It's gonna take time - a whole lot of precious time, it's gonna take patience and time, um to do it, to do it, to do it, to do it, to do it (George Harrison)

Photo by Deniz Altindas on Unsplash

Beginning life in a new school as a leader can be a tricky business. You know no one, and no one knows you.

Starting with the end product in mind is key for me. Simply put: I love working in a team that has each other's back.

I'm talking about great relationships. And that takes patience and time.

According to Dan Rockwell, the first of seven competencies for success is: 

Build Relationship:

• Create partnerships.
• Build trust.
• Share ideas.

Strong relationships shrink problems caused by personal agendas, office politics, and distrust, he says.

I like how he frames that with a strong verb. Build implies a process over time.

But how do you build relationships? There are no easy answers or quick fixes.

It takes time and experience for co-workers to earn trust and develop mutual respect; to create a safe climate that welcomes ideas, diversity, and the opinions of others.

Does an environment of open communication foster all that, or does all that trust and openness lead to open and honest communication.  Which comes first? 

Some people have a natural openness that creates trust quickly. When Karen Boyes set up random groups during her Teacher Academy two years ago, I joined three other staffers and we instantly hit it off and instantly had each other's backs.

Now, that was partly how Karen set up the activities and a climate of trust, but it was also a fluke of personalities.

It all comes down to relationships. And patience and time.