Many organizational charts usually show the leader at the top and then the next layer of managers below them and the rest of the organization below the managers. There may be multiple layers depending on the size of the organization. It helps people understand how the organization is set up by reporting relationship and responsibilities. When I put an organizational chart together for the Women@Kraft group, I learned an important lesson. (You can read more about Women@Kraft in this post if you missed it!)
Since this was a new volunteer organization, we had a recruitment process to bring in some senior women to be on the leadership team. We had conversations to help them see the vision of what we were building and if they were a good fit, to have them become part of the leadership team. Once we had many of the names, I put together an org chart that included our sponsor at the top, me and my co-chair beneath the sponsor and then our leadership team next.
I set up time to review the chart and who would be joining the leadership team with our sponsor. One of the things that was important was making sure we had good representation across the functions in the organization. I expected he would be asking questions about the people joining, what groups they were in and where we still needed additional leaders to represent other functions. What I did not expect was what actually happened. I noticed he kept looking at the chart. He was someone who thought things through, so I assumed he might see something that needed to be modified. What he said to me is “I think we should flip this org chart upside down. You should take my box off the top of the org chart. I am here to support you and the rest of the team so I should be at the bottom.”
He recognized that this group was not about him. It was about us and what we were doing in the organization. We needed to be front and center and he would be there supporting us with a strong foundation. His role was to help us be successful, remove obstacles and influence others.
This lesson has stuck with me ever since. The leader in any group is doing the same things as he was doing for us. Whether there is an organizational chart showing this or not, there is an opportunity to make sure your team knows what you stand for and how you will support them. How you communicate what your role is to others and the way that you demonstrate your actions will show that you see yourself as the foundation for their success.