Marc Haine argues that suspicion kills trust and shows up as gossip in low-morale workplaces. When people go silent as soon as a newcomer walks in, that's the signal. Trust means assured reliance on someone's character and ability, and gossip erodes both.
Suspicion is the antithesis, I think, of lack of trust. It is the definition in our workplaces of really low trust. And you can even say, even low morale. When you think about a gossipy workplace where people are in the lunchroom or by the water cooler and people looking over and go, I bet you they're talking about me. Or people are bitching and bellyaching about stuff quietly. And you walk into a room and people stop talking. That suspicion kicks in. And it's like, where is your level of trust at this point? And so, I found that to be a really compelling definition, which makes sense because Merriam-Webster dictionary defines trust as assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something.
