The CEOs real organisation

In a working session with a newly-appointed CEO recently we decided it was important to get a better understanding of the organisation. Our approach was to strip the organisation of the lines and consider the points that now sat like a field of stars on the page.

Why did we do this? The CEO had an inkling that the organisation chart bequeathed to him by a predecessor (who had a high need for control), didn't tell him what was really important, nor what would help him lead an organisation that has a high level of capability, but stagnant performance.

The organisation depends on the question.

Our approach was a light but useful version of social network analysis. We created structures based on the answers to some key questions. These included:

• Which top performers genuinely respect each other?
• Who are the influencers - positively or negatively - around values?
• Who respects whom?
• Who are in the informal groups discussing new ideas?
• Who do the clients say they respect and like?
• Who does my senior leadership team think is struggling and deserving help?

The result is a set of lines pointing from individual to individual, independent of the reporting lines. Whether you do this with sophisticated mathematical software or by recording what you and your key people already know about the organisation, it gives you something new to work with - insights into the strength of collegiality; the culture in action; and opportunities for change, innovation and improvement.  It's easy to get so locked into an 'organisation chart' view of the organisation that you (even the board) forget the importance of how human beings really interact. 

 The important new maps

For example if you ask 'who do you respect for their technical ability?', you get a map of your intellectual capital - and perhaps some vulnerabilities. An astonishing proportion of an organisation's knowledge often resides with one or two critical 'experts'. Your best people may share some confusing characteristics. Insecurity and brilliance. Loyalty and external options. Respect and loneliness. Early in my coaching career this was brought home hard when a client lost their single most important expert within weeks of merging two organisations, because the expert 'read the tealeaves' and took another role before any discussion of his future. 

Another, tougher, question is 'who do you trust?'. This is important because the 'trust equation' is key to both culture and the flow of information. At one client the safety record at each site turned out to depend on whether the staff trusted the supervisor - and whether that supervisor believed the safety email.

The value of knowing your constellations

For my CEO, the exercise became akin to looking up at the stars - and spotting the constellations,  each of which depended on the question asked.

This is important because the structure of information becomes the structure of the organisation. Information now is dispersed, accessible, rapidly changing, prone to manipulation and interconnected. More employees share more of what they know and act upon it. Most importantly - these constellations show you how to lead this organisation, today.  It gives you the interconnected maps of your IP, your relationship strengths, your information flows and your innovation needs. If you can't think in 'constellation' mode and insist on living by the organisation chart, you may find yourself adrift and blind to events and structures that are more real to many of your colleagues than the formal reporting lines.