3. Principal preparation and professional development programs should continue to emphasize both the ―softer‖ (emotional) and the ―harder‖ (behavioral) aspects of leadership. While our results suggest that principals‘ behavior is more important than the levels of trust principals evoke, behavior and levels of trust are empirically part of a bundle that is difficult to disentangle. Trust without instructional and shared leadership to support it may be of little consequence for students, but our data suggest that teachers‘ relationships with one another, and their trust in the principal, cannot be easily disaggregated. 4. While public policy and community opinion increasingly put pressure on principals to improve student performance, it is equally important to expect that principals also take actions that support instructional and shared leadership which lead to improved student learning. Increasing teachers‘ involvement in the difficult task of making good decisions and introducing improved practices must be at the heart of school leadership. There is no simple short-cut.
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