her many points. One
distrusting principal, one distrusting staff, and one principal
who encouraged and demonstrated trust were part of each case
study, making the points very relevant to the reader.
The book is very clearly written and well laid out. Each
chapter starts with a very appropriate quote, and then develops
the argument that has been introduced. Chapter one develops the
reasoning behind why trust matters in schools, and introduces the
three main players: three principals – one who tries too
hard (the fighter), one who doesn’t try (the fleer), and
one who is termed highly supportive of her staff, yet who
continuously challenges them.
The next chapter, chapter two, defines trust as
“one’s willingness to be vulnerable to another based
on the confidence that the other is benevolent, honest, open,
reliable, and competent” (p. 17). Each of the aspects of
this definition is explained in detail, forming one integral part
of the author’s thesis. The vulnerability of individuals to
each other reinforces the three ideas of interdependence in
organizations, the level of risk associated with the (or any)
relationship, and a degree of uncertainty. The five facets of
trust are next explained, the first being the most familiar,
benevolence. This is clarified as “the confidence
that one’s well-being or something one cares about will be
protected and not harmed by the trusted party” (p. 19).
The caring is both about the relationship and the immediate
outcome. But, as the author states several times throughout the
book, caring is not sufficient. Honesty is the next
ingredient in trust, the expectation that one’s word or
promise can be relied upon and the commitment met. Part of
honesty, attests the author, is authentic behaviour and includes
“accountability, avoiding manipulations, and being
‘real’ rather than playing a preconceived role”
(p. 24). The principal is ultimately accountable for
everything in her school (no ‘buck-passing’ allowed),
and must not exploit others to attain the school’s
objectives. The next facet of trust is openness. It too
has several aspects: openness in terms of information,
influence, and control. Principals must share information (and
hence must lose some control because knowledge is power).
Principals must delegate responsibilities to others, again a loss
of control. Good leaders recognize the leadership in others, and
encourage the sharing of leadership or influence through such
activities as participatory decision-making (i.e., distributed
leadership). Reliability is dependability or
predictability of a person. This is demonstrated not just in
words or beliefs, but in the actions of the school leader. The
last facet of trust is competence. The author defines it
as the “ability to perform a task as expected, according to
appropriate standards.” Not only must principals be honest
with others, but they must be honest with themselves in
recognizing their own levels of skills or abilities, or else they
risk losing their credibility and the confidence of others.
These components are reinforced in the next chapter, entitled
Cultivating Trust. Factors that influence the development of
trust are described. These include a person’s values and
attitudes, actions, and interactions. Tschannen-Moran also
mentions a person’s disposition to trust as a factor. I
would concur and also add that the organization’s history
regarding a climate of trust (or distrust) would certainly
contribute to an individual’s willingness to trust, whether
that person is the leader or an employee. Moreover the time that
a person has been in the organization, I would contend although
have no research to validate my claim, should be a factor too.
All do contribute to a climate of trust (or distrust) in the
school organization.
The next two chapters discuss the opposite aspect: the
betrayal of trust, and a negative consequence, revenge. Betrayal
is said to be first met with disbelief, then anger, and then a
desire for revenge. An interesting point mentioned here and
again later in the book is that a leader’s avoidance of
conflict (the ‘flight’ syndrome) does not contribute
to an atmosphere of trust. Also in a climate of distrust, shared
or participatory decision-making is considered by the employees
to be a sham. These examples reinforce for me the complexity of
trust and the fact that the many factors (attitudes, actions,
words) have to be aligned. If a leader distrusts, the
consequences are said to be a proliferation of rules and
micromanagement, i.e., a culture of control. The author
describes five “paths” of revenge: social
withdrawal, revenge fantasies, feuding, confrontation, and
forgiveness. Not all of these are negative. Confrontation may
lead ultimately to forgiveness and resolution. Resentment is
another negative consequence of a lack of trust by employees.
This is more clandestine and makes the restoration of trust
within the organization more difficult. Two chapters later the
author provides some strategies for restoring trust. My
preference would be to place them immediately after, and thus
keep all the ‘negatives’ together in the book. Ways
to repair trust include demonstrating constructive attitudes
(each party must believe that the effort is worth it) and actions
(the four A’s constituting absolution are admit it,
apologize, ask forgiveness, and amend your ways); communicating
one’s boundaries (these boundaries escalate from inform,
request, demand, to leave); clearly communicating (conciliatory)
promises and then reliably fulfilling them; and lastly engaging
in conflict resolution strategies. While not all conflict can be
resolved, a school with trust has a great chance of being
successful than one without trust, says the author.
While this book is mainly focused on the principal, two
chapters are explicitly directed to teachers, entitled trusting
one another and fostering trust with students and parents. This
section begins with a reminder that principals set the tone for
the school culture, i.e., principals have to trust teachers first
before teachers will trust other colleagues. The culture must
first be one of cooperation and caring. Trust, the author
contends, will facilitate in teachers putting forth greater
efforts and being more persistent and resilient when confronted
by challenges. Moreover, she says, trust among teachers will
contribute to their functioning as a team, a professional
learning community.
Tschannen-Moran believes, as do others, that trust is
fundamental for learning. Accordingly, educators must build
trusting relationships with students and their parents in order
to facilitate student achievement. The principal and the
teachers must work in concert to reach parents, foster frequent
and open communications, and provide parents many and varied
opportunities to be involved in decisions regarding their
child’s education. The author acknowledges that parents
with low incomes present challenges to the teachers in terms of
open communications; I would also add that families of different
cultural and ethic backgrounds and in particular families who
have recently relocated (immigrants or refugees) pose other and
more different challenges to educators in this regard, e.g.,
different first languages, different expectations for schools and
teachers.
The final chapter reiterates the main themes of the book: the
importance of becoming a trustworthy leader, and how the
principal can work towards that. A framework is provided, a
Trustworthy Leadership Matrix, in Figure 9.1 that delineates the
five facets of trust (benevolence, honesty, openness,
reliability, competence) and the five constituencies within a
school (administrators, teachers, students, parents, and the
public), with five functions of leadership (visioning,
modeling, coaching, managing, and mediating). Each of these
five leadership functions are explained in this model and
examples are provided to describe how a trustworthy leader
carries out each function. I will clarify each of these five
leadership functions briefly. First, the author says that
leaders must have a vision of the school as a trustworthy
environment for all five constituencies and implement that vision
in a way that involves others, having them as part of the change
process too. Second, leaders model: they must practice what they
preach; if they want people to trust them, and then their
behaviors to others must demonstrate their trust. Third, as the
instructional leader, the principal acts as a coach (motivating,
encouraging, helping people) where and when needed. Fourth,
leaders have various administrative tasks to do. While carrying
out these tasks, they must be excellent communicators, involve
others through delegation, and use rules and procedures as means
to attain mutually agreed to goals, rather then being
manipulative or punitive. Finally, when trust breaks down,
leaders must mediate and reflect, consider ways of restoring
trust by such means as confronting rather than fleeing from
conflict, and implementing productive conflict resolution
strategies.
Following the format of many university textbooks, the author
starts with a captivating quotation and appends three sections to
each chapter. The first appendix is a section entitled
‘Putting it into Action’ (i.e., putting the theory
into practice) is intended to provide suggestions for the
principal to apply the ideas addressed in the chapter in their
own school. This section is followed by a point-form summary of
the key points expanded upon. The third section concludes the
chapter with some questions for both reflection and discussion.
These questions underscore the author’s point that
“building trust is a complex process requiring reflection
and attention to context” (p. xvi); this process is neither
implicit nor automatic. The questions are useful not only for a
practicing principal to use with her staff, but also as part of a
graduate class, professional development program for aspiring
school administrators, or with colleagues in a study group, as
the author contends.
To make the book even more useful, the author added four
appendices. The first appendix includes four surveys in order for
school leaders and scholars to assess the levels of trust in
their schools (a faculty trust survey about faculty trust in the
principal, in colleagues, and in students and their parents; a
principal trust survey about the principal’s levels of
trust in teachers, students, and parents; a survey for students;
and a survey for parents). Scoring directions are supplied as
well as a discussion of reliability and validity. The second
appendix is a guide for principals on presenting the result of
the trust surveys to their faculty. The third appendix is a
clarification about the study participants mentioned in the
text. Finally, the fourth appendix includes some directions for
future research, for both principals and academics. The
reference list appears quite thorough and contains contemporary
references as well as more traditional ones.
I conclude by saying that I believe that the author succeeded
in making this a very relevant and readable book for
practitioners, scholars, and professional development
facilitators alike. All can gain useful information from this
book. The author has touched upon many aspects of effective
leadership (such as leading quietly, coaching when and as
needed). Moreover, the book reinforces for me the complex
nature of school leadership, the many processes that contribute
to leadership (in this case, the building of trust), and the fact
that good intentions are just not enough. Learning to be
an effective leader takes a positive attitude, time, effort,
knowledge, and the involvement of others, in this case,
one’s faculty and staff, students and their parents, and
the educational community and the public at large. I like the
title of the book and I concur with the author: trust does
matter. It matters in our personal and professional lives.
The impact in and on the work environment is substantial because
of the various constituencies involved. While this book is
directed particularly to the school principal, anyone either
inside or outside the education profession should take something
away from its content.
About the Reviewer
Ruth Rees, PhD
Professor of Education
Queen’s University, Kingston, ON Canada
Dr. Ruth Rees is a professor in the Faculty of Education at
Queen's University in Kingston, Canada. She is a
research-practitioner, carrying out research in educational
leadership in order to contribute to more effective leadership
practices. She teaches in both the BEd and graduate programs in
Education, and is the Director of the Principals' Qualifications
Program that is provincially mandated for those educators whose
goal is to be a vice-principal or principal in a public school in
Ontario. She is also working with three Institutes of Education
in the People's Republic of China to assist in the development of
leaders of schools there.
Copyright is retained by the first or sole author,
who grants right of first publication to the Education Review.
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