Download the Executive Summary.

(Cambridge, MA) — With trust in business in short supply nearly everywhere, Interaction Associates (IA) is out with summary findings of insightful new research into the best practices of high performing companies in the overlapping areas of trust, leadership, and collaboration.

The executive summary, Building Trust in Business, is the initial release of results from a study involving leaders at 211 companies from a broad range of industries.

As part of its 40th Anniversary celebration, IA commissioned the Building Trust in Business research in Spring 2009 to discover what works for high performing companies — and to provide guidance to companies interested in strengthening their levels of trust, developing strong leaders, and becoming more collaborative for strategic results.

"We're interested in what it takes to build trust – and we know that strong proactive leadership is key to that," said Linda Dunkel, President and CEO of Interaction Associates. "Also essential to building trust: The behaviors and practices that leaders employ to achieve their goals – and collaboration is chief among them," added Dunkel.

Companies identified as high performers in the Building Trust study have a number of important characteristics in common that are vital to their success at achieving key business goals. Among the common characteristics of high performers: they are not top-down organizations; they have a strong sense of shared purpose; employees work together to support that purpose; tolerance and cooperation are highly valued; decisions frequently involve the participation of many people; and leaders often coach vs. just manage employees.

Building Trust considered 15 key business goals clustered in three broader categories, including productivity and innovation issues; customer and employee retention priorities; and operational efficiency.

Research results point to several important gaps between high performing companies in the areas of trust, leadership, and collaboration and companies that do not rate as highly in those three areas. Those gaps include:

- Companies with effective leadership exhibit high levels of confidence in their ability to weather the current economic crisis.

- High-Trust companies are far more likely than other companies to exhibit organizational behavior consistent with their espoused values and ethics (85% vs. 46% other companies).

- Highly collaborative companies are significantly more productive, entrepreneurial and innovative than other companies (74% highly collaborative companies vs. 22% others).

- A sense of shared responsibility for success and accountability for self and others correlates with high levels of operational efficiency inside organizations.

Building Trust in Business was conducted by IDG Research Services. The full report, including detailed findings and powerful tools for growing trust, leadership, and collaboration, will be released in July 2009. Download the executive summary of Building Trust in Business at: http://snipurl.com/iastudy.