While teachers are your employees, it is very important that you show (or at least pretend) that you trust them. This makes it very beneficial to the smooth and fair progress of affairs in the school. Building trust among your staff has immense benefits like;
- Creating a positive attitude towards work, among the teachers
- Making your teachers feel valued
- Preventing chaos that results from feeling deprived or held back
- Reducing your stress levels as teachers usually deliver what you expect of them
Hard as this might seem, you can take a couple of steps below to make your teachers feel like you trust them.
1. Take note of excellence
So many teachers put in a lot of work to get the results that they get. Sometimes, some teachers go way overboard to do more than you expect of them. Since they’re also human, their efforts will always diminish if there’s no virtual or physical reward like;
- Congratulating them upon their achievement
- Rewarding them with small allowances
- Complimenting them for the work done
When you show your teachers that you recognize their excellence and efforts, you make your teachers feel like they’re trusted and valued.
2. Let them solve challenges
Since teachers are natural problem solvers, there is a lot that you can count on them to help you solve. There are lots of challenges within the school that teachers, with their creativity and leadership prowess can help you solve, like;
- Notorious student behaviors
- Deteriorating academic performance
- Student chaotic behavior including strikes and boycotts
Usually, it’s normal for any school administrator to feel like they’ve got it all figured out, and that the teachers are only capable of advising in their own favor. However, you just have to present the problem brilliantly in order to receive brilliant solutions.
3. A little autonomy won’t hurt
Micromanagement of teachers is one way to prove to them that you just can’t have it in you to trust them. This is the wrong approach if you’re looking at establishing trust in the school.
Therefore, teachers should be given the freedom to do what they deem fit, as far as conducting lessons is concerned. When they know that you trust them, they’ll try their best not to betray you.
4. Allow teachers to pursue their passions
So many of our actions and the way we solve our problems, are usually due to the influence of the things that we’re passionate about. As a school administrator you should let teachers pursue the things they’re passionate about, for example;
- Creating clubs among themselves as teachers
- Throwing small get-together parties
- Uniting students through clubs
- Introducing more co-curricular activities
Usually, nothing will happen if you stop them from pursuing what they feel desirable on their side. However, you’ll notice a change of attitude with time.
5. Exercise transparency
A true leader always has the capacity to share their vision with others, and make people see things in the same light, almost easily. This is why you should put your bossiness aside and keep your teachers in the loop on things like;
- What is going on
- What they’re doing
- Why they’re doing what they’re doing
Of course, this doesn’t mean they’ll improve or fulfill your exact vision, but they’ll work hard toward it in thanks to you for trusting them with your vision.
6. Nurture relationships
We all know the immense benefits that come along with building a good relationship with your teachers. But in this case, it makes your teachers trust you more as well, and confide in you with the challenges and struggles they face.
7. Invest in their growth
Much as they might not tell you, teachers face lots and lots of challenges at the workplace, some of which they might not be telling you. However, you have to ask them to suggest how you can help them change things up a bit at the workplace.
Once you show teachers that you’re willing to make them better in all ways possible, it shows that you trust and highly regard them.
8. Show that you’re vulnerable
Much as most of the time you’re supposed to maintain the façade of a pillar that can’t be easily crushed or broken, some things will definitely go south.
In this case, it doesn’t kill to genuinely ask for help in form of advice on how to overcome these challenges. When you show a teacher that you trust them that way, they’re more inclined to help you in ways they can think of.
Conclusion;
Creating trust in a school simply means treating teachers as professionals, rather than subject-matter experts. As long as you’re dealing with humans in your business or enterprise, don’t ever let your eyes overlook the importance of creating a more amicable friendly relationship, as opposed to the way you might handle an ox or a robot.