Business leaders are embracing collaborative leadership to drive strong business results. What is collaborative leadership – and what's involved in making it work in your organization? How can you know if you have what it takes to be an effective collaborative leader? (Hint: Try the self-test!)

We sought to answer those questions and others in an article that unpacks the value of collaborative leadership for driving business results.

The piece is published in the Winter 2013 edition of Training Industry Quarterly.

"Thank goodness more and more business and team meetings are being held virtually." "Goody! We’re meeting by conference call!" "If only all of our meetings could be virtual!"

Sound familiar? I’m guessing not. The fact is that virtual meetings are demanding and, sometimes, are a downright painful part of our normal workday. Think of the last time you posed a question on a call, only to hear the drawn out silence of muted phones in response. I like to call this the "crickets moment" (even though the crickets seem to be on mute, too).

If you're interested in developing your capacity to listen, here's an exercise you can try. Find a news or call-in program on the radio or on television with commentators who hold completely different opinions than you do and draw upon a belief system that you disagree with.

 "I have not failed. I have merely found ten thousand ways that won’t work." ~ Thomas Edison

I spent an inspiring day in Palo Alto recently at the design firm, IDEO. I am a member of a community of consultants and educators who use a simulation designed by the Canadian company, Experience Point, in collaboration with IDEO to teach design thinking. We gathered to share our experiences and deepen our understanding of design thinking tools.

What is "resilience," and why do leaders need it?

Enjoy this complimentary podcast exploring the leadership capability called "Resilience," featuring Interaction Associates' Chief Consulting Officer Kevin Cuthbert.

Cuthbert is the co-author of the book, "Lemonade: The Leader's Guide to Resilience at Work." The book is co-written with Alan Graham and Karlin Sloan.

Resilience is the capacity to bounce back from the failures and setbacks that every leader faces. Making lemons into lemonade is an art that every leader will want to cultivate.

Listen to CEO Linda Stewart in conversation with Aubrey Weite of Human Capital Institute. Linda talks about employee involvement and why employee engagement is not enough.

To download your free copy of the 2012 Building Trust in Business Research Report and a free Trust Toolkit, please visit this link.

Effective collaborative organizational change is possible when the team is strategic and self-aware — and has a strong capacity for collaboration.

In this article, published by Rotman Magazine in Fall 2012, Andy Atkins reviews the principles underlying successful collaborative design. Read the article here.

Barry Rosen and I led an engaging and practical 90-minute web event, for which you can get the slides, below..

One of the biggest challenges to emerge from the 2012 Building Trust in Business research is the current perception of the lack of leadership transparency, predictability and consistency. This challenge stands in direct conflict with building trust.

In this free podcast, Patty McManus shares her insights into this problem and possible methods to address it.

Download the 2012 Building Trust in Business research report, here.

Virtual teams often face difficulties solving problems, making decisions, generating innovative ideas, and reconciling differences. When team members don't meet with each other face-to-face, it can be harder to build rapport, develop trust, and establish meaningful collegiality. Team members multi-task, leaders fall back to presenting endlessly, and the work goes sideways.