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Session 2. Vision, Values and Trust
Objective. Write a short vision about pupils that staff helped to shape, turn values into observable behaviours, and use the four elements of relational trust to plan small daily moves that build or repair trust.
Most staff rooms have heard a vision statement and forgotten it by October. What stays with people is what the leader does on an ordinary Tuesday: whether meetings start on time, whether a question gets an answer, whether the same rule applies to friends. This lesson goes beyond the key ideas and shows how to build a vision with staff in three short conversations, and how small daily acts add to or drain the trust that every change depends on.
Key ideas
A vision people can use
- The Wallace Foundation review of research on principals lists 'shaping a vision of academic success for all students' as the first of five key practices. A vision is a picture of what your pupils will be able to do and be in about three years.
- A usable vision passes three tests: it is about pupils (not the school's glory), it is specific enough to check, and a teacher could say what she will do differently on Monday.
- It is built with staff, parents and older pupils through short conversations, not read out at the August meeting. People support what they helped to make.
Values are behaviours you can see
- 'Respect' on a poster means nothing until it is written as behaviour: 'We start lessons on time. We let a pupil finish an answer. We do not discuss a colleague's mistake in the corridor.'
- Choose three or four values only. For each, write two 'we will' behaviours and one 'we will not'. The 'we will not' line is the one people remember, and it is where leaders are tested.
- The leader's own behaviour is the loudest statement of values. If the head arrives late to the meeting on punctuality, the value has just been taught as optional.
Relational trust: four things people judge
- Barbara Schneider, writing on the Chicago research with Anthony Bryk, says that trust between teachers, parents and leaders rests on four judgements: respect (listening and taking views into account), personal regard (reaching out beyond the job), competence in core duties, and personal integrity (keeping your word and putting children first).
- Trust is built in everyday interactions, not in one workshop. Small, repeated moves count: answering a message, explaining a decision, thanking someone in specific words.
- Trust makes hard change easier: people take risks, try new methods and accept extra effort when they believe the leader is fair and competent.
When trust breaks: repair in four moves
- Typical breaks: a promise forgotten, a decision that looks like favouritism, a private remark repeated in public. Silence usually makes it worse.
- Four moves: acknowledge what happened without excuses; explain the reasons you can honestly share; fix what can be fixed this week; check back after a month. Never promise what you cannot control.
- The Wallace review also stresses a climate hospitable to education: orderly, respectful, safe to say 'I do not know'. Trust and climate grow together.
From words to trust
A vision in three short conversations
You do not need a retreat. Ask three groups the same two questions in ten minutes each: 'In three years, what should a Grade 9 leaver be able to do?' and 'What gets in the way today?' Talk to a few teachers from different subjects, a few parents, and some older pupils. Write down the words they use, not your own.
Then draft one sentence of up to 25 words, built from the most repeated phrases, and bring it back: 'Did we hear you correctly?' Change what they say is wrong. A vision made this way is slightly less elegant and far more owned. Finish by asking each team, 'What would we see in classrooms if this were true?' Those answers become your first checkable signs of progress.
Small trust moves and the cost of breaking them
Trust grows slowly and falls fast. A leader gains it by many small, visible acts: answering a question within a day, even if the answer is no; giving the reason for a decision; thanking someone for a specific action; admitting 'I was wrong about the timetable.' None needs money. Each shows respect, personal regard, competence or integrity, the four judgements people make.
Trust is lost by small acts too: a promise forgotten, a rule that bends for friends, a private remark repeated. Use a quick fairness check before a sensitive decision: 'Would I do the same for a colleague I like less?' and 'Could I explain this to the whole staff?' If either answer is no, stop and think again.
Examples from the classroom
Three questions in the staff room
Scene. Malika, a methodist in Samarkand, asks nine teachers, five parents and six Grade 9 pupils, 'What should a school leaver be able to do?' The word 'explain' appears again and again, from 'explain my answer' to 'explain a problem to my family'. The draft vision is: 'Every pupil leaves Grade 9 able to read, reason and explain clearly, and treats others kindly.' Teachers say 'reason' should come before 'read'. Malika changes it.
Insight. Using the staff's own words and changing the draft in front of them turns a statement into a shared vision.
Starting on time
Scene. A Bukhara school lists the value 'respect for time' with the line 'We will not start a meeting late.' At the first meeting two senior teachers arrive ten minutes late. The head, Aziz, starts on time, repeats nothing for the latecomers and does not mention them. By the third meeting everyone is in the room at the hour. Aziz has never raised his voice.
Insight. A specific 'we will not' line, applied calmly and consistently, changes behaviour more than a reminder.
A clear no
Scene. Dilnoza, a Grade 6 teacher in Tashkent, asks the head, Jasur, to move an exam to a larger hall. A clear answer comes the next morning: 'No. The hall is booked for the district test, and here is the alternative: the sports hall on Tuesday.' She is disappointed but says in the staff room, 'At least he answers.' Two other teachers had waited three weeks for a 'maybe' from the previous head.
Insight. A prompt, reasoned no builds more trust than a late or vague maybe.
Common pitfalls
- Writing the vision alone and presenting it as finished.
- Choosing values that cannot be seen, such as 'excellence' or 'innovation'.
- Making promises you do not control, such as 'no extra tasks this year'.
- Treating trust as a one-off event instead of a daily habit.
From Slogan to Behaviour
- Open the Kit: a SAMPLE school poster and staff comments, a values worksheet, a trust audit card and a short trust case. (5 min)
- Alone (10 min): test the sample poster with the three tests (about pupils? checkable? usable on Monday?). Underline words nobody could act on.
- Pairs (15 min): rewrite it as a vision of up to 25 words about pupils, then write three values, each with two 'we will' and one 'we will not' behaviours.
- Groups of four (10 min): stress test. Swap sheets. Others try to find a realistic moment when a leader would break a value. Fix the wording until it holds.
- Part B, Trust audit (15 min): alone, read the trust case, then score your own school 1 to 4 on each of the four elements with one piece of evidence. In pairs, choose the lowest element and plan one small move for next week.
- Alone (5 min): write your leadership task from the Kit.
Your facilitator will guide you through this activity in the session.
Questions to discuss
- Which value was hardest to turn into behaviour, and why?
- Which trust element did most people score lowest, and what does that suggest about how leaders spend their attention?
- Who in your school should help to write the vision, and what would you ask them?
Reflect
- Which promise have you made to staff that you have not yet kept?
- Which of your habits teaches the opposite of a value you want?
- When did a leader last make you feel respected, and what exactly did they do?
Try it tomorrow
- Ask three people: 'In three years, what should our Grade 9 leaver be able to do?' and write their exact words.
- Choose one 'we will not' line for your team and keep it yourself for two weeks.
- Answer every staff question within one working day this week, even if the answer is 'I will tell you on Friday'.
Further reading and links
A vision is about pupils, a value is a behaviour you can see, and trust grows from small, kept promises.