Test my Hypothesis about "Communications Issues"

Have you ever heard someone complain of “communications issues” with a colleague?  Have you ever thought about all that the term implies, beyond just a lack of communication?  In my work, I hear this term regularly and it has long been my contention that when people in a work setting report they have a “communications issue,” it is usually a code for “the real issue is that we don’t TRUST one another.”  I have found this to hold true over many years and in all sorts of industries. When people trust one another, there are rarely communications issues.  

It’s my intention with my blog audience, including friends and colleagues, to test this observation in a broader range of situations.  I am asking you to keep your eyes and ears open and report what you learn, as I am eager to test in other situations this belief I have about “communications issues” in the workplace. Please keep alert to when and where you hear people talking about having communications issues (for example, in their marriage, in personal business transactions, and in broad family circles) and then try to discern if this is in fact a safer way of describing trust issues.  I’d love to hear what you learn, and how you determined if in fact there might be underlying trust issues.  I will report back in a few months what I hear from friends and colleagues, so please share your observations.