Chart your success
1 Familiarisation
Think of your employer as a family and the organisation chart as the family tree. It’s good to have an overview of all the members and their relationship to each other. Smaller details can be just as, if not more, interesting. If the chart includes names or even pictures rather than just job titles – that’s an indication of relative stability. Seeing where you fit diagrammatically can be an eye-opener – it may not always be reassuring, but better than not appearing at all.
2 Orientation
The appearance of an organisation chart reveals a lot about a company and its philosophy. If the chart is wider than it’s long then you have a flat organisation. The positive side of this is that there are lots of people at your level and there could be a strong emphasis on equality. The downside could be few promotion prospects. Long thin charts mean strong hierarchies. Use them to work out a route to the top rather than fretting over the distance to be travelled.
3 Confirmation
Charts are useful for confirming who can tell you what to do and who you need to impress. You can also see who is telling your boss what to do and who he or she is trying to impress. Understanding these relationships is essential. To prosper in any organisation you need to understand where the power really lies. If you’re lucky you may discover you have some power yourself. It’s also a real bonus to have irrefutable evidence that there are people who should be supporting you.