The Speed of Trust

This week, Tom tells us about a book that has influenced his thinking, The Speed of Trust, by Stephen M. R. Covey.  

"We judge ourselves by our intentions and others by their behavior."  --S. M. R. Covey

From Tom: Outcomes Depend on Trust

I am a trustworthy guy, at least I think I am. 

My family trusts me.  My students trusted me when I was teaching in the classroom.  The athletes that I coached trusted me, so why didn’t parents trust me when I became a district administrator?   Did I change?  Did I do something that made me not trustworthy when I took this job?  Why did it have to change?

These are tough questions!

After nineteen years as a director of special education, I have come to realize that these questions don’t really matter.  What matters is how I address the trust factor when working with parents during emotionally charged situations.  That is what led me to the book The Speed of Trust, by Stephen M. R. Covey. 

The Speed of Trust focuses on why trust is important, as well as what the outcomes are when you have established true trust in a relationship.  Relationships can come down to one essential question: Do we trust each other or not?  The answer tells us why progress is being made or why progress has come to a complete halt. 

Simply stated, when you have trust, things move at a much faster rate than when you don’t.  For example, when you are in the middle of a difficult situation with a parent or student and you do not have trust established, often the conversation is bogged down by multiple questions that are not pertinent to the problem, or the same question is asked over and over. 

This slows the problem solving process down and sometimes grinds it to a halt. 

The converse is true when you have trust.  The conversation remains focused on the problem and finding solutions; therefore, the time it takes to reach agreement is much shorter.  This is a speed that results from having trust. 

Sounds simple, right?  Establishing trust, however, is not always that easy.  It is an ongoing process that must be the focus of what we do with our students and the parents we work with daily.  The Speed of Trust helped me realize how important trust is in both our professional and personal life.  When we follow the steps that Covey outlines in the book, we can establish trust that will have a lasting impact on our daily lives and the people we come in contact with personally and professionally.

Cores of Credibility

In order to accomplish this, we need to possess the foundational principle of credibility.  Am I credible?  Am I believable? Am I someone people (including myself) can trust?  Covey identifies four “Cores of Credibility” which focus on character and competence within us.   

• Integrity:  A deep honesty and truthfulness.  It is who we really are. It includes congruence, humility, and courage.
• Intent:  What is our agenda?  It is your fundamental motive or agenda and the behavior that follows.
• Capabilities:  Capable people and organizations inspire confidence.  Capability is our capacity to produce and accomplish tasks.  It is our talents, attitudes, skills, knowledge, and style. 
• Results:  What is our track record?  Results matter.  They matter enormously to your credibility.  People evaluate your results/performance on three key indicators:  past performance, current performance, and anticipated performance. 

The Four Cores of Credibility are only one example of many in The Speed of Trust.  Covey addresses many other topics as well.  I strongly encourage you to take the time to read this book and look deeper into the roll that trust plays in our daily life as educators.  

Respond to Tom a tbell@hse.k12.in.us

We hope your week is a good one, HSE.

Your HSE Teaching and Learning Team

• Jan Combs, Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning
• Stephanie Loane, Director of Elementary Education
• Tom Bell, Director of Special Education
• Jeff Harrison, Director of Educational Technology
• Phil Lederach, Director of Secondary Education