#27: Breaking Through Resistance Series - Part 2

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In this episode Becca and Melissa (Mia) Pumo, coach of school leadership and instructional coaches, discuss the 2nd level of resistance: the need to build trust. Without trust, no amount of clarifying expectations and holding teachers accountable will help. A lack of trust means you will get pushback the whole way through the change. A trusting relationship makes change easier, quicker and more effective. Listen in to find out the different components of trust and how to intentionally assess and build it with your leadership team and teachers.

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Episode Transcript

Becca Silver (00:00):
Hello, hello, hello coaches and leaders.

(00:03):
Welcome back to part two of ourresistance to change series. I
am joined once again by theincredible Mia Puako to discuss
resistance to change. Welcome,Mia.

Unknown (00:17):
Thank you Becca. So glad to be back. I am Mia Puma
with Edge direction. And I getto Coach School and district
leaders and developinstructional coaches. And it is
work I am extremely passionateabout, which is one of the
reasons I created coach best,which is a conference and

(00:38):
retreat all about coaching andeducation. It's coming up soon.
So I know we'll talk about thatmore in a few minutes.

Becca Silver (00:45):
Yes, I love that.
And I will be presenting asession on resistance to change
at that conference. So I wouldlove for folks listening to this
podcast, maybe you'll come joinme for my session. So for this
series on resistance to change,we are using Anthony Muhammad's
levels of resistance to frameour conversation. So we're on

(01:06):
the second level of resistance.
And those of you who are notable to join us for the first
level, that first level ofresistance pertains to
communicating the why toeveryone implementing the
change. And the second level ofresistance, what we're going to

(01:27):
be talking about today pertainsto the need to establish trust.
This involves the who of thework. So I'm going to just read
to you straight from AnthonyMuhammad's book time for change.
Because I think he puts this sosuccinctly. He says, a

(01:47):
transformational leader needsthe very essential ability to
connect with others emotions,facts and objective evidence
alone do not inspire people.
People need to connect withtheir leader on a personal
level, and know that theirleader has not just an
intellectual connection, butalso an ethical connection to
their purpose. And I'd love tohear your take me out on this.

Unknown (02:11):
When you were reading the excerpt from this book, you
know, and you talked aboutconnecting with emotions, the
first thing I thought of wastrust. And, you know, in the
first episode, we talked aboutthe why and how we really have
to over communicate the why. Buthonestly, trust is the
foundation because if there is alack of trust, you can

(02:32):
communicate the y all day long.
And it's going to land on deafear, there has to be trust in
order to successfully facilitatechange and overcome resistance
to change trust is is thefoundation of that.

Becca Silver (02:48):
You know, the way Stephen Mr. Covey defines trust,
I think is brilliant. He saidtrust is the confidence we have
in someone's character andcompetence. And when Muhammad
talks about, you know, we havethe facts and objective
evidence, it's not enough forpeople to connect to their

(03:12):
leader, the leader puts up aslide on the data, well, there's
a gap in our student testscores. So that's what we need
to change. Some people mightresist change, because they
don't actually trust the leaderto make good decisions. Right,
it actually doesn't have to dowith the data and and thinking

(03:32):
about the nuances of trust. ThePete, right, who think about our
teachers, looking at the personthat made the decision, maybe
it's a district leader, maybeit's a school leader, saying,
Look, I made a decision. There'sgoing to be a chain and the
teachers feeling resistance orexhibiting resistance. They
might not trust the leaderscharacter, who they are right?

(03:57):
Are they? Are they transparentabout their agenda? Do they does
the teacher feel like there'smutual benefit to what's
happening? Does Do they feellike their leader has integrity?
All those things have to do withcharacter and or do they not
trust the leaders? Competence?
Do they not actually trust thatthe leader has the skills and

(04:18):
capability of making and resultsto back up making that decision
to make that change?

Unknown (04:29):
Exactly. And that lack of trust can come from different
places. So it may be a newleader that you just don't know.
So if we don't know somebody, wehaven't built that trust yet. It
may be somebody that you haveworked with before. And for some
reason, that trust has beenbroken. So you have a lack of
confidence, because you havewitnessed someone not being

(04:52):
consistent, not not operating ina way that is consistent with
their values. Not being notfollowing through with things
that they said not doing whatthey say they're going to do.
Now I'm thinking about our

Becca Silver (05:05):
coaches listening, right? There's a strong, large
population of coaches thatregularly listen to this
podcast. I know our coachesaren't making the decision for
these changes, right? Thistypically comes from our school
leaders and district leaders.
But most of the time, itactually lands on the coach's

(05:25):
shoulders to implement thechain,

Unknown (05:29):
the Trust for them has to be on both sides. So first of
all, they are first in line toestablish that trust with the
school leader. So in working onthat relationship, and finding
that confidence, and payingattention to the leaders,

(05:51):
competence and values, then ifthat leader wants to make a
change, they can moresuccessfully facilitate that
change with the teachers. Now,in order to do that, on the
other side of that, they alsohave to have those trusting
relationships with teachers. Soif they have trust on both

(06:13):
sides, so much easier, right?
They, they have the confidencein the leader, so they have the
competence in the change, theycan convey that message with
sincerity, and help get more ofthe teachers on board. If there
is a lack of trust between themand the teachers, they're going
to have a hard time toconvincing anyone that any
change is a good idea. So forthem, it's it's crucial to not

(06:36):
only build the trust with theschool leaders and the teachers,
but to be aware enough toanalyze where the trust is
lacking, and why it's lacking.
And then what they can do torebuild those relationships.

Becca Silver (06:56):
Yeah, yeah, I really think you know, even
though the coaches aren't makingthe decision to make this
change, necessarily. They'retasked with implementing it, and
having a trusting relationshipwith the teachers can really go
very far in reducing resistance.

Unknown (07:17):
And that is the work of a coach is finding the root of
the distrust. Where is it? Whatis it based on, and that does
not happen overnight. So thattakes lots of strategic
questioning, right? Lots ofvulnerability, and sharing some,

(07:39):
sometimes those personalexperiences that help people
connect with you, that helppeople to open up if you're
willing to share some things.
Other people start to feel safe,and share those things. But
that's part of our job ascoaches is to get to the bottom
of where the trust is lacking.
address it, get it out in theopen, uncover it, because a lot

(08:00):
of times once the light is shedon it, that's really all it
takes to get rid of it. It'slike a shadow, and you shine a
light on it. It's gone.

Becca Silver (08:08):
Yeah, yep. So those of you listening, if
you're interested in learningmore about trust, I do have an
hour and a half workshop that wehave available at the whole
educator. I'll put the link inthe show notes, if you're
interested in checking out ourframework for that and our
process for teaching you veryconcretely how to build that

(08:29):
trust. So Mia, it's been such apleasure. I'd love you to share
where people can find out moreabout Coach fest, and tell us
when is Coach fest happening.

Unknown (08:41):
So Coach fest, this is our third event. And this year,
it is happening March 15,through the 17th at Appalachian
State University in beautifulBoone North Carolina. So we are
going to put the link to thepage where you can get more
information where you canregister. We're going to put

(09:05):
that in the show notes. Butyeah, it's going to be a great
event with incredible keynotespeakers, breakout sessions,
including yours, Becca, I can'twait. Talking about resistance,
which is as you know, a very hottopic and coaching. So, March 15
through 17th Appalachian StateUniversity.

Becca Silver (09:25):
Perfect. Thank you so much for being here. And
everyone. Stay tuned for partthree of the series, we're going
to be talking about the need tobuild capacity for that third
level of resistance. So untilnext time, just remember, don't
treat people the way you want tobe treated. Treat them how they
want to be treated. Take care