In the history of business, we’ve come up with many ways to make the organizational chart more approachable.
There is the upside-down kind, with the CEO at the bottom. There is the interactive digital kind. And then there is the cutesy kind, like Martha Stewart Omnimedia’s, where each manager was represented by a different kind of tree. (Martha herself was a beech, described by an accompanying caption as “the mother tree . . . one of the most beautiful and popular of the shade trees.”)
Though I’ve never assigned myself a botanical identity, I have been known for my own org-chart quirks. In one of my early CEO roles, I managed to fit all 250 employees on a double-sided piece of 11×17 paper that I carried around with me everywhere, and personally updated with each new hire. My executive team ribbed me about it pretty often.
Today, I’ve given up my hard copy for the org-chart feature included in CEO Software, but I still contend that a clear, current organizational chart is as vital to employees as a the periodic table is to a chemistry major.
But how many companies have you seen where the org chart is about two quarters out of date and lost deep in a nest of folders somewhere? Whether you keep yours online, make physical copies available, or both, people need to be able to reach for an org chart and have it in a matter of seconds.
There’s no need to overthink this. The only requirements of a good org chart are that it be:
comprehensive
frequently updated
easily accessible
Here are three big reasons to make sure yours meets these criteria.
1. Decisions happen at the right place in the organization.
Every CEO needs to make sure that decisions are made at the right place in the organization, and a solid org chart helps facilitate this.
The rule is that no employee should unilaterally make a decision that affects people adjacent to or above him on the org chart, just as no employee should escalate a decision that affects only people below her on the org chart.
In other words, a marketing associate shouldn’t make pricing decisions that affect the sales team and other people in marketing, just as the CEO shouldn’t be asked to make decisions about the layout of a new product brochure.
When employees wonder whether they should err on the side of “bothering” their boss with an issue or making the decision themselves, the org chart offers a quick answer. At a glance, the employee can assess whether the issue has implications beyond her own piece of the org chart, and either make the decision or escalate it based on what she sees.
2. A better onboarding experience.
The cliché that “knowledge is power” is truer to no one more than the employee facing his first day at a new job. Especially if the company is anything larger than very small, the structure and faces and roles can be an intimidating blur, especially when added to all the other uncertainty and unspoken expectations the new hire faces.
A robust and current org chart—especially one that includes photos of each employee—goes a long way toward helping the new person navigate the company and interact with colleagues. It gives her the ability to understand reporting lines, to reach out to key people as needed, and to know who that one guy she always sees in the break room is.
With this information at their fingertips, new hires don’t have to waste time on LinkedIn investigations, and can build relationships faster. (And if you want engaged employees, you do want them to build relationships: not for nothing does the Gallup Q12 engagement survey ask respondents whether they have a “best friend at work.”)
3. A clear picture of how the company works together.
In one sense, org charts seem to break departments out into discrete units and highlight the separation of functions. However, when the CEO has communicated (and overcommunicated) a singular vision and consistently fostered alignment around that vision, that effect gets turned on its head.
Aligned, focused employees don't see the org chart as a reminder of the silo they work in, or of the fact that they work “under” so-and-so. Instead, the org chart becomes a powerful reminder that every role in the organization ultimately feeds into the core objectives of the whole company.
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As CEO, it’s ultimately up to you to ensure that your org chart is more than a relic of the corporate past. If yours leaves something to be desired, don’t waste any time resolving the problem—and then clear communicate how the org chart can help everyone do their jobs better.