One common mistake of new leaders is to devote too much of their transition time to the vertical dimension of influence— upward to bosses and downward to direct reports—and not enough to the horizontal dimension, namely, peers and external constituencies. This error is understandable: You naturally gravitate toward the people to whom you report and who report to you. After all, they are the primary channels through whom you will have an impact and leverage yourself.
Sooner or later (probably sooner), though, you will need the support of people over whom you have no direct authority, within the company and externally. You may have little or no relationship capital with these people—no preexisting support and obligations on which to draw. Therefore, you will need to invest thought and energy in building a new base. Start early. It is never a good idea to approach people for the first time when you need something from them; you wouldn’t want to introduce yourself to your neighbors in the middle of the night when your house is burning down. Discipline yourself to invest in building relationship capital with people you anticipate needing to work with later.
Think about how you have allocated your time to relationship building so far. Are there people you haven’t met yet who are likely to be critical to your success?