Tools & Resources: The Structural Inventory
A pre-announcement mapping tool.
For comms and OD partners guiding a senior leader through structural change
Every organization has a formal structure and an invisible one that actually holds daily work together, trust, informal channels, who gets consulted before a decision goes official. Redesigns account for the formal structure. They rarely account for the one underneath it.
Use this with the senior leader before the new structure is finalized, as a conversation rather than a form to hand off. Leaders often cannot see their own informal structure without being asked directly. Push past the first answer.
WHO CARRIES THE WORK NOW
Who gets consulted before a decision goes official, even when they are not formally required to be?
Which relationships are currently doing translation work across teams or functions that the org chart does not show?
HOW INFORMATION ACTUALLY MOVES
What is the fastest way real information travels through this organization right now, and did you design that channel?
Where does information slow down or die once it leaves your immediate circle?
WHAT THE NEW STRUCTURE ASSUMES
Does the proposed structure assume any of the above will simply continue on its own? Which parts?
What happens to trust and information flow if the people currently doing this work are moved, combined, or removed?
WHAT TO PROTECT OR REBUILD
Which relationships or channels are worth deliberately preserving through the transition, and how will you protect them?
Where will you have to rebuild from close to zero, and who owns that rebuilding?
The formal chart will survive the redesign intact. This inventory is what tells you whether the organization does too.
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