Org charts, or organizational charts, outline each role within a company and its place in the greater chain of command. You may have seen them before—they look like a simple flow chart—and maybe you dismissed it as an unnecessary or outdated practice, particularly for your needs.
The fact of the matter is, org charts play a really important role in ensuring that everyone in your business—whether you have five employees or 25—understand how their job fits in with the rest and who they should be reporting to for key deliverables. Org charts also benefit CEOs greatly, giving them insight into how many additional seats they’re filling every day. Creating an org chart can help you understand where you’re wasting time as CEO and what talent you need to hire to get on the path for success.
Build a Cohesive Team
Communication is king when it comes to building and managing a successful team. A lack of clear communication or alignment between team members can greatly impact outcomes. This is where org charts come in: they provide an easy-to-understand visual representation of each team member’s responsibilities and create accountability for everyone.
Encourage Career Development
Employees like knowing where their career path is headed. Providing them with an org chart will paint a clear picture of their trajectory within your business. This improves retention rates and engagement across the board.
Assist with Reorganization
An org chart with clearly stated job functions and competencies will give you insight into who’s well-suited for their role and who might be filling the wrong seat. This allows for ongoing improvements to your team structure, which is essential for building a strong business foundation. Getting the right talent in the right seats ensures that you’re getting the best work out of everyone there while also fulfilling your unique business needs.
“A company’s success is not possible without each person’s individual contributions and unique talents.” – Forbes
Also, in the instance where the proverbial “what if” actually occurs, an org chart will help you handle necessary reorganization and re-allocation of tasks with ease.
Help Fill Gaps on the Team
When you create your business org chart, be sure to leave a space for all the additional roles that you fill as CEO. If you manage your business social media, or you handle email marketing all on your own, make a space for those roles and highlight them. Then, take a step back to see how many roles you’re taking on besides CEO—is it time to start outsourcing? This will help you easily spot what talent you need to hire.
Get Into in the CEO Seat
Once you can see all of the roles you’re currently filling, you’ll have a much better idea of where your time is better spent. Use this to guide your hiring plan—hiring will help you fill the gaps where you’re stepping in and enable you to step back and focus on the bigger picture.
You’ve identified who you need to hire. Now, let’s streamline your hiring and onboarding process.