Most organizational charts end up taped to break room walls and forgotten. Bruce Eckfeldt shares how to make yours a valuable tool for everyone in your company.
Every employee manual I’ve seen contains an org chart that shows who is in charge and who reports to whom. Usually, the names of executive employees and managers are in boxes with connectors cascading down to the front lines of the organization.
Many of those charts are out of date. There may be names that have changed or reporting lines that are no longer relevant. There could even be entire departments that have been removed or added.
The problem with these charts is that they are trying to capture the wrong information and are not being used correctly. Here are six things that I focus on when coaching leadership teams on creating organizational charts in order to make them a useful and productive tool for everyone in the company.
1. Focus on functions.
The main purpose of an organizational chart is to show the functional divisions of a company and how they work together. Your organizational chart is a map for how to navigate your business. A good chart will tell employees who needs to be aware of specific issues and information.
At a basic level, a good chart shows the vertical divisions between departmental functions and horizontal levels of reporting and management structure. An organizational chart will clarify questions like “is shipping part of operations or customer service?” and “do the software developers report to head of product or head of technology?”
Done well, a chart should clearly indicate who is on the executive team, who the middle managers are, and who is handling the front line execution.
2. Ditch the names.
I always suggest erasing all of the names on the chart. It is more important to see the functional roles and how they report and relate to one another. Names change quickly, but roles do not.
If you prefer to use names, make a separate table listing names and contact information by role or put the name in small print under the functional role. I suggest you include a phone number or email and the date they took on the role. Pro tip: it is great to see a history of the roles a person has filled and w