Prof. Rob Cross and i4cp Take Collaborative Partnership to the Next Level

The Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp), a leading human capital research firm that discovers the people practices that drive high performance, is pleased to announce that it is deepening its collaborative partnership with Rob Cross, the Edward A. Madden Professor of Global Business at Babson College and thought leader in social network analysis, to the next level.

With this new extended partnership, i4cp and Cross will work closely (dare we say collaborate?) in two new ways:

• Cross will lend his expertise to i4cp as a Senior Research Advisor. In this capacity, Cross joins other advisors, which include Kevin Wilde (former CLO at General Mills), Mark Englizian (former global rewards leader at Amazon), and Patti Phillips (CEO of the ROI Institute), in contributing to the growing body of i4cp’s research on the people-practices of high-performance organizations. 

• On October 10-11, 2017, Cross and i4cp will co-produce a meeting of Cross’ Connected Commons; a consortium of leading organizations dedicated to sharing how Social Network Science improves the performance and well-being of individuals, organizations, and society in three areas (driving innovation and alignment across organizations, empowering talent, and enhancing leadership). The meeting will be hosted at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle, WA.

The announcement expands a partnership that began in 2016, when Cross and i4cp embarked on an  extensive study on workforce collaboration. The study surveyed over 1,000 organizations as well as another 1,000 employees to better understand how effective collaboration works, and builds on Cross’s earlier work and co-authored Harvard Business Review article, “Collaboration Overload,” which examines how it fails. The first in a series of research briefs—Purposeful Collaboration: The Essential Components of Collaborative Cultures—was published in June 2017, with more to follow.

“Rob brings yet another area of deep domain expertise to i4cp’s research organization,” said Kevin Martin, i4cp’s Chief Research Officer. “We are excited about combining our respective strengths to enhance our ability to meet the needs of i4cp members by further exploring cutting-edge human capital topics that have positive impact on market performance.”

“I’m excited to continue my work with i4cp to dig even deeper into the organizational implications of collaboration and social networks,” added Cross. “Together, we can empower companies with the information and tools they need to realize considerable improvement in productivity, communication, and innovation.”

Cross will also remain a member of i4cp’s Thought Leader Consortium.

If you’re a senior practitioner interested in becoming involved in the collaboration study, please contact us.