How does trust impact openness and collaboration?

Friend or foe

I am naturally open and have a leaning towards trust as a default, until of course I’m bitten or receive some other signal that I’m being used.

I have been reading a lot of books and other content about this broader topic, but not as a central theme. The themes were much more about ideas and sharing and how magical things can happen. The topic of trust and its impact doesn’t seem to figure highly, but I do wonder whether this can limit collaboration if there’s an unsaid trust question somewhere in the “group”

Is the elephant in the room?


Can ideas truly flow unencumbered, if there are (unsaid) issues within a group, whereby the trust question is not addressed?

Will all group members really bring their collaboration and sharing “A” game I wonder?

Does it matter if some are open in spite of this?

Personally, I’d postulate that it’s not optimal if you’re not all equally invested and some are holding back.
So is the answer that all parties sign some kind of NDA? Does this work in practice, or is an NDA now so default in business discussions, that they’re all too easily signed and filed without real attention and commitment?

All these questions bubble to the surface often for me, as the topic has huge significance to the work that I undertake. So all of this relies on a high degree of trust.

Making progress (and quickly) is rather tricky without it

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