Connected Commons Research Highlights
connected network

About Us

The Connected Commons has been on a journey for two decades to uncover the role of connections in people’s working lives. Through our relationships with over 300 leading organizations, and hundreds of focused interviews, our research and deep analytics have resulted in best practices and practical applications to benefit organizational performance as well as individual well-being.

Currently, our primary focus is in on team performance. We believe teams are the primary source of value in organizations, but are struggling to execute amidst the volatile dynamics of the current workplace. Adhoc collaborative practices must be replaced by intentional ones, and our work will identify how to do so.

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Applied Research and Resources

Today’s connected economy demands a new set of best practices.

Team Agility
Organization & Team Agility

Fuel transformation, productivity, and well-being at any level of your organization through collaboration analytics and diagnostics.

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Transition Effectively
Transition Effectively

Accelerate employee onboarding, promotions, and transitions at any level of the organization.

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Personal Performance & Well-Being

Reduce collaborative overload, microstresses, and re-invest in connections with the greatest impact.

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Our Clients​

We have had the privilege of partnering with organizations across industries, locations, and size.​

Workday
Boston Children's Hospital
Associated British Food
Pfizer
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Intel
Mercury
Cornerstone Research
TE Connectivity
Richs
Merck
IQVIA
Eisai logo
Novartis
The World Bank
gsk
Insight2Profit
Cigna
IFC logo
Gore
Booz Allen Hamilton
General Mills
Mayo Clinic
Maritz
Mundi Pharma
Dolby
Agios
Genentech
Bose
US Navy
Juniper Networks
Broad Institute
CFA Institute
Tyco
Bristol Meyers Squibb
Ketchum

Our Team

Rob Cross
Rob Cross

Speaker – Educator – Consultant
Co-founder and Research Director, Connected Commons
Senior VP of Research, i4cp

Deb Zehner
Deb Zehner

Creator & Product Manager, Agility Accelerator platform
Director of Operations, Connected Commons

Greg Pryor
Greg Pryor

Advisor – Consultant – Speaker
Co-founder, Connected Commons
Senior VP of Outcomes, Wisdom and Learning, Guild Education

Michael Arena
Michael Arena

Advisor – Consultant – Speaker
Co-founder, Connected Commons
Dean, Crowell School of Business, Biola University

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Rob Cross. For more than 20 years, Rob has studied the underlying networks of effective organizations and the collaborative practices of high performers. Working with more than 300 organizations, he has identified specific ways to cultivate vibrant, effective networks. Rob has authored five books and over 50 articles for Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, California Management Review, Academy of Management Executive and Organizational Dynamics.

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Deb Zehner. Deb has almost 20 years of experience applying network sciences to business challenges, with a primary focus on partnering with clients on organizational network analysis (ONA) projects. Most recently, she has developed a platform to speed ONA and put valuable analytics in the hands of the business leader. Deb has authored dozens of case studies, and is co-author on the HBR article “Collaboration Without Burnout.” Previously, Deb held leadership roles with DXC Technology, MorganStanley, and Continental Airlines (as a commercial pilot).

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Greg Pryor focuses on the growing importance of positive and productive connections at work. Greg’s research has been featured in the Harvard Business Review, Fortune, Forbes, MIT Sloan Management Review and Organization Dynamics. Until December of 2021, Greg served as the SVP, people & performance evangelist at Workday, where he helped the company achieve extraordinary growth while being recognized as one of the world’s best places to work. Before Workday, Greg held senior leadership positions at Juniper Networks and Merrill Lynch, and was a partner in Accenture’s Human Performance Practice.

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Michael Arena, Ph.D., is the Dean of the Crowell School of Business at Biola University, and on faculty at the University of Pennsylvania. Before his tenure at Biola, Michael served as the VP of Talent and Development at Amazon Web Services (AWS), and the Chief Talent Officer for General Motors Corporation, where he helped to facilitate a disruptive business transformation, highlighted in his book Adaptive Space. Michael’s insights have been featured in such publications as the Wall Street Journal, Inc. Magazine, Forbes, Entrepreneur, Fortune, Harvard Business Review, and Sloan Management Review.

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