How to REBUILD Trust in a Cynical School Culture ft. Dr. Danny Steele | Transformational Educators Ep. 22

What does it really take to turn a skeptical, struggling school into a place where teachers feel supported and students thrive? In this episode of Transformational Educators, host Matthew Flippen sits down with Dr. Danny Steele, former principal, 2016 Alabama Secondary Principal of the Year, and author of six books on education and leadership, to talk about how transformational leadership is built through trust, consistency, and the small moments that shape school culture.

Drawing from more than 31 years in education, Danny shares how he led through cynicism, helped staff reconnect with their purpose, and built a culture rooted in care for both teachers and students. From teacher oaths and the starfish story to birthday selfies, dream walls, and practical lessons on supporting staff, this conversation is filled with grounded encouragement for principals, assistant principals, teachers, and aspiring school leaders who want to create lasting change.

Connect with Dr. Danny Steele

Newsletter

LinkedIn

🔗 Explore Gracelyn University’s online programs and leadership resources

Transformational Educators | School Leadership Stories

Thank you for listening to Transformational Educators, where we share real stories of servant leadership, trust-building, and purpose-driven change in schools.

📖 Read Dr. Matthew Flippen’s new book, Win With Your Talent Pipeline

📅 New episodes release every Thursday at 6 AM CT.

Watch and subscribe on YouTube.

If today’s conversation inspired you to lead with courage and care, share it with another educator or school leader. Together we can build schools that truly transform lives.

Produced by APodcastGeek

Transcript

Coming up...

SPEAKER_00 0:00

First leadership team meeting when I started there, a teacher looked at me and said, Are you going to be here next year? Like that was our first conversation. And so it wasn't about kids. It wasn't about education. It was just a little bit of cynicism.

SPEAKER_01 0:13

That is Dr. Danny Steele, former principal, 2016 Alabama secondary principal of the year, and a leader who spent 31 years serving schools. He walked into a school where trust had eroded and leadership turnover had created skepticism.

SPEAKER_00 0:27

There's this adage that kids don't care how much you know until they know how much you care about them as students. That same truth applies to leadership. They don't care how much knowledge you have until they know you care about them as people.

SPEAKER_01 0:41

He breaks down why culture is built in small moments, why caring for teachers changes everything, and how leadership shifts when you see your true mission as serving the adults who serve the children.

SPEAKER_00 0:53

When you become an administrator, a school leader, your mission changes, and your new job is to make a difference for the adults in the building.

Meet Dr. Danny Steele

SPEAKER_01 1:00

Today, he outlines a mindset shift that transformed his leadership journey from his first principalship. By the end of this conversation, you will learn how to rebuild trust, reignite purpose, and create a culture where both educators and students thrive. I'm Dr. Matthew Flippin, and this is Transformational Educators. I know that many times in a mid-career, that it's it's hard for educators, teachers, staff, leaders, um, to maintain uh their passion and their in a clear view of their why, you know, uh the focus on the children and the need, the need to help all of them, you know, perform and thrive, really, uh, and flourish. So I'd love for you to take us back to uh one of your campus leadership roles and and just tell us a little bit about what it was like when you when you arrived there. Give us some history when you stepped into that role, what was going on there.

Can a simple oath reignite a teacher’s why?

SPEAKER_00 1:58

Well, there was one school in particular that I came in, and you know, that it was a good faculty, but I was going to be like their fourth principal in in about you know five or six years. And so they were they were a little bit jaded, right, and skeptical. And so I I definitely wanted to, you know, win them over. And you don't demand respect, you inspire it, you know, by how you go about doing your work. And so, you know, as a as a as a school leader, as an administrator for 22 years, my goal is to be relentless about supporting my staff and to to never stop connecting with the kids. And and then trying to build a type of pulp culture where where teachers are inspired and empowered and where kids like come into school. So that's that's kind of what I do and how I approach approach the the work. And I feel like in my five years at this school, um we really we really made a difference.

SPEAKER_01 3:06

I know we talked about you are an optimist and believe that everyone is there for the right reasons. Was there something that clued you in on that that there were maybe members of the of the team where their passion or their why had waned some?

SPEAKER_00 3:22

I remember at my first leadership team meeting when I started there, um, a teacher looked at me and said, Are you gonna be here next year? Like that was our first conversation. And so, like, it wasn't about kids. It wasn't about education, it was just a little bit of cynicism. One of our faculty meetings, I don't remember if it was the maybe the second year. Um, the first faculty meeting, though, of that school year, I handed out a copy of the Hippocratic Oath. And, you know, that's the oath physicians take that it talks about their their commitments to their patients. And I asked them to underline, uh, to read it, take a minute to read it, and underline or highlight any any phrases that resonate with them uh as educators. And and then we talked about it as a faculty. And and you know, there's a phrase about I do not treat a fever chart or a cancerous growth, but a sick human being. And as educators, we think, or I'm reminded of this idea, I don't teach second grade language arts, I teach kids. So there are a number of these types of sentiments that just really resonate. And and then I said, I challenge them to think about what would be in their oath as a teacher and what are their what are their commitments? They're they're the things that they really are committed to, to their kids, to the parents, to their colleagues. Like what are those core values? You know, some people might frame that as what is your why, right? So I had them jot it down and we shared out a little bit. And then my challenge to them was, I would like for all of you to write your own oath. And um, you know, I asked them to do it in the next week or two. And I said, you know, I don't, it doesn't have to be in complete sentences. I don't care how long it is, I don't care the format. All I want is that it's personal to you. And and I I wrote my own oath as a principal. And in in in years that followed, I I, you know, I had custodians write their oath. And I asked them to put it outside their door or on a bullet board or something. And then the following year, we we put it on their teacher class websites. And it was just so, so powerful. Uh, these things teachers wrote, things like, I will be my student's biggest cheerleader. I promise to learn alongside my students. One teacher wrote, I vow to retire when I no longer have the passion to be an extraordinary teacher. Like, wow. And so when times are challenging, right? And you you you you feel your passion start to drift a little bit, that brings you back to center. Those remembering what it is that you truly care about, that's something to hold on to when adversity comes, because the adversity is going to come. Uh, and the work is hard. You know, there's a lot of emotional labor that goes with it. Um, but but those oaths were very, very powerful. And you know, you couldn't read them and not be not be impacted.

Why did the starfish story change everything?

SPEAKER_01 6:33

Yeah, and I can imagine that um, you know, any school, right, has a variety of children, and some have a lot of strengths and some have struggles, and they're in, and so how did that commitment to those oaths, how did you see that impact children? Were you able to see a difference there?

SPEAKER_00 6:50

Well, I I I can tell you a story, like probably most of your listeners are familiar with the starfish story. My three math teachers they came into my office uh one day and they said, We would like your permission to to change up our our lunch rosters. Uh that are it was like with a study hall and a lunch. And we've looked at our students' achievement data, and we would like to sort of juggle the rosters to we where we can strategically group the our kids to provide better intervention and tutoring. And is it okay if we do that? Like they said, we've already figured it out, we're just like your permission. And like they're asking for more work, right? When a lot of teachers were looking at that time as a break, they're they're putting more work on themselves. They cut out a starfish out of some like cardboard and they decorated the outside with glitter and they they put a uh a little piece of yarn through it to where I could hang it up. They gave me that starfish, and they said, we know that you'll appreciate this because what we're doing is trying to make a difference for these students with their math achievement. And like as a principal, I can't tell you how proud that made me of my staff members and the fact that they knew that I would love the starfish and I kept it for years.

SPEAKER_01 8:20

What did that mean to you personally? Obviously, that's moved you emotionally when you think about that. Was that their willingness to go the extra mile for every child? I mean, what I love about the starfish story is I'm making a difference for this one starfish.

SPEAKER_00 8:35

Yeah, I mean, like that's why we get into education is to make a difference for individual students. And so they just didn't look at their roster as a whole, but they looked at the individual kids. And they're wanting to make a difference for the individual kids. And I'm like, that's the type of culture that, yeah, we're trying to build. And so it it inspires me just thinking about it.

How do little moments rebuild school culture?

SPEAKER_01 9:00

Yeah, me too. That fires me up, Danny. Thank you for thank you for sharing that. Now, there's there's a lot of work that obviously went in between the first staff meeting when there was cynicism about is this guy going to be around next year? And this complete different example of a staff coming to you and intimately knowing you enough to present you the starfish and and doing the work. In between those two, uh, those two stories, what were some of the things that you did that also helped reignite passion or keep keep that going?

SPEAKER_00 9:36

Yeah, well, you know, you build school culture not with one big strategic initiative. Culture is made in the little moments. And so it's uh it's just a relentless commitment to connecting kids and supporting staff. I I started a tradition, I didn't come up with this idea. I stole it from somebody of birthday selfies with the principal. But every day on the kid's birthday, I would pull them in the hallway and talk to them. And, you know, we'd take a selfie and I'd and I'd send it to their parent, you know, birthday selfie with the principal. And that's a little thing, right? But that's a little moment of connecting with kids. And I realized that sometimes walking back to my office after taking that little selfie with the student, I realized I could have gone the entire year and not had a conversation with that kid. Because, you know, some kids go below the radar. And so continually telling stories about this, like at faculty meeting, like at faculty meeting, we were, we would talk about test scores and student achievement, but there was not a faculty meeting really that went by that we didn't talk about those personal connections. One of my favorite things we did at that school is we created a wall of dreams. We, and again, I did not come up with this idea. I saw I saw the idea somewhere else. Um, but our maintenance tech went to the hardware store and bought two like white shower boards and sort of spliced them together on the main on a main hallway and put a little homemade frame around it. And so it was four feet by 16 feet. And we asked all of our students to write their dreams, you know, in different color sharpies. And so it's 500 different little dreams. And and these are, you know, there you had some kids write, I want to be a professional basketball player, or I want to be um a rapper. Turns out there's tons of 11-year-olds that want to be professional YouTubers. But we would also have kids write, my dream is to be a sixth grade peer helper. Someone wrote, My dream is for my dad to get out of jail. One person wrote, I want the world to hear my voice. You can't read these and not be impacted emotionally. And so I would encourage our teachers to, like, on your way to the copy machine, stop and read a couple of the dreams. Like, we want to raise test scores, but no educator got an education to raise test scores. It's to inspire and empower our kids to reach their dreams. And so uh we had another little homemade board that we put up next to the main office, four feet by four feet, where I asked our staff, all of our staff members, to write their hopes for our kids. And it was just another way of keeping us all grounded on in what really matters and helping us stay centered. And so looking for every possible little moment to keep the adults in the building connected to what really matters. That's what we just tried to do relentlessly.

SPEAKER_01 12:33

Now, Danny, and these are practical strategies. I mean, I I love how humble you are about you borrowed it from someone. We call it borrowing, right? It's not stealing. So, but you know, I'm a I'm a big believer that staff, especially, I mean, the people that we lead, you know, they want to feel known, they want to feel loved, and they want to be inspired by purpose. And in what you were doing in some of these activities uh was incredibly inspirational. And talk about connecting to the to the why. I mean, I think about, you know, not only helping children succeed, but just being empathetic to the child whose whose parent is in prison and understanding how important it is to be a healthy adult relationship for for our children, who so many are coming from hard, hard backgrounds. Yeah, I really, yeah, I really respect uh that and the and the work that you did, that you did there. Um, was there anything that type tried to derail this process that you're going? Was there an event that happened that you had to course correct from because it tried to throw off what this great work that you were doing?

SPEAKER_00 14:20

I think um I don't know that I can think of of of us one specific thing, but I can say that this is a reality everywhere is there's always going to be adults that sometimes bring a little bit of negativity and uh that start complaining about stuff. You know, I told you in an earlier conversation that I've recently reread Winnie the Pooh, and I'm struck by the difference between Tigger and Eeyore, right? And and two different personalities. And, you know, I suspect that we all have a little bit of Tigger, upbeat, energetic, optimistic, and we all have a little bit of Eeyore where we're tired and we want to complain, uh, we kind of have a negative outlook. And so, you know, there's always going to be some people that show up to work and they're just feeling a little bit Eeyore. And and it's easy to let that then steal our energy and joy and get frustrated. Uh but one of the lessons from from uh from the book, Winnie the Pooh, you know, the first time we see Eeyore complaining, it's because he lost his tail. Like that's a that's not like losing your car keys. It's a big deal. Another time when Eeyore is complaining, the little kangaroo, Roo, had fallen into the river and he was drowning. He couldn't swim. And Eeyore backed up to the river, set his tail in the in the water to give him something to hang on to. And he was complaining because his tail was cold then, because it was all wet. Well, like he's the hero of the story. So one of the lessons, one of the one of the lessons for me, I think for all of us, is that when we run into those Eeyores, like, be gracious. We don't know what's going on that has led them to have that negative outlook that's led them to be discouraged or or negative. So be gracious, you know, with our colleagues and um know there's always more than meets the eye, but also don't let don't let Eeyore steal your steal your good energy.

When do teachers finally believe you are staying?

SPEAKER_01 16:37

Yeah, that's such a great example. I love that. I I've gotten in the habit recently when people ask me how I'm doing, I say, well, if I look right, there's some incredible things going on. And if I look left, there's some really hard things that I'm dealing with at the same time. And I think all of us can say that probably at any moment, right? Not not if nothing's perfect most of the time, but but oftentimes, even when things are hard, there still are things we can celebrate, you know, in our lives. And I think being sensitive to what is dominating our thoughts and our heart in any given moment. And like just like you said, being empathetic is so critical, is so critical for leaders. Leaders ourselves have that same going on, right? I mean, I know you know you can be a campus principal and want to be best for your um for your staff and your children and your families, but your own child might be suffering in some way that is really causing you a lot of heartache. And so being honest, I think about hey, we gotta have your days and we're gonna have Tigger days. I think you've mentioned you've got some socks that match this uh theme as well. Is that right?

SPEAKER_00 17:51

Yeah, my wife for Christmas bought me a lot of Winnie the Pooh socks and uh and and one of the pairs, it means multiple pairs of Winnie the Pooh socks. So I've gone all in with Winnie the Pooh. Um, but one of them is it's uh one sock is a big picture of Eeyore and one sock is a big picture of Tigra. And it's it's a good visual reminder. We can't choose our circumstances, we can always choose what we focus on. It's good to look for for things that that build you up and affirm your values.

SPEAKER_01 18:20

Yeah, totally. Now, you mentioned uh going back to that. I keep thinking about that first staff meeting where there was this cynicism. So you show up the next year for the first staff meeting, and I guess they're like, well, he made it one year. How long did it take for that to go away where you were like, okay, you know, 90 plus percent of the staff knows I'm here for them and I'm and I'm here to stay.

SPEAKER_00 18:44

Just like you don't build culture with some big grand initiative, you build it with small moments, you win over your staff in small moments. Like I had a teacher come up to me, and I were I was her assistant principal like 15 years earlier. And she came up and she told me at a basketball game about a parent conference that was so, so hard, but I was so supportive. I had her back with that tough parent. I I didn't even remember it, but it made an impact on her. The teacher that was really, really cynical that first meeting, a couple years later, her house burned down. She and her husband were fine. I drove to to visit them. It was like 45 minutes away and on a Saturday morning, and that made an impact on her. And so there's this adage that educators are familiar with that kids don't care how much you know until they know how much you care about them as students. That same adage, that same truth applies to leadership. The teachers don't care about your PhD and curriculum and instruction. They don't care how much knowledge you have until they know you care about them as people. And so um, over the years, when I've been able to build strong connections with staff members, it's it's because of a commitment to caring about them as people.

Why must principals become champions for teachers?

SPEAKER_01 20:17

That's an incredible, incredible theme. And so true. So true. I mean, we all want to be back to what I uh our beliefs about loved, known, right, and inspired. And I think you've done an incredible job. I know that's just one of your leadership uh stories. Uh any of you've got many, many other um campuses that you stepped into leadership roles. Now it is amazing, though, when you think about these interactions you have that made like that teacher from 15 years earlier, right? I mean, uh, how one that must have been so unusual for her to experience that kind of support from a leader that it made that lasting uh memory. So yeah, well done. Well done on that for sure. Yeah, I really uh yeah, appreciate uh Danny just reminding us of of what it means like to really not just talk about being committed to our staff and and our purpose and our why, but also uh demonstrating it through real tangible practices that uh that are that are repeatable. Is there any other guidance you would offer to uh future campus leaders uh along along these lines about building strong relationships with staff?

SPEAKER_00 21:32

The biggest lesson I learned as an administrator, I learned it after my third year as an assistant principal. I was itching to be principal, and the principal at our school was had announced he was retiring. And so I wanted to step into the role. I was the AP that had been there for two years, and I was feeling like it was it was my job now. And I was I was riding in the car during this application process, during that window of time. I was riding with the principal back from a meeting, and he said, Danny, I think some of the teachers see you more as an advocate for kids than for teachers. And that actually made me really angry when I heard that because I thought, yeah, we're here for the kids. You know, that the adults can take care of themselves. Well, I didn't get that job, but that summer I resolved this was like the summer of of 2004, I think. That summer I resolved that I will forever be a champion for the teachers. And now We still love the kids. We're always going to do right by kids. But you know, most administrators, they were former teachers, and you become a teacher because you love kids and you want to make a difference for kids. It's not because you're in it for the adults. But what I tell young administrators is that when you become an administrator, a school leader, your mission changes, and your new job is to make a difference for the adults in the building. You will be defined by your ability to support your staff. Again, remember, as a principal, I took a thousand birthday selfies with the with kids, right? So we never stop loving the kids. We never stop doing right by them. But it's it's really important for administrators to make that paradigm shift that, okay, we are we are winning over the adults, we're supporting them, and they're the ones who will be taking care of the kids under their care. So um that's that's the most important lesson I had to learn. I learned it the hard way. It cost me my first principalship, but it is, it is, it is really um informed how I've approached leadership the last 20 plus years.

Where can you keep learning from Danny Steele?

SPEAKER_01 23:38

Yeah, I love that. Thanks for sharing that, Danny. You know, but I also think what a gift it was that you didn't get that position because you needed this shift so that you would then have this impact over the next 20 years in uh in school leadership.

SPEAKER_00 23:54

I can see how it's a good thing now. But there were a few weeks where I was really in a shape over not getting the job.

SPEAKER_01 24:03

Well, for sure. For sure. Anytime we face a setback, or if you say a failure, you know, if you define it that way, I mean it still hurts, right? But I will say I've learned my most important lessons through failures and hard circumstances. Uh, definitely. Well, uh Danny, what what's the best way that people can follow you and just learn more about your work?

SPEAKER_00 24:23

I'm excited that I've recently in the last few months launched a newsletter. It's about bringing positive energy and a little bit of inspiration uh weekly. And it's free. Anybody that subscribes will get a free copy of my book of quotes for teachers, uh a PDF of that. You could subscribe on our website, which is steelthoughts.com. Uh, that's that's my social media handle as well, Steelthoughts. And my email is Danny at steelthoughts.com. I love being connected with passionate educators, and um, you know, iron sharpens iron and and we need each other. So yeah, I would love to connect.

SPEAKER_01 25:00

Fantastic. Well, thanks again for being part of this. If you found today's episode valuable, please share it with a colleague or an educator who would benefit from hearing about Danny's uh story and it's just a real life example of what transformational leadership looks like. And please follow Transformational Educators so you never miss an episode. And until next time, keep leading with purpose and transforming schools into places where everyone thrives. If today's conversation gave you fresh insight or inspired you to lead with purpose, please follow the show and tell a friend. It helps us reach more educators who want to make a difference. For more stories, resources, and tools to support your leadership journey, visit graceland.edu. Until next time, keep leading with courage and care.