The Org Chart: Why You're Doing It Wrong

The Traditional Org Chart

You know the org chart: Owner/CEO at the top, C-suite in the next row, Leaders in the next, then Managers, then Employees, and so on. Everybody working to please the one above them.

Most people would agree that "the Employees" are the most important part of the company, right? They make it go; they interact with the customers and users; they are on the "front lines".

What's interesting is:

The employees — on the front lines — are at the bottom of most traditional org charts.

Now, when you ask most business owners: "What is TRULY the most important person to any business or service?" — they would say the Customer, right? Usually.

So take the same org chart concept from above; where you would put the Customer?

It would stand to reason that you would place them below the Employees. After all, they have the daily interaction; the CEO certainly doesn't interact directly with the Customers. Usually.

So, that's even more interesting:

The customer is metaphorically at the very bottom of the company food chain.

But what if you flipped the whole thing upside-down?

The Upside-Down Org Chart

What if you put the Customer at the top, the CEO at the bottom, and created a new "top-down" hierarchy of importance?

Something like:

The Upside-Down Org Chart

1. Customers

2. People that interact with Customers

3. Managers of people that interact with Customers

4. Managers of Managers

5. Leaders of Managers

6. Owners & Leaders of Leaders

In this case, the Customer is who everyone reports to. And now, Employees work for Customers, Managers work for Employees, Leaders work for Managers, and so on until you get to the Owner, who is now working for everyone.

So, maybe we've been doing the org chart wrong all-along; and it has been misleading the idea of what's important and who you are working for.

Imagine an organization where everyone is working to please the person above them — but it's an upside-down org chart. Could be interesting.

What do you think?

Comments

[maldives cruises]

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[Carl_Eidson]

Gary, great blog. Your point is so true about how org charts should be upside down with customers and those who serve customers at the top. I've seen several companies do what you suggest and turn their org charts upside down. It worked in each case! The culture was transformed to one that was flexible and responsive to the ever-changing needs and expectations of customers.

Here’s a white paper on workforce effectiveness http://bit.ly/yzTT07 showing how to develop and support the critical folks who interact directly with customers. It shows how leaders need to provide training opportunities to equip their teams with the skills they need to really understand customers and effectively solve their problems.

[org charts]

Org charts always play a bigger role to structure people in any of the organization. Structure can be upside down also but the goals should be same.