In her book, Dare to Lead, Brene Brown writes, “The research participants described trust as a slow-building, iterative, and layered process that happens over time. Both trust building and rumbling with vulnerability involve risk. That’s what makes courage hard and rare.”
In education, as in business, trust takes time. I clearly remember that whenever I took on a new position in my school division, I always struggled to build trust the first year. If I could genuinely show empathy and non-judgemental communication, it happened more quickly. It has always amazed me how beneficial it is to be a true listener and how important empathy is in any relationship. To trust without judgement, you have to be vulnerable. In my experience, 90% of the time I won whenever I could show vulnerability. However, that takes courage!
