Walk into any struggling school, and you’ll hear it almost immediately.
Not always in words, but in tone, in hesitation, during side conversations, in silence.
It’s not always a curriculum problem.
It’s not always an instruction problem.
It’s not even always a systems problem.
It’s a trust problem.
And here’s the truth most people don’t want to say out loud:
You can build all the systems in the world, but if your people don’t trust you, those systems will never stick.
I Didn’t Walk Into Broken Schools. I Walked Into Broken Trust.
Every campus I led as a turnaround principal had one thing in common: trust had been fractured long before I arrived.
At one school, leadership had created chaos: favorites were protected, others were pushed out, and expectations were inconsistent at best. Staff didn’t trust leadership. They didn’t trust each other. And they certainly didn’t trust that anything would actually change.
At another campus, unethical decisions had damaged credibility at every level. I walked in as an outsider, from another state, with a different background, and the unspoken message was clear:
“You don’t know us. And we don’t trust you.”
And in my final campus, the pattern repeated: lack of accountability, blurred boundaries, and a culture where students and parents dictated the tone of the building.
Different schools. Same root issue.
Broken trust.
Why Trust Comes Before Strategy
When trust is low, everything feels harder.
- Feedback feels like criticism.
- Change feels like punishment.
- Expectations feel like control.
- Accountability feels personal.
So what do people do?
They resist.
They disengage.
They comply on the surface but disconnect underneath.
And that’s why school improvement fails.
Not because the strategy was wrong…but because the foundation wasn’t ready to hold it.
So What Do You Do First? You Build Trust on Purpose.
You don’t wait for trust to happen.
You lead in a way that creates it.
Here’s what that looked like in my work:
1. I Listened Before I Led
Before I changed anything, I paid attention.
I listened for patterns.
I listened to frustrations.
I listened to what wasn’t being said in meetings but was being said in hallways.
And I gave people space to speak.
Not to stay in complaint, but to transition toward solutions.
Because here’s what I knew:
People will not follow a leader who hasn’t first taken the time to understand them.
2. I Made Systems the Solution—Not the People the Problem
In broken cultures, blame becomes the default.
So I shifted the narrative:
We are not fixing people.
We are fixing systems.
We sat together and designed clear, consistent systems: arrival, instruction, behavior, communication.
And more importantly, we committed to them.
We didn’t abandon systems the moment they got hard.
We reflected. We adjusted. We stayed consistent.
That’s where trust starts to grow—when people see that the work is steady, not reactive.
3. I Let People See Who I Was
Trust doesn’t grow behind a title.
It grows through connection.
I made sure my staff knew:
- What I believed about students.
- What I believed about teachers.
- Why I was there.
- And what I was willing to do to support them.
Not in a polished, scripted way, but in a real one.
Because if people don’t know you, they will create their own version of you.
And that version is rarely generous.
4. I Built a Leadership Team That Matched the Message
Trust doesn’t scale if it only lives in one person.
So I built a leadership team that operated the same way I did:
- Same expectations
- Same language
- Same level of support
- Same commitment to solutions
No matter who a teacher went to, they received consistency.
And consistency builds credibility faster than anything else.
5. I Stood Where I Was Needed
There were moments I had to stand in front and lead.
Moments I had to stand beside and support.
And moments I had to step behind and let others lead.
But in all of it, I was present.
I made decisions when they needed to be made.
I protected my staff when it mattered.
And I held the line on expectations, even when it was uncomfortable.
Because trust is not built by being liked.
It’s built by being consistent, clear, and committed.
If You Want to Improve a School, Start Here
Before the new initiative.
Before the new strategy.
Before the next big push.
Ask yourself:
Do my people trust me?
Do they trust each other?
Do they trust that this work will be different this time?
Because if the answer is no…that’s your starting point.
Not programs.
Not pressure.
Not more.
Trust.
Because when trust is strong, people lean in.
They try. They stay. They believe.
And when that happens?
School improvement doesn’t just begin.
It finally has a chance to last.
Ready to Do This Work the Right Way?
If you’re leading a campus where the culture feels off, the systems aren’t sticking, or the trust just isn’t where it needs to be, you don’t have to figure it out alone.
This is the work I’ve done for years…walking into complex, broken systems and helping leaders move from chaos to clarity by rebuilding trust, strengthening culture, and putting systems in place that actually last.
If you’re ready to take that next step, I’d love to connect with you.
You can reach out through my UNCOMMON platform, connect with me on social media, or email me directly. Let’s have a conversation about what’s happening on your campus and how we can build a plan that supports your people, your systems, and your long-term success.
Because real school improvement doesn’t happen by chance.
It happens by design, with the right support behind you.
Cheri