Trust through Accountability

| In the following reflection, a principal captures the delicate balance between being liked and being trusted—illustrating how genuine relational trust is built not through popularity, but through clarity, consistency, and the courage to hold one another accountable.

In my eight years as a classroom teacher and assistant principal, I worked under five principals. Of those five, two were brand new to the position. I have navigated five different leadership styles, five different sets of expectations, and five personalities that I didn’t always work with well. While I believe each leader wanted to raise the bar for the staff and students they served, I never got a sense of a clear vision for leadership. Some got too bogged down in the details, while others spent far too much time “in the balcony.” With my own dreams of one day becoming a principal, I vowed to learn from their mistakes—to become the kind of leader I would have wanted when I was a teacher.

Fast forward a few years, and I’m now in my third year of my first principal position. My passion for education remains strong, and I have continued to advocate for my students and staff through some challenging seasons. However, I’ve learned that advocacy alone is not enough. I struggled to hold my staff accountable for their learning and professional responsibilities. In an effort to be “respected” (or rather, well-liked), I let too many things slide. I lacked a clear and concise vision for learning, accountability, and the standards I expected from my staff. In today’s environment—where administrators are often criticized on social media by teachers or parents—I feared that maintaining high expectations might create tension or damage school culture. Looking back, I wish I had been more courageous in challenging my staff, especially in my second year. The breakdowns in communication and the lack of clarity on my part created space for tension and distrust to grow.

To realign my actions with our mission and vision, I’ve chosen to refocus on what matters most in school: teaching and learning. As a staff, we’ve developed a “theme of accountability” to guide our professional development sessions, team meeting norms, and the way we engage in difficult conversations when expectations aren’t met. By modeling this theme myself, I hope to strengthen trust with those who already align with our shared goals and rebuild trust with those who have questioned my leadership. I’ve leaned on my teacher leadership team to help co-create some of our new policies and practices, and I actively seek feedback to ensure teachers’ voices remain central in our decision-making.

Most importantly, I’m recommitting to being the instructional leader of my building. This means prioritizing instructional coaching and classroom presence above all else. The emails can wait (unless they’re from the legal team), and the calls can be returned later—but the missed opportunities to observe, coach, and support teaching and learning cannot. Those moments are where trust, credibility, and culture are built.

We, school leaders, are the drivers of accountability, of culture, and of learning in our buildings. We must lead by example, modeling the respect, personal regard, competence, and integrity we hope to cultivate in others. Only then can we create the conditions where relational trust becomes the foundation for every student and adult to thrive.