Dubai 31 March 2009 – Middle East organisations have the worst internal trust rating in the EMEA region, according to a recent survey.

From a total of 23,545 respondents from 331 organisations surveyed in EMEA. firms in the Middle East scored 49/100 and 52/100 for ‘team trust’ and ‘organisational trustworthiness’ respectively.

This is the lowest score in the FranklinCovey poll conducted last year and compares with an average of 54/100 and 55/100 for the two indices. The maximum score is 100. Some 1,611 respondents from 26 organisations in the Middle East were surveyed.

As Stephen M. R. Covey emphasises: “The results of this survey indicate that trust - and the absence of it - is an issue for companies in the Middle East. The ability to establish, grow, extend and restore internal trust is the key leadership competency for our challenging times.”

Covey is set to host a forum on trust and leadership, together with his son Stephen M. R. Covey, at the Intercontinental Hotel, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on 18th April 2009 and the Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Dubai on 20th April 2009. They will discuss the issue of rebuilding trust in regional organisations.

The shocking results of the FranklinCovey survey underline the erosion of internal trust in the modern corporate world as financial scandals, multi-million dollar bonuses paid to discredited senior executives and white-collar fraud escalate.

For example, only 49% of employees said they trusted their senior leaders, according to a Watson Wyatt study in 2006-2007. A mere 36% of employees believe top managers act with honesty and integrity, reported a Harris Interactive Study in 2005.

Companies where trust is non-existent or low, are characterised by an extremely dysfunctional environment and toxic culture with open criticism, sabotage, lawsuits and criminal behavior. There is typically underlying tension, hidden agendas, division among employees, excessive employee turnover, customer churn and dissatisfied stakeholders.

Only people who trust each other, for whom a win for everyone is a win for themselves, can execute efficiently together. Despite this, trust is a rare commodity - especially in today’s contracting economy.

A Watson Wayat study found that high trust organisations impressively outperform their low trust counterparts by a staggering 286% on total return to shareholders. So trusted companies make commercial, as well as ethical, sense. Or as Dr. Stephen Covey states: “High trust won’t necessarily rescue a poor strategy, but low trust will almost always derail a good strategy.”

Stephen M. R. Covey is the former CEO of Covey Leadership Center, which, under his stewardship, became the largest leadership development company in the world. Under Covey's direction, the company grew rapidly and profitably, achieving Inc. 500 status and recognition. Covey personally led the strategy that propelled his father's book, Dr. Stephen R. Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People to the number one bestselling business book of the 20th Century according to CEO magazine.

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About FranklinCovey:
FranklinCovey is a global leader in leadership, strategy, execution and personal development. At FranklinCovey, our passion and focus is on meeting the challenge of the ages: achieving greatness. Many seek it. Yet most fail to achieve it. FranklinCovey Middle East’s mission is to enable greatness in people, leaders, and organisations throughout the Middle East. Our aim is to develop future leaders by delivering global knowledge and practical experience necessary to lead successfully in the new global knowledge worker’s age. For several years, we have studied greatness in unprecedented depth. We have had the distinct privilege of working with leading organisations around the world striving to achieve it. We’ve learned that it’s as simple -and as challenging- as moving the core performers toward the top. FranklinCovey’s client base covers more than 90 per cent of the Fortune 500 organisations as well as numerous government entities and educational institutions. We have more than 3,000 highly qualified facilitators around the world and more than 25,000 client facilitators. With 2000 associates providing professional services in more than 145 countries around the world, we train more than 1 million people every year in thousands of leading organisations.

About Leaders Presents – part of IIR
‘Leaders Presents’ is a new division of IIR Middle East designed to provide the IIR delegate a new level of conference experience. Born from the success of the Annual Leaders in Dubai Business Forum, Leaders’ events stand out from the rest by providing a superior level of speaker, ensuring up-to-date topics and maintaining an all-around level of excellence throughout the execution of their events. The flagship event - Leaders in Dubai - is a meeting of over 1,500 of the regions’ most eminent business leaders from across all industries who come together with some of the most popular business, economic and political leaders from across the globe - to network, learn and debate on the future of business and to share their experiences. Leaders Presents has launched a number of other highly successful events recently including the acclaimed Management Innovation Forum, which was launched in 2007 and met with rave reviews, and the Middle East Business Achievement Awards which honors regional business leaders for their excellence and contribution to business. 2009 sees the development of a variety of ‘Leaders Presents’ events - all of which promise to evoke thought and creativity, and give real value to the delegates who attend. Speakers current and past at ‘Leaders Presents’ events include Colin Powell, Jack Welch, Bill Clinton, Richard Branson, Kofi Annan, Michael Porter, Her Majesty Queen Noor, Tom Peters, and Malcolm Gladwell.

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