Article Starting with Heart: How Equity Leaders Cultivate Culture from the First Day on the Job
Adam ParrottSheffer
Rodney Thomas
New leaders are entering their role at a time when their ability to transform culture and advance equity is missioncritical to improving learning outcomes for all students. However, these leaders face the reality that the first few months on the job are when they have the least trust “banked” to enact change (Jentz, 2008). We have coached leaders over the past decade as they start new roles to be able to hit the ground learning during their entry period to advance equity for all students. These leaders have taught us several ways in which, by starting with care, the foundation for change can begin on the first day of the job. Effective equity leaders who work within new roles do many of the same things. They build successful structures for listening, communicating values and decisions, and the delivery of quick wins to shift culture. These actions lead to what Tony Bryk and Barbara Schneider (2002) define as a relational trust or “an interrelated set of mutual dependencies embedded within the social exchanges in any school community.” It is through these actions that leaders can start to make deposits in their “trust bank” by demonstrating respect and personal regard for those they lead, with competence and integrity in how they lead. 53
