This study explored the question of how teacher collaboration programs impact the sense of trust and respect between cooperating professionals. Ten elementary school teachers constituting five collaborating dyads volunteered to participate in a three-phase clinical supervision cycle, including a pre-observation goal-setting conference, classroom observation data collection, and a post-observation data sharing and analysis conference. Participants completed this cycle at least four times throughout the school year, and evaluated the experience through semi-structured interviews. Results indicated that trust and respect between collaborators was a prerequisite to effective collaboration, and that without trust and respect collaboration was futile. Trust between teachers and administrators seemed to evolve more quickly when not initiated by the administrator, and the period of time required to develop trust among teachers appeared to be longer in cases where collaboration was mandated by school or district policy. Expertise in specific subject areas was not found to be prerequisite to establishment of trust. Common philosophical beliefs that were shared by those who established the most energetic and effective collaborative relationships included: a shared understanding that collaboration must be non-threatening evaluatively; mutual input in the process and ability to move in new directions as necessary; and seeing students as the focus of the collaboration and of education itself. (Contains 21 references and 2 interview schedules.) (PB)