Happy Friday Reader

Well, happy Friday to me here in Washington DC at least. I know most of you won’t be reading this until Saturday your time, so happy Saturday to all my wonderful colleagues in Asia.

I have to tell you, I’m giddily excited to be in the USA right now. Last night I had some proper food: fried chicken, mac and cheese, grits, and collard greens. If you know, you know.

But between indulging in all the food, I’ve been working with Frederick County Public Schools on some really interesting leadership development. We spent the day talking about change, and there was one thing that came up which I think is worth sharing with you this week.

It’s about trust.

You’ve probably heard of Stephen M.R. Covey’s work on trust. In his book The Speed of Trust, he talks about trust having two essential components: character and competence.

Character is about your integrity, your intent, your motives. It’s who you are when no one’s watching. It’s whether people believe you’ll do what you say you’ll do.

Competence is about your capabilities, your skills, your track record. It’s whether people believe you can actually do the thing you’re trying to do.

Here’s what’s interesting: which one do you think is quickest to build?

The answer is competence. You can establish trust in your competence quite rapidly. Share your credentials, show something you’ve done before, deliver on a small task well. Done.

But character? That takes ages. You can’t rush someone trusting your integrity or believing in your genuine intent. That’s built over time, through consistency, through showing up again and again.

Now here’s the really interesting bit: which one breaks fastest?

Character. Every time.

You can have years of built-up trust in someone’s character, and it can shatter in a moment. One decision that seems to go against their stated values, one action that doesn’t match their words, and suddenly everything you thought you knew about them comes into question. And it’s incredibly difficult to repair.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot as I’ve been launching Change Starts Here and working with leaders around the world. So much of what we do as school leaders comes down to trust. The trust our teams have in us. The trust we’re building within our teams. The trust parents have in our decisions.

And I wonder, as you head into your weekend (or start it, depending on where you are), what this means for you?

Where are you building trust through competence, and where are you building it through character? More importantly, where might you be risking that trust without even realising it?

What are you noticing about trust in your teams right now? I’d genuinely love to hear your reflections. Just hit reply and let me know what’s on your mind.

Have a brilliant weekend.

Shane