Most companies have formal organizational charts that set out the theory of how work gets done. They show who reports to whom, what the different departments are, and how people come together to accomplish their goals. The hierarchy depicted also indicates who are thought to be the pivotal figures, generally those at or near the top.
But in recent years, a group of organizational experts has started to produce maps of how work actually gets done – and it often bears little similarity to the formal organizational chart.
Organizational network analysis charts resemble a spider's web, with endless crisscrossing strands that show who collaborates with whom. The analysts might ask staff to whom they turn to for new ideas, and plot the results of those questionnaires. Or they might ask to whom employees go for work-related information.
Driving Results Through Social Networks
, by Rob Cross and Robert J. Thomas, Jossey-Bass, 217 pages, $32.95
Often, the most important individuals are lower down in the organization, known to colleagues for their knowledge or the speed with which they respond to queries, while formal bosses prove to be bottlenecks, unreachable or not considered of much use in everyday work.
The analysis can show whether individuals interact with different departments in the organization as they get things done, or remain contained within their own silo. It can reveal that someone not thought to be terribly important is a vital informational hub and the loss of that individual might be a disastrous short circuit that would blow the organization's collaborative network.
“By quickly revealing hitherto invisible networks, organizational network analysis makes it possible for leaders to identify collaborative hot spots in their organizations and to monitor critical points of value creation,” write Rob Cross, a professor at the University of Virginia, and Robert J. Thomas, executive director of Accenture's Institute for High Performance, in Driving Results Through Social Networks.
In sales, for example, stories typically circulate about heroic individual accomplishments by certain stars, creating the myth that sales is a lone-wolf game.
Most leaders do not have accurate pictures of these collaborations and too often undermine important networks by measuring and rewarding individual results — The authors
In fact, the authors point out, successful sales occur as an upshot of networks that help to bring together a range of expertise and resources to make customers aware you can solve their problems.
“Unfortunately, most leaders do not have accurate pictures of these collaborations and too often undermine important networks by measuring and rewarding individual results,” the authors note.
Network analysis can counter that blindness by identifying collaborative breakdowns in the organizations – areas where, if you stitch people's work together, you can offer better solutions to customers. The analysis can also indicate where uncoordinated efforts with key clients undermine the potential revenue you can win from that account, or illuminate stars in your organization who contribute more to your sales than you realize by their collaborative impact.
One investment bank the authors worked with used network analysis to help to promote connections between people, through such initiatives as staff rotation programs and brainstorming sessions that brought together employees from each of its regions, as well as a general policy of assisting high performers to broaden their collaborative network even more.
The analysis also opened the eyes of leaders to key talent in generating revenue who had been overlooked by the traditional sales stats that failed to indicate who was helping whom make their numbers.
Network analysis can also help when you bring employees together on project teams. Too often, certain voices have the leader's ear, but a network analysis that maps information flow and problem-solving collaborations may reveal certain experts on the team need to be given a greater voice in decision-making.
