Trust. Among the many things I have learnt as a leader of a company, one of them is that much can be accomplished if there is trust created between yourself and others whom you are engaging. Conversely, without trust, it is difficult and often impossible to accomplish what needs to get done.

Trust has eroded over a period of many years in our community. We don’t talk. Or if we do, far too often we talk at each other, not to each other. While there is certain good news about an improving economy, we have serious issues to address in Bermuda where truthful and honest discussions need to take place: disenfranchised Bermudians, immigration reform, elder care, education.

The only way that I see to adequately address these issues is to build, or rebuild, trust among the stakeholders who can make a difference in our community. I don’t see the engagement taking place to establish trust between the political parties and other important stakeholders in our community. Think of your own life. Is it not easier to discuss difficult and perhaps contentious issues with a close friend? Not so easy with someone whom you don’t trust.

Recently, an announcement on the results of the P6 and M3 levels in our public schools was made. At the P6 level, the Bermuda national average was level 2.2 in maths, compared with the Cambridge International Examinations average score of 3.9. At the M3 level, the Bermuda national average was level 2.2 in maths, while the Cambridge International Examinations score was 4.4. The education ministry spokesman said: “I commend our P6 and M3 teachers and students who worked hard to achieve these results.”

Before we pat ourselves on the back, let’s consider what these results are telling us. In a competitive world where the education of our youth is critical to the future success of Bermuda, and to the ability of our children to support themselves and their families, we are sending a very mixed and concerning message. We are saying that we have set the performance bar for our sons and daughters too low, and that underperforming is tolerable. It should not be.

This is where trust comes in. The easy thing to do is to remain silent and do nothing. The right thing to do is to acknowledge that, while solutions will not come easy, we need to start to have meaningful, adult and, perhaps, contentious discussions around the reasons for the testing results of our public school students — and the possible solutions.

This is not to say that we don’t have many teachers and administrators extremely committed to the success of our children. We do. But equally clear to me is that we cannot continue to have our collective heads in the sand and say that nothing is wrong.

We need engagement and honest and open discussions around why the test results of our students are not where we, and they, need them to be — and haven’t for a very long time.

Trust. Just think of the possibilities if we had more of it in our community.

• John Wight is the president of the Bermuda Chamber of Commerce