Your Org Chart is a Lie. Here’s How Your Company Really Works

You have a beautiful organizational chart. It shows neat boxes and clear lines of reporting. Everyone knows who their manager is. The problem is this chart does not show how work actually gets done. It shows the formal, rigid structure. It completely misses the informal, human network that truly powers your company.

Decisions, innovation, and information flow through a hidden web of relationships. This “invisible organization” is where real influence lies. To lead effectively, you must understand this hidden map. This is where a powerful method comes into play.

What Is Organizational Network Analysis (ONA)?

This is where Organizational Network Analysis (ONA) becomes essential. It is a method used to visualize and study these informal networks. It looks beyond job titles and department names. Instead, it focuses on the real relationships and communication patterns between your people.

Think of it as an X-ray of your company’s social structure. It maps who really talks to whom, who trusts whom, and who acts as a bridge between different teams. This provides a data-driven view of your company’s true operational and social fabric.

How Does HR Tech Map These Informal Networks?

Modern HR technology makes Organizational Network Analysis (ONA) possible by passively analyzing existing digital communication data.

• This data is often sourced from work email metadata, like ‘to’ and ‘from’ fields, never by reading the actual email content.
• It also passively analyzes calendar invitations and public chat interactions from platforms like Microsoft Teams or Slack to see collaboration.
• The final analysis reveals the precise frequency, flow, and direction of communication between different employees and teams in your company.
• This process maps who truly collaborates with whom on a regular basis, regardless of their official department or reporting line.
• Active ONA supplements this by using short, targeted surveys that ask employees about who they go to for trust or advice.

What Key Insights Can You Gain?

The insights from Organizational Network Analysis (ONA) are often surprising. You will quickly see that the org chart is not the full story. You can pinpoint key individuals who may not have a senior title but are critical to information flow. These are your hidden influencers and knowledge brokers.

Conversely, you can identify clear communication bottlenecks. You might find two teams that should collaborate but have almost no connections. You can also spot isolated employees who are at risk of disengaging. This map shows you the true centers of energy and the critical gaps.

Catch more HRTech Insights: HRTech Interview with Allyson Skene, Vice President, Global Product Vision and Experience at Workday

How Can You Use ONA in Your Business?

Organizational Network Analysis (ONA) provides a powerful diagnostic tool. It informs specific, high-value business strategies and interventions.

• Improve Collaboration:

Find and engage isolated teams for better cross-functional collaboration and to eliminate internal silos.

• Drive Change Management:

Identify the most powerful people in your network and use them to drive change across the company quickly.

• Boost Innovation:

Identify where new ideas are emerging and who the central connectors are that can help disseminate this innovative practice across the company.

• Develop Talent:

Identify high-potential leaders who act as bridge or mentors to others but may not have the formal position of leadership.

What About the Ethics and Anonymity?

This is the most critical question. Using Organizational Network Analysis (ONA) demands a strong ethical framework. Employees must trust the process. The majority of passive ONA instruments are interested in summary, anonymous data. They display broad patterns at a team or network level, not an individual’s private messages.

Transparency is key if you are deploying active survey-based ONA. You need to be straight up with what data you are gathering, why and what you do with it. The purpose is for the organization to help, not “spy” on, its people. It’s not an option to create and preserve that trust.

What Platforms and Tools Conduct ONA?

Several platforms now specialize in making Organizational Network Analysis (ONA) accessible to HR and business leaders.

• Platforms like Humanyze or TrustSphere specialize in analyzing passive communication metadata to map out your internal collaboration networks.
• Other tools, such as Polinode or OrgMapper, often rely on active, survey-based methods to gather data on trust and influence.
• Even Microsoft’s own Viva Insights platform now includes features that can help you conduct this valuable network analysis.
• Many of these sophisticated tools provide powerful, interactive visuals, allowing you to explore the data and see the connections.
• They are designed to help you easily see the network maps, spot hidden influencers, and identify critical communication bottlenecks.

Understanding the Invisible Networks That Power Your Business

Your formal org chart is a necessary tool for structure. It is a flat, one-dimensional map. The real life of your company happens in the complex, dynamic, and invisible networks between your people. Organizational Network Analysis (ONA) gives you the tools to finally see and understand this hidden reality. By learning how your company really works, you can make smarter decisions, drive change more effectively, and build a truly collaborative workplace.