Creating a Culture of Trust

Since this is Thanksgiving Day, it would be productive for us to examine one of the goals of the GBC mission: to create a campus culture built on trust. If any community is to survive the everyday trials and troubles that befall it, that community must be cohesive. It is a manifest necessity that the people who comprise the community must regard themselves as being a collective unit that is greater than the sum of its parts.

While some people may believe that creating such a culture is as simple as bringing in sports teams or extracurricular activities, I believe that the three steps that follow are central to our goal.

1. Be trustworthy

This is the most important of the three steps. There is no reason that we should trust someone who is not trustworthy, so how do we do this in a community setting?

• Do what you say you are going to do. Even if other people disagree with what you say, if you follow through on your promises and commitments you will become more worthy of the trust of others. Your perceived competence affects the trust that others are able to give you.
  
• Don't push off your work onto others. If you have been assigned a task, or if it is part of your job, or if you volunteered for it in some capacity, finish the job. A trustworthy person does not take on tasks -- only to assign them to unsuspecting coworkers. Acting in such an inappropriate fashion may also convey the message that you believe that you or your work are more important than other people and what they are doing.
• Speak your mind openly and honestly. If you go around telling people what you think they want to hear, your associates will learn quickly that you can only be trusted to say things that serve your own interests. In order for a culture of trust to prevail, openness must be encouraged by everyone in the community.
• "Do not look only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others." Put aside the notion, so common in businesses, that your purpose at the institution is to make money, ease your own workload, and put away enough to retire. Since education is a service industry, we will be unable to survive as a collective if we are self-centered. Our mission is focused outwardly, not inwardly. Embrace that mission, and regard every co-worker as an equal.

2. Trust others to do their own jobs.

Now that you have focused yourself on the collaborative task of education, it is crucial that you let others do their own jobs. If you are a supervisor, micromanagement might be the downfall of your ability to lead. If you are not anyone's supervisor, then meddling in the affairs of others would be both inexpedient and foolish for you.

Don't you have enough work to do? Why would you want to do someone else's job, too? If they do not do their jobs, they will have their reward. Therefore, do not concern yourself with whether others are doing what they are supposed to do, and do not seek to cause trouble for them if they are not. If anyone is lazy, his sloth will be revealed. Trust that the vast majority of us have embraced the same goals to which you now adhere, and allow each person the freedom to do her own work. In that way, your own freedom will be justified.

3. Do not seek to control.

When we esteem our own opinions too highly about "how something should be done," we run the risk of destroying academic freedom. If you believe that something should be done a certain way, then whenever you are doing that thing, you should do it that way. When others do the same thing, however, it is necessary for them to follow their own convictions. This may mean that others organize differently, grade differently, or teach differently than you do. This is both a blessing and a necessity for every college that believes in its mission.

Too frequently, the vote of the majority (for example, in Faculty Senate) may be used by well-intentioned individuals to bind everyone to a means, an instrument, or a method that works perfectly well for me but which might not work well for all. In these cases, I need to allow you the freedom to be yourself -- to do things your own way. Since I now trust that we share similar goals, I must realize that you are putting your own plans into action to advance toward those goals. I must realize that the path that I have chosen is not the only path leading to our destination.

When we realize these things, we will be better equipped to treat one another as equals and with respect. Then we will no longer look down upon one another's methods and actions, thinking that "everyone here is undisciplined," or "messed up," or "wrong." Instead, let us look up at one another as worthy examples. We should not expect them to do as we would do. It is enough to realize that our coworkers hold the same hope for the students that we ourselves hold.

Where there is conformity, unity dies. If we are to be united, then we must accept the diversity of thought that exists in such a great community. When we truly know that everyone is working together in different ways, then not only will we reach our present goals (by means of a culture of trust), but also we will reach far higher objectives than we can now imagine.

I am thankful to work together with the administration, faculty, staff, and students to make our community the best that a college can be. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!