As any leader worth their salt knows, great schools aren’t built on talent alone but on high-performing teams. So, when principals get the culture right, teaching gets stronger, students thrive, and momentum builds.
However, no team becomes high performing by default. As a plethora of research shows, it takes intention, clarity, and above all, trust. Without it, collaboration stalls and progress slows. With it, people feel safe to speak up, take risks and grow together.
Stephanie Bown, known for her award-winning leadership books, provides practical strategies to help leaders build purpose-driven organisations and high-performing teams through strong culture, strategy, and collaboration.
Pitfalls to building trust
Bown says one of the most common pitfalls leaders face when trying to establish trust is inconsistency—saying one thing and doing another.
“Staff quickly pick up on a mismatch between words and actions,” Bown told The Educator. “Another is a lack of transparency; when leaders withhold information or avoid difficult conversations, it creates uncertainty and undermines credibility.”
Trust is also eroded when leaders fail to genuinely listen or acknowledge team input, says Bown.
“To build trust, leaders must show up consistently, communicate openly, and demonstrate that they value and act on feedback.”
When it comes to building a strong level of trust with their executive team and school staff more broadly, Bown says principals must consistently live and talk about their values—not just set them, embody them.
“When staff see a leader walk their talk, belief and alignment follow. Trust also deepens when leaders have the courage to be vulnerable: sharing openly, owning mistakes, and communicating transparently,” she said.
“Finally, listen deeply, facilitate meaningful dialogue, and support your team in holding themselves—and each other—accountable. This balance of authenticity, clarity and support creates a culture where trust thrives.”
Avoiding the ‘dysfunction junction’
In her new book ‘Curious, Connected & Calm’, Bown addresses the importance of leaders avoiding the ‘dysfunction junction’.
Bown says when leaders are approaching the ‘dysfunction junction’, there are four key warning signs to watch for.
“The first is that recurring issues keep resurfacing, suggesting that only the symptoms—not the root causes—are being addressed,” she said.
“Another warning sign is that team conversations become locked in debates where people take sides and focus on winning rather than solving problems collaboratively.”
The third sign, says Bown, is that staff begin relying on the principal for all the answers.
“This limits ownership and stifles initiative,” she said.
“Finally, there’s a tendency to blame external factors—like parents, students, funding, or policy—instead of reflecting on what leadership can do differently.”
Bown says that by spotting these signs early, leaders can pause, reset expectations, and lead with curiosity and shared accountability to rebuild trust.
Approaching conflict constructively
When asked what advice she would give to principals about approaching conflict not as a threat, but as an opportunity to strengthen trust and team alignment, Bown pointed to the importance of cultivating a mindset that embraces differing viewpoints as catalysts for growth and innovation.
“All relationships experience conflict. We can’t always agree, and fact diversity of thinking is fundamental to the creative process,” Bown said.
“True creativity only emerges when different perspectives are brought to the table—when we take the time to really listen, we allow new and better ideas to surface.”
In moments of conflict, leaders should seek to understand what those involved truly want and need, says Bown.
“Determine what they are asking for, then use a structured problem-solving approach: establish the shared goal or purpose, generate options together, and agree on next steps to solving the challenge,” she said.
“Invite more ideas and options from others in the team: What other opinions might be valid here? What are others on the team seeing that I’m not.”
Most importantly, says Bown, leaders should empower those at the heart of the disagreement to collaborate on the solution.
“This builds trust, ownership, and collective wisdom.”