The Power of Trust with Colin Ripmaster

Trust is the foundation of every healthy relationship—and an essential ingredient in personal wellness. In this episode of Zen and the Art of Living SLOW, Cheryl-Marie Manson and Lauren Kazee sit down with educational leader Colin Ripmaster to explore the role trust plays in leadership, relationships, and navigating life's uncertainties. Together, they discuss what happens when trust is challenged, how leaders cultivate trust within their teams, and why learning to trust ourselves and the process can be a powerful step toward greater well-being. Listeners will leave with practical insights and reflective questions to help them build trust in both their personal and professional lives.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Zen and the Art of Living Slow with Lauren Cazee and Cheryl Marie Manson. Here is another episode where we talk about slowing down, finding clarity, and navigating leadership, life, and well-being with more intention. We're glad you're here.

SPEAKER_02 0:16

As previewed at last month's podcast, today we are going to explore the topic of trust.

SPEAKER_03 0:21

Yes, I am looking forward to this conversation. Trust is such an essential component in relationships. In fact, without it, I would even question if there really is a relationship or at least a healthy one.

SPEAKER_02 0:35

Right. I know it's um ironic because it's something that's mentioned frequently when I do the Living Slow sessions over the years. It's one of the factors that people value the most. And I know when trust is betrayed or broken in relationships, it's hard to repair it. It takes time to build that bridge back. I also know it's difficult to trust when things are out of control, like Colin getting to our recording today. So driving with no power. But I know that I personally like when things are ordered and planned and structured. And that isn't always realistic, especially when the power goes out, right, Colin? So that's where trust can come in for me. I know there's many times that I have to just like let go and trust that things will work out the way that they're meant to.

SPEAKER_03 1:17

Yeah. Yep. And I think, especially right now with everything moving as fast as it is, new ideas, new initiatives. I think trust is more important now than ever. And I'm excited about this topic because I've known Colin forever. And as he was racing to find Wi-Fi because of our relationship, I just had trust. I wasn't even worried. I knew that he would make it here, he would find some Wi-Fi, and we would be good to go. Um, but I'm excited. We have a special guest here today. This is uh Colin Rittmaster, who um works at the Michigan Association for Secondary School Principals. He is their new executive director. Is that official yet? Or we're almost official.

SPEAKER_01 1:59

Almost. July one's the official date.

SPEAKER_03 2:02

Okay. So July 1, well earned, well deserved. I've known Colin for about 20 years. He was a high school principal at Madwon Consolidated Schools. I was his special education supervisor. So as you can imagine, when you're a high when you have a high school principal and a special ed supervisor, you have what I would call quote unquote lots of opportunities to get to know each other well. Um, and you really get to know each other's kind of their mission, their philosophy on education. And I would say even if Colin and I would have disagreements about specific student issues, we could always come around together on the same mission and vision for kids. So I'm very excited to have Colin here on our podcast. I'm honored to have him here. I'm also honored to call him a friend and colleague. So welcome.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

Well, thanks for inviting me and providing the opportunity. I'm really grateful to be able to speak with you today. Despite the weather and that, what's really important is that people come together to explore important information and then to work together to, as you talked about, Cheryl Maureen, really serve the students that we came into this profession for.

SPEAKER_03 3:14

Well, let's start with um you've recently wrote an article. I just came across it in the in your last newsletter from MASSP on trust. And you've written other articles on that. Lauren and I have both read them. What prompted you to write that article?

SPEAKER_01 3:32

I've actually been writing about that trust throughout the year, largely based on conversations with school leaders. I think coming out of the pandemic, um, there's been a lot of questioning about people's integrities and the decisions they're making. And so with this whole charge politics uncertainty across the state about, you know, starting with in-person, out-of-person, mask, not out, like, and there was such a lack of clarity that people started getting questioned more. And when you think about it, going back in time, people when they ask about public schools, there's been mixed reaction. But if you ask them about their public school, they always think it's the right place, it's the right school. And all of a sudden now people are not hearing that same message. And so principals are struggling, and I think educators in general are questioning with are struggling with the um questioning of their integrity and their purpose. And so whether it's communication breakdown, whether it's resistance to change, whether people are burning out or frustrated, tensions with teams, trust is really the issue underlying all of that. And so those that specific article you talked about had to do with restoring trust after a miss. And that came from reflecting on some personal experiences of mine, but also a recent conversation that I had with a principal who had a challenge. And um, it wasn't that they were intentional about um offending somebody, but they had a miss just because of how they communicated cat. And um, so you know, I think that's a really important piece that as educators, and the reality is in every situation there's opportunities for growth, and even our best leaders have misses sometimes. So a decision may land wrong, communication may be unclear, or response comes too quickly, or in some cases not quickly enough. What strikes me over time is that trust is really lost because of the mistakes alone. More often, trust begins to erode when the response to the mistake lacks clarity, ownership, even humility, or follow-through. And I think the article connected with people because it acknowledges something very human, right? Leadership is messy, learning is messy, relationships are imperfect. None of us lead flawlessly, right? All of us have days we just wish we could have a mulligan. And so the question is not whether we will miss, but how we respond when we do. And I also think trust has become more fragile, as I talked about earlier. And so as we become in a more faster-paced, reactive and uncertainty we face, there's a lot more pressure to navigate complexity in that. And so that's really where I think this idea comes. And the idea about how do we actually restore trust when that's broken. So over the years I've been seeing how low trust creates emotional friction too, right? And I've also seen how trust can stabilize a culture. So even though in those difficult moments, if you have trust in relationships and we respond with humility and grace, I think we can repair those misses. And so ultimately I've come to believe that trust is not built through perfection, right? It's through being just human and coming forward and just honoring the work that you are doing.

SPEAKER_02 6:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 6:55

I love that. I talk often about not forgetting that schools are made up of humans. And so I love so much what you're saying, Colin, is just to think about the humanness of the adults and the students. And um, I love the idea of humility and transparency in leadership and actually really in relationships in general, um, and how that builds trust. When you think back about your previous leadership roles and now this new one, as you're embarking on uh this new position at MASSP, how do you see trust playing out uh and being an important part of your approach and how you're working with your team?

SPEAKER_01 7:34

For me, trust really comes down to making sure there's alignment between both your intentions and your behaviors. Stephen M. R. Covey has a line from a book that I love called in Speed of Trust that has stayed with me over the years. He said, we judge ourselves by our intentions, but others tend to judge us by our behaviors. And so one of the things that's important for us as leaders is to recognize that our intentions aren't always visible, but our behavior is. So our challenge is really making sure that our intentions come through, show up in how we greet people, how we speak to people, how we respond to situations, how we make our decisions as we're going. So for me, I try to think about consistency, clarity, and follow-through. One of the biggest ways we um violate trust is when we aren't consistent in our behavior, or we're not what we treat one person or how we respond to another are inconsistent, or we have lack of clarity in what we're communicating. We're we're suggesting one thing and behaving differently, and or we're not following through and honoring our commitment. So the real question is do my actions as a person line up with the values I say I believe in? And Cheryl Marie referenced that earlier. Like we may not always agree on the strategy, the solution, but does the decision come back to and anchor in our values and beliefs? Yep. And so I think that's an important part. And if we can extend that and and believe that other people have good intentions too, and judge them based on good intentions and not just on their mistakes or misses, that that piece about having grace and being able to recognize that people come to the table with good intentions. Nobody's coming to school to do harm. And I think that's something we lose sight of sometimes with the fast pace, the pressure in that. And I think it's just important for us that we recognize that. So as I step into this new role with MASSP, what really matters to me is that I'm not an educational hypocrite. That I'm not expecting teachers and principals to do things that I wouldn't expect of myself as an educator. And so, how do I adapt based on the needs of the people that I'm working with, just like I expect teachers and principals to differentiate instruction for their learners, right? So as I so I go in this way, I want to make sure that it's evident in both my intentions and my behavior that people feel trusted by me, that they feel valued by me, that they feel heard in the room with me.

SPEAKER_03 10:22

Amen. I mean, and I I will say, Colin, that your behaviors I think do line up with your intention because I can say that just even scheduling this podcast, you were in districts, so you couldn't, you know, schedule it the first time that we tried to get it on the calendar. So I I believe you when you say you want to be in the work and with the people.

SPEAKER_01 10:44

It really comes down to just what are those ordinary moments where you're making deposits in people's lives, right? People, Covey talks about being, are you a walking dividend or are you a walking tax? And so, as leaders, how are we putting deposits into people's lives so that we're those ordinary moments, whether it's noticing something, whether it's just giving a glance and a smile, whether it's hugging somebody when they just need somebody to embrace, whether it's just listening to somebody vent, it's those ordinary moments, right? So to me, it's easy to think about trust really isn't about a major decision or a crisis, right? It's those ordinary moments so that when that crisis comes, people trust that you're gonna show up and be your best self and help lead them through this. And so keeping your word, listening, being present, clarifying expectations. I'm a firm believer that expectations should never be a mystery. It's about being rigorous, not ruthless, providing people the opportunity support to meet those expectations, not just be in the hammer when things don't go right. And really, when it comes to trust, the one that's probably the hardest is repairing the harm you do, even when it was unintentional, quickly and not ruminating on it. Just get after it, just get with people. Because when you treat people with dignity and respect, it builds the rapport, it builds the relationship, and ultimately it builds trust so that when things do get stressful, when people do feel under pressure, they're more likely to judge you on your intentions than the alternative. And so as I think about applying this personally and professionally, that's really where it comes down to. We all make mistakes. And for us, it's about owning our mistakes and trying to show up to be our best selves each and every day and not carrying the burdens of our mistakes forward.

SPEAKER_03 12:52

Yeah. Yeah. I think that's what I appreciated the most in that the that last article that I had read of yours is that it's not too late to repair that. And it's important to repair it and to do it quickly. Yeah. Well, Colin, I think we probably could have talked to you for an hour and a half. You kind of went into a lot of areas that are passion areas for both Lauren and I. So there's no question why you're in the position that you are in or moving into the position that you're in. And MASSP is very lucky to have you. The field is very lucky to have you in that leadership role. And I can't thank you enough for being here with us today.

SPEAKER_01 13:30

Thank you for that affirmation. And just as importantly, the invitation to join you today. I think what you two are doing for those in the field of education is so needed. I know for me as a former secondary principal, serving secondary principals and our members, wellness is a topic we discuss regularly and probably need to put more energy into. So thank you for your support in that journey and being present with us as we try to move things forward in service of students.

SPEAKER_02 14:01

That's exactly what our heart is is to help the adults who are working with the students. So um that's you said it perfectly. So thank you so much for being here. And um, I know this has been like Cheryl Marie said, we could have I could have spent so much more time just talking through all of the different tips and strategies and ideas that you shared. And I have really enjoyed the articles that you've written and shared with us. So I'm looking forward to reading the one about not carrying your burdens. Um I would say my takeaway from this time today is to just continue to practice building trust. I was telling Cheryl Marie earlier that I've had some crucial conversations in the last couple of weeks where honest, heart to heart, very hard, hard conversations. But what's come from that is so much trust. And I think just having humility and transparency with the people that I work with and even in my personal life, just to continue to use those skills.

SPEAKER_03 14:59

So what about you, Charlotte-Marie? What's your takeaway? Okay, so definitely my aha moment was um making sure that your behavior aligns with your intention because I think I might be famous for in my past leadership roles, having all the right intentions, but I'm moving so fast that you don't always see it in my behavior. And so it certainly wasn't intentional, but um I think that might have happened. And so I think just being uh more careful about making sure that your behavior is lining up with your intentions. That was a big aha for me. Um, so listeners, you've heard our takeaway. So now what is one idea from this conversation that you might put in your pocket with you today?

SPEAKER_02 15:42

And we have come to the point in our podcast where we will share what we've got on tap for you for next month. So again, a hearty thank you and gratitude to Colin for being with us today. And we're looking forward to what we have coming up next month. Cheryl Marie, do you want a preview for us?

SPEAKER_03 16:00

Yes, next month we are going to talk about navigating work stress and finding work-life harmony. So until then, thank you for being with us. And until next time, stay grounded, stay present, and stay in the work.