More than a decade ago, Stephen M. R. Covey published “The Speed of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything.” This easy read is highly recommended for governance team members because it clearly defines trust, identifies the core elements of trust and illustrates the 13 behaviors that demonstrate trustworthiness.

Covey suggests trust is essentially about credibility and proposes that credibility has four dimensions. Two of these are performance-based, and two are character-based. The performance-based elements of trust involve capability and past performance.

• Capability: Does the individual possess the skills necessary to fulfill their responsibilities? Do they have the education, training and experience that qualifies them to serve?
• Track record: Is their work history a testament to their ability to do the work well? How have they performed in the past? Have their efforts been successful? It can be hard to trust someone if a track record is inconsistent or lacking sufficient evidence.

In the world of governance, it is more often the character-based elements of credibility that are most easily damaged and most difficult to rebuild:

• Integrity: Often connected to honesty, but integrity is more than that. A person with integrity demonstrates that their beliefs, words and actions are all consistent. It is the opposite of hypocrisy (to say one thing but do another).
• Intent: Another word for motive, intent is the least visible of the four elements of credibility, and often the first element to be doubted or questioned. In our everyday lives, we rarely declare our intent before speaking; it’s not the norm. For example, it is highly unlikely that a parent, before ordering a child to clean their room, might say something like: “I’m going to give you a task that I think is important because I’m interested in teaching you personal responsibility for yourself and for your belongings as I believe this will serve you well in the future. To develop that habit, I’d like you to clean your room right now.” They just say, “Clean your room.”

A trustee’s intent and its clear communication is important for school governance. When one board member disagrees with another in a public meeting or offers a substitute motion rather than debate the one that’s been made, it can create tension. Absent an explanation of their intent, another board member’s behavior could be easily misunderstood. In his book “Clear Leadership,” Gervasse Bushe suggests that the stories we make up in place of having clear explanations are rarely correct, and almost always worse than the truth. Board members should not assume that the content of their statement makes their intent clear.

One of the most powerful things a board member can do to increase their credibility is to practice making their intent explicit before launching into the content they wish to share. An example is: “I like where you’re going with this and I agree with the goal you’re trying to achieve. Let me offer a different approach that I think could achieve the same results but maybe cost less money. Here’s what I’m thinking.”

By doing this, a board member makes their thinking so clear that no one has to make up a story about their intent.