| Each year, dozens of educators in Michigan's high schools break with the teaching ranks and enter the field of administration as principals. Being new to the position requires them to spend time getting to know the staff, crafting relationships, and building trust necessary to function effectively. It is the classical paradox of the desire to move forward and the need to establish trusting relationships that sets the stage for this investigation as it examines the trust building process.; Even though there is considerable agreement on the components that comprise trust, there is only a limited understanding of the antecedents involved in the trust building process. The literature repeatedly emphasizes that it takes time for the leader to establish trusting relationships. Unfortunately, there are no data that indicate with any precision the amount of time the trust building process requires. Further, there is a remarkable lack of information on the efficacy of purposeful trust building behaviors. Accordingly, the specific objectives for this investigation are to answer the following research questions: (1) What leadership behaviors do new principals exhibit when they build trust with their faculty? (2) How do the perceptions of the faculty change over time with regard to their level of trust in the principal? (3) What accounts for this change?; A mixed methods research design was undertaken for this research study. A case study method was utilized with an appreciative inquiry framework, focusing on peak experiences and building upon strengths, as well as employing the more traditional problem solving style of interviewing. In this manner, it was possible to develop a rich description of trust building, while simultaneously recording and evaluating the difference that the interviewing process had on trust building.; The case site was purposefully chosen, based upon the new principal and a cadre of teachers participating in a summer school improvement seminar that utilized the appreciative inquiry process. A trust questionnaire was administered three times to the participating teachers at the research site: at the beginning of the school year, at mid-year, and at the end of the year. 44 of the 61 teachers chose to participate in this research project. Responses at the beginning of the year were scored and ranked, then categorized into three groups: low-trust, medium-trust, and high-trust. From each of these three groups, two individuals were randomly selected to participate in interviews. Additional interviews were conducted with teachers who registered significantly changed scores on the respective trust surveys. Qualitative interviews were conducted with two subgroups, using traditional interview questions with one group, and an appreciative inquiry orientation with the second group.; The findings of the research project identified several leadership behaviors that were associated with trust building. From the principal's responses, personal performance, respecting people, and empowering others were the factors identified. The teachers stressed the importance of relationship building, benevolence, reliability, competence, honesty, openness, personal communication, and vulnerability. A comparison of the interview techniques suggested that appreciative inquiry generated momentum toward the building of trust, while traditional interviewing resulted in skepticism.; In conclusion, this research determined that new principals can build trust with teachers by demonstrating specific leadership behaviors. Those behaviors center around the areas of relationship building, communication, character issues, and interpersonal interaction. Further, it was discovered that appreciative inquiry offers powerful results with regard to teacher perception. These are important findings for new principals, as they face the challenges of a new job in a new environment. |
