7 Strategies for Building Trust in Working Relationships: Survey and Reflect on Your Relationship-Building Skills

Inflexion February 3, 2023

0 Comments

Trust is the glue of life. It’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It’s the foundational principle that holds all relationships.

– Stephen Covey

INTRO

Roosevelt Middle School principal at Vista Unified School District, Amy Zilk, knows that a new leadership role is both rewarding and challenging. One of the most important and immediate goals for any leader is building healthy, high-quality working relationships with your staff. Amy shared some insights about how she has (and continues to) cultivate relationships built on trust with her Roosevelt Middle School team.

Use this resource to evaluate, survey, and reflect on your own relationship-building skills as a leader, and then commit to an action plan for self-improvement and growth.

OBJECTIVES

Self-assess your relationship-building skills

Survey your staff for their perception/feedback of your relationship-building skills

Reflect and create an action plan to improve your relationship-building skills

RESOURCES

INFLEXION BLOG: 7 Strategies for Building Trust in Working Relationships

PDF INFOGRAPHIC: 7 Strategies for Building Trust in Working Relationships

GOOGLE FORM TEMPLATE: Working Relationships Survey

ACTIVITY

Review the strategies outlined in this infographic

Evaluate yourself for each of the seven criteria

Survey your staff using the provided Google Form Survey Template
- You will be directed to create your own (private/personal) copy of the Form that you can edit to meet your needs

Review the survey responses and reflect on how they align with your original self-evaluation
- Remember, relationships are personal, unique, and subjective. This process will help you practice the “being open to feedback” criteria.

TIPS

Relationship-building takes work. The feedback may sometimes be difficult to receive. We recommend reviewing it with someone you trust (like your Portico Coach) to help you process the results and create an action plan.

Practice your relationship-building skills through this activity. Be sure to practice transparency by following up with the results, your gratitude and insights, and your next steps with your staff.

Categories: Surveys

Tags: 21st Century Leadership, Communication, Effective Leadership, Inclusive Leadership, Inclusive Practices, Leadership Activities, School Leaders

Inflexion

Resources We Love (And Hope You Will Too!)

During our May Counterpart meetings, we asked folks to share what they have been engaging with recently. Below is a list of all the resources shared by our incredible community, offering a taste of the diverse and inspiring content they’re currently exploring. This list has something for everyone: from thought-provoking articles to captivating podcasts to must-watch documentaries. So, take a peek, pick your poison, and get ready to dive into something fantastic!

Michelle Liebhardt June 5, 2024

0 Comments

Passion. Pride. Promise. Two Leaders Help Pave the Way for Their Students & Communities

Tucked away in the hills of rural western Oregon, the Vernonia and Gaston school districts defy many of the stereotypes most of us hold when we think of rural schools. Their communities face both common and unique challenges. Vernonia Elementary Principal, Michelle Eagleson, and Gaston Superintendent, Summer Catino, share how their small schools and communities achieve greatness.

Vanessa Brazil October 25, 2022

0 Comments

8 Ways to Move from Me to We & Create Positive School Culture

Roosevelt Middle School principal, Amy Zilk, knows that a new leadership role is both rewarding and challenging. But instead of allowing some overwhelming challenges to steer them off-course, Amy and her team used them to map out a new, and more positive, way forward.

Vanessa Brazil February 27, 2023

0 Comments

Case Study: Merced Union High School District

Through its work with Inflexion, MUHSD is seeing strong results in student outcomes and in closing the opportunity gap for underserved students. California School Dashboard data show College/Career Indicator scores for African American, Hispanic, English Learners, students with disabilities, students who are homeless, and students who are socioeconomically disadvantaged are 16 to 29 points higher than the state average.

Inflexion June 9, 2020

0 Comments

Build Unity Through Change: Engage Staff in Continuous Improvement Processes

Continuous improvement should be embedded in day-to-day work, in a systemized, organic way. You can think of the cyclical process as a formative assessment of the ideas being tested.

Inflexion June 7, 2023

0 Comments

Diverse group of community members sit at a meeting together.

Foster Community Engagement: 9 Steps to Establishing a District Family Engagement Team

There is growing recognition, grounded in research, that effective family engagement can contribute to improved student outcomes and to closing persistent achievement gaps among students of different racial and ethnic backgrounds and family income levels.

Experts advocate for family engagement as an essential strategy for building the pathway to college and career readiness for all students, as well as an essential component of a systems approach to school turnaround.

Inflexion March 15, 2023

0 Comments

Professional with dark shoulder-length hair points to a computer screen with graphs on it. A second screen shows a calendar.

Rethinking Master Schedules: Build a School Day That Prioritizes People

An effective master schedule is so much more than making sure the bells ring on time. It not only sets the pace for the school and community, but it can directly impact students’ access to equitable learning, opportunities, and holistic well-being. It also impacts the well-being of your staff as well as their opportunities for meaningful collaboration, preparation, and professional development. An equitable and effective master schedule can lead to a healthier school community overall.

Inflexion March 20, 2023

0 Comments

Roosevelt Middle School: Using Artful Learning and Community PRIDE Statements to Define Student Readiness Outcomes for All Students and Staff

Roosevelt’s leadership team identified two opportunities that were already part of their community that they would be able to leverage to create a more cohesive school experience for students: the schoolwide Artful Learning curriculum, and the Roosevelt PRIDE Promise statements developed by the school staff.

Inflexion July 26, 2018

0 Comments