Three Strategies to Accelerate Remote Onboarding
In our first 90 days in a new role, we make choices about who to prioritize, which sets the foundation for future success. When new hires and newcomers initiate relationships critical to success, they jump-start their productivity and inclusion into valued networks. However, they rarely know how to do this.
Early on, some people prioritize visibility or access to formal stakeholders and gaining political support. Others believe they must hit the ground running and choose to focus only on doing work with their immediate team. Still others may prioritize meeting a lot of people but neglect the specific network-building that could enable rapid integration into the organization and shorten their time from entry to productivity.
While these steps may have been conventional wisdom decades ago when we worked in smaller, co-located teams—the explosive increase in the collaborative intensity of work and the dramatic rise in remote and globally distributed teamwork, now challenges this approach that doesn’t consider the incredible effect that social network now play in our success.
For more than 20 years, Rob Cross has studied the underlying networks of effective organizations and the collaborative practices of high performers.
Working with more than 300 organizations and reaching thousands of leaders from the front line to the C-suite, he has identified specific ways to cultivate vibrant, effective networks at all levels of an organization and any career stage.
Through research and writing, speaking and consulting, and courses and tools, Rob’s network strategies are transforming the way people lead, work and live in a hyper-connected world.
Currently a Senior Vice President of Research for i4cp and the Edward A. Madden Professor of Global Leadership at Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, Rob is also the co-founder and research director of the Connected Commons, a consortium of over 150 leading organizations accelerating network research and practice.
He has written over 50 articles for Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, California Management Review, Academy of Management Executive and Organizational Dynamics. His work has also been repeatedly featured in venues such as Business Week, Fortune, The Financial Times, Time Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, CIO, Inc., and Fast Company.
A graduate of the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce (where he later taught), Rob earned an MBA from UVA’s Darden School and completed doctoral work at Boston University. In his spare time Rob has become an avid cyclist, logging 100-150 miles a week with a group of similarly crazy old guys. He also loves playing tennis, spending time on the water fishing and skiing, hiking, listening to live music and is actively involved in his church. Practicing what he preaches on well-being he recently became PADI certified for Scuba and is loving the new world of friends and experiences this aspect of life has opened up.