Authored by Rob Cross

Interview Insights

Top 3 Takeaways from this Interview

• Taking care of our wellbeing is taking care of our performance.
• We need to identify and limit interactions that are not adding value to our work.
• Often we blame outside forces for overload, like tight schedules, demanding clients, or overbearing bosses. It is important to ask ourselves about how we contribute to the problem.

Read the Show Notes from this Episode

• Rob Cross proudly talks about his grandfather, a pioneer of aviation, who was a huge influence to him growing up. [00:55]
• The problem that causes collaboration to be unmemorable. [02:33]
• Technology allows us to be always active online however, being always active can be counter-productive. [03:53]
• Always staying connected, like checking and replying to emails anytime, can cause diruption which is often a component of collaborative overload. [05:06]
• Effecient collaborations are more likely to focus in on how they shift demands around themselves and in very targeted ways. [07:09]
• Rob shares about Scott, a life sciences executive from the mid-west, who despite always doing what looks right on the outside and jumping in to help whenever he can, was in danger of being terminated. [08:28]
• Scott was able to turn his career around with the help of Rob, and by being honest as to what contributed to this overwhelm and overload that are making his performance falter. [10:39]
• When it comes to overload, 50% of the problem is us. [11:36]
• Rob defines collaboration as the pattern of people that you’re interacting with to get work done. He further explains when effective collaboration becomes overload. [15:40]
• While it gives a sense of accomplishment to be able to check everything on the checklist and being able to respond to people whenever they have inqueries, managers should know how to set their priorities because sometimes these small thing distracts us from doing something meaningful professionaly.[17:37]
• My Quest for the Best Lightning Round begins [19:34]

Expert Bio

Rob Cross, the Edward A. Madden Professor of Global Leadership at Babson College, and author of Beyond Collaboration Overload: How to Work Smarter, Get Ahead, and Restore Your Well-Being. He is a renowned thinker, writer, and speaker whose category-defying ideas have influenced fields as diverse as organizational design, change, collaboration, teams, agility, innovation, and talent optimization. He is the co-founder and Research Director of the Connected Commons business consortium.
Cross has authored six Harvard Business Review articles on practical approaches to enhancing collaboration. He is the co-author of five books, including The Hidden Power of Social Networks.

Contact Info and Social Media for Rob Cross

• Primary Website 
• Travels from: Babson Park, MA
• Connect on LinkedIn | Twitter | YouTube 

Resources Mentioned

Below are key people, places, books, quotes, websites, and other resources that we discussed so you can explore further.

• Rick Springfield

Books Authored by Rob Cross

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