Don’t confuse hierarchy with command and control. The mountain doesn’t control the prairie around it just because the river flows down the mountain and into the prairie. Come on, folks. People talk about org charts like they’re a bad thing. That is bunk.

People need structure. We naturally seek relationships, effective communication channels, and some sense of order.  Just because your company has a traditional org chart or hierarchy, doesn’t mean it’s managed with command and control, overlords barking orders, micro-managing and over ruling decisions.  Those are elements of a culture – not the product of a hierarchy. read more »

It started as an #HR_Tech chat on Twitter. A group of us were discussing the metrics and analytics in HR. There was some smack talk about the lack of value of turnover data being a lagging indicator of talent. read more »

We have so many relationships in our work lives, both formal and informal. The org chart gives you a clear vision of the formal work relationships. You might chart people based on their financial reporting relationship or by their day-to-day functional reporting. Many companies do both. Some people scoff, saying that their company works in teams thus making the hierarchy obsolete. I have seldom found this to be a reality. read more »

Think for a minute about your company’s hierarchy. When you look at the very successful relationships of who reports to whom, you’ll likely find something that appears commonsense after you identify it – but not highly pondered when an organization builds its structure. Successful relationships between managers and their teams can be tied to the similarity in the timeline scope of their goals and objectives.

The question to ask is: what is the thought horizon, or goal horizon, for each manager and team member? In other words, if the boss’ objectives, goals, even compensation, are tied to events and plans that take a year to achieve, can they effectively relate and manage people whose objective is that their goals be met by the end of the day? For example, should the bank branch manager manage the teller whose primary measurement is a balanced till at closing time? read more »