10 Things I Learned About Trust as a Literacy Leader

Including a downloadable 10-point reference guide for paid subscribers

Photo by Zdeněk Macháček on Unsplash

I am taking a seven-day break from reading and consuming information in general (more on this experiment later this week…).

For now, I will just share that a week of reading deprivation has helped me in the past to be more creative, and to express what’s on my mind with greater ease. Without a lot of input, I have more energy to generate outputs, especially in writing.

What’s on my mind right now is new leaders currently being hired to lead a school. They rarely get any kind of onboarding process. Wisdom is too often gained from mistakes instead of quality mentoring.

Below are ten pieces of wisdom I wish I had access to when I began as a principal. Several come from the best resources I’ve read on leadership (some links go to my Bookshop affiliate site). Consider this a starting point or a waypoint on your professional learning journey as a literacy leader.

1. Create the conditions for teachers to stay and succeed. To retain teachers and improve student achievement, the conditions for effective teaching and learning have to be in place (Harbatkin & Nguyen, 2023). A key condition is equitable support and accountability. Behaviors influence beliefs, and beliefs have to be translated into behaviors. What effective instruction looks and sounds like needs to be clearly articulated. Just as important, each teacher needs to believe that everyone is held to a similar level of performance. If this condition is in place, faculty are more willing to take risks, to innovate, and to stick around longer in a school.

2. Focus on what teachers are doing well. Once the conditions are in place, the #1 thing teachers want is to be recognized and affirmed for their work. They also want feedback on how to improve. But first, trust and relationships between the leader and the teacher must be established. (Routman, 2014)

3. Be honest and transparent. One surefire way to build and sustain trust: tell the truth (Bridges, 2003). Of course, the opposite is also true.

4. Align your actions with your beliefs and values. One way we build trust and knowledge by setting clear intentions aligned with core values. This lens helps a leader gain clarity as they support others in navigating obstacles within the school system. To be clear about intentions and values, I like to write for ten minutes prior to a PD or coaching session. I might anticipate the obstacles that may trigger pushback, such as presenting data that shows disproportionalities between students with and without disabilities. This process helps me prepare strategies to address resistance that are aligned with my and my client’s shared values (Aguilar, 2024).

5. Be curious instead of seeking certainty. Start visiting classrooms through a sense of wonder. Here’s a way to get started: Notice one thing that is new in the classroom. Write it down and ask the teacher to share more about that. During the next visit, notice three things, and continue the conversation. (Langer, 2014)

6. Measure what matters. If you want to make an immediate change in your school, start with assessment. We measure what we value. Below are some questions to begin interrogating this system.

   1. Does your assessment find out what learners don't know or do know?

   2. Does the assessment lead to one correct answer or to multiple ways of knowing?

   3. Who decides what's important for learners to know?

   4. Does the assessment categorize or describe the learner?

   5. Do the outcomes of the assessments lead to more or less opportunities?

   All these questions can be framed within one large question, adapted from a quote by James Hollis (Burkeman, 2023):

   “Does this assessment enlarge or diminish learning?”

7. Question the status quo. Anything in a school is open game for critical examination. Every system created in schools was designed by a group of people with clear intentions for outcomes. The school lunch program, the Pledge of Allegiance, even recess were developed to guide immigrant students to assimilate with American traditions and adopt the country's values. This led to the erasure of a family's culture within the school walls (Ewing, 2025). When the faculty sees the leader work to dismantle systems that have perpetuated inequities, even at risk of their own positions, a permission structure is created for them to do the same. Not every teacher gets on board, but the right ones do.

8. Understand the antidote to trust. Principals can’t do it alone. And yet teachers aren’t often empowered to be leaders. This is due primarily to lack of trust along with the presence of fear. Trust and fear are polar and fundamental influences that ripple through the entire educational system. (Underwood, 2025) These influences affect a) teachers’ openness to coaching and feedback, b) a leader’s willingness to engage in professional conversations, and c) the quality of decisions made on behalf of a school. Managing the polarities of trust and fear are critical leverage points - both for leaders and teachers. In fact, if we can understand what a teacher’s specific fear is around, we may be able to help them address their fear productively. This process in itself is a trust builder.

9. Empower teachers as leaders. When we empower teachers as leaders, both as professionals in the classroom and as schoolwide decision makers, we are communicating our belief in their abilities. Provided there is a clear purpose and some parameters in place, I have always been impressed with how teachers rise to the occasion. They embrace the responsibility and are motivated to succeed, for example adapting a literacy resource to fit the needs of their students. This pathway to trust reminds me of a quote from writer and podcaster Tim Ferriss (2009):

   “It’s amazing how someone’s IQ seems to double as soon as you give them responsibility and indicate that you trust them.”

10. When in doubt, invest in people (not programs). Leadership begins and ends with trusting professionals to do what they were hired to do. Whether a school succeeds or fails is not due to buying the right program or resource. Invest in teachers through high quality professional learning and appropriate support.

Any wisdom you care to share?

Full subscribers can download a visual summary of these 10 leadership moves below. Post it in your office or keep in your notebook as you visit classrooms. In addition, full subscribers can continue this conversation in our chat.