ABSTRACT
Researchers have identified competence as an essential component of the trust relationship between school leaders and their constituents. Specifically, leaders who allow others to remain incompetent or lack competence themselves break trust. Even leaders who intentionally try to build or repair trust will have difficulty if they ignore incompetence. In sum, competent leaders provide the support, resources, and supervision to address and remedy performance concerns. Ignoring the incompetence of others is like the proverbial wisdom where actions will speak much louder than words. In fact, when leaders ignore employee incompetence, they are often viewed as incompetent themselves. Even though the conversations will be difficult, the trust-building leader understands the impact of allowing incompetence to continue. In the long run, incompetence harms students. After identifying and addressing incompetence, the leader must be persistent in her efforts. Addressing concerns will be time-consuming, but an effective leader will make this commitment a priority.
