How can leaders overcome the barriers to innovation and drive more good ideas to powerful implementation? That question and others are the focus of this exclusive on-demand webcast for executives, leaders and managers called "Collaboration: The Spark Plug for Innovation." It's led by Interaction Associates Senior Consultant Justin Jones, who has deep experience in applying collaborative practices in large, global organizations.

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.

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.

Our annual research, Building Trust in Business 2012, yielded an important finding about how high-performing companies are focused increasingly on employee and customer relationships as a key component for driving business results.

In this brief podcast, Chief Innovation Officer Andy Atkins offers important insights into the connection between focusing on relationship and building trust -- especially for retaining key employees and valuable customers in tough times.

What is the state of Trust in Business this year?

Since 2009, Interaction Associates has surveyed companies to discover how they are faring in the areas of trust, leadership, and collaboration. In 2012, our Building Trust in Business research study found that overall trust levels have not recovered from the hit they took in 2009. With the economy struggling, it's important to understand what top-performing companies are doing to drive revenues and grow, despite the grim economic headlines.

CEO Linda Stewart and CIO Andy Atkins sat down with our partner Aubrey Wiete, a Senior Analyst at the Human Capital Institute (HCI) to discuss the findings of the 2012 Building Trust in Business Report. (You can download the full report here.)

While a key takeaway is that while trust is at very low levels across many businesses, there is some good news, too. Some high-performing companies are leveraging trust-building leadership practices and collaborative acumen to achieve financial success.

In our June LeaderLens, Ashley Welch interviewed Elana Yonah, Co-Founder of Rise, who shared her perspective on Virtual Collaboration: Best Practices for Global Teams.

Our annual survey of trust and leadership, Building Trust in Business, will be released early next month, and we’ll have a lot to say about the findings then – but I wanted to highlight some top-level findings briefly.

This is the third in a series of blog posts for leaders about overcoming obstacles to collaboration.

A recent survey of 900+ professionals across Canada conducted by ESI International yielded some interesting conclusions about collaboration in business. The majority of businesspeople surveyed report their organizations do not work collaboratively, despite the value that they realize would come from better teamwork.