How often do you look through your organization chart? How closely do you look? What do you look for?
Some executives survey their org charts with a sense of achievement, while others look for ways to cut costs; but often a more productive path is to identify new synergies and think through ways to bring those synergies into the business.
When you head up a large business unit, it can be difficult to learn the names of everyone on your team; never mind trying to understand their skills, aspirations and abilities. But if you do pick up that org chart, look through the names that appear. Try to put a face to the name. How far down can you go? Do you know the intern? What about the new sales exec?
Now, you may not know the particular blend of skills that each person has, but most leaders will have a sense of the challenges that people face in achieving their daily, monthly and yearly work goals. Why don’t you reach down through the org chart and provide one of these people with a stretch goal or a special project? Pair them up with a mentor. Introduce them to someone from another part of the business.
Using the org chart as a tool, in this way, can yield unexpected benefits. And you can never go wrong when building the skills and capabilities of your teams — remember, your people are your competitive advantage.
Nina Nets It Out: Leadership means proactively developing the resources of your business — this includes people. Take a look at your organization chart and see how you can activate the hidden skills and under-utilized capabilities that you find there.
Hi Nina 🙂
When you add tagging to your org charts, you find it even easier to make those synergies.
I find it has made a huge difference to the ability to connect with new mentors, for instance.
Jasmin,
An excellent idea. Somewhat like an internal LinkedIn. I thoroughly agree that this would serve as a great tool for connecting mentors. Thanks for sharing this article. 🙂
I always had the org chart up on my bulletin board. That way when people would ask about specific subjects, I could refer them to the right person in the organization.
Or, I could see how a process would work between different groups. Or, I could ask other managers what specific people did in their organization and how that related to what my group did.
It is surprising how much you can learn from a piece of paper on a board…
Nice post.
Hey Scot,
Thanks for your comment. I am always amazed how few people take advantage of using an org chart in the fashion you describe. It seems so logical and useful! I often reach out to others based on position to see how we can collaborate to resolve business challenges.
Nina,
You really lit a spark with this one.
When I was managing within a corporation, the org chart was always in view or an arm’s length away. I’ve noticed more and more that when I ask for an org chart to help me better understand the makeup of a client organization, two things often happen:
1. A search for a copy.
2. The caveat, “This isn’t really up-to-date.”
Since much of the work I do involves professional development, it really is helpful to see the relationships laid out in black and white. Although the direct reporting chain is easy to ascertain, it’s equally important to be able to assess who the colleagues are on the periphery who also enter into an individual’s performance.
All that said, I really like your idea of constant visibility as a constant reminder to do somethingdevelopmental.
Keep up the solid, practical insights. . .
Hi Steve,
I can completely agree with your findings regarding the typical company’s use of an organization chart. I believe most companies don’t use it in the way we are discussing in this piece and in the way you use it within your professional development activities. Perhaps we can instigate change over the not-too-long-term wherein companies will use this very applicable tool in developmental ways.