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.