Recognized as the leader of the school, the middle school principal is expected to continually facilitate student success and school improvement. One such way principals can lead school improvement is through building supportive, trusting relationships with teachers. This qualitative case study explored the ways in which five middle school principals perceived they built trusting teacher-principal relationships to influence staff motivation, commitment, and working conditions for teachers in an effort to support student success. The principals' insights led to the identification of six themes relating to the middle school principals' role in influencing student success through increasing teachers' motivation, commitment, and working conditions. The themes include: prioritizing classroom visits, helping teachers use data, acknowledging teachers' work, providing for teachers' professional improvement, working collaboratively with teachers, and distributing leadership to teachers.