Collaboration — the concept and the practice — is experiencing a renaissance among business leaders these days. Many of our clients are telling us they need to reinvigorate their organizations' ability to work across all kinds of silos, levels, and boundaries. Everybody has to get faster at making smart decisions and much more reliable at implementing change. We call that  "collaborative acumen" — when leaders help people come together, be their best, and get it done.

Increased business acumen is an important component of any strategic initiative for developing leaders — i.e., the specific literacy around business fundamentals and the key functions of an organization that drive business results. Lately, I've been thinking that there's a parallel to business acumen that's equally important for achieving strong results. Let’s call that "collaborative acumen."

Is business an art? Perhaps not, but certainly business can learn from the arts. In my estimation, one of the biggest lessons business can take away is the value of collaboration.

How are high levels of unemployment and an uncertain economy affecting business professionals? Every year since 2008, Interaction Associates has conducted surveys of business professionals in a variety of industries and in different-sized companies. The purpose? To take their temperatures around three critical areas: trust, collaboration, and leadership.

This year, we'll see how the needle has moved over the past 12 months. How are organizations faring? Are leaders optimistic or downbeat? How are employees feeling and behaving?

Failure to achieve consensus can take your company down, as leaders at a number of organizations in recent history can attest. What if you were running one of those companies, and you realized in hindsight that the failure didn’t need to happen? Well, it doesn’t – most of the time.

Andy Atkins, Director of Strategic Collaboration Consulting at Interaction Associates, reviews the key findings of the Research Report: Building Trust in Business. This on demand webinar covers:

With our trust assessment tool, leaders can measure trust across the company, within a division, in a department, or among team members.   Measuring trust is just the first step. The tool also includes practical tips for building deeper trust in lasting ways. Jay Cone explores how in this podcast.

For more information on this tool, and a blank assessment form, read Jay's paper here.

You are invited to a complimentary webinar, presenting our 2009 research in the overlapping areas of Trust, Leadership and Collaboration. After all, building trust with customers and employees is vital, but how do top performing companies do it?

We have powerful answers – research from 150 companies and 211 executives across the business world. To celebrate our 40th Anniversary, Interaction Associates commissioned major research on the overlapping areas of trust, leadership, and collaboration.

How does building trust with customers and employees help your business achieve key business goals? What are top performing companies doing to deepen trust and succeed in key areas?

Those questions and others are explored in our new research report, Building Trust in Business.

Interaction Associates has just released the full report on our timely research, Building Trust in Business — containing the highly anticipated survey results from more than 150-companies across the business spectrum. If you are looking to know more about what causes people to trust the institutions of which they are a part, Building Trust in Business has a treasure trove of insights.