You Cannot Understand a Structure Without Reading Its Informal Power Map
Understanding who makes the decisions in a company is important.
But most of the time, it is not enough.
Because in some structures, there is only one signature under a decision.
But inside that decision, there is the influence of many people.
That is why I do not look only at the person who makes the decision.
I look at who is whispering what into the ears of the decision-makers.
Who carries information?
Who filters information?
Who magnifies risks?
Who minimizes problems?
Who presents a personal agenda as if it were the company's agenda?
Who tells the owner what he wants to see?
Who tells him what he needs to see?
Because in some organizations, decisions are not made at the meeting table.
Decisions often begin to take shape long before they reach that table.
And most of the time, the company's informal power map is not hidden in the organization chart; it is hidden in the fields of influence formed around the decision-makers.
If you want to understand the informal power map of a company, you must first understand the flow of information.
Power is often born not only from authority, but from access to information.
It is born from proximity to the decision-maker.
From relationships of trust.
From who says what, and when.
Sometimes, it is born from what someone chooses not to say.
In some companies, the report that reaches the owner is accurate.
But incomplete.
In some companies, the information is not wrong.
But selected.
In some companies, the truth is not hidden.
But it is not fully told.
That is why there can sometimes be a serious gap between the information that reaches management and the reality lived inside the organization.
When I try to understand a structure, I look for the answers to these questions:
From whom does the owner receive information?
Who has direct access?
Who places a filter in between?
Which subject cannot move upward without passing through which person?
Who magnifies problems?
Who minimizes problems?
Who produces solutions?
Who produces perception?
In some companies, positions do not manage the organization. Information flow does.
And the person who manages the flow of information often does not appear on the organization chart.
Another indicator is moments of crisis.
In normal times, everyone may look powerful.
Real power reveals itself in moments of crisis.
When orders stop...
When collections are delayed...
When a customer is lost...
When production is disrupted...
If everyone turns and looks at the same person, the organization is telling you something.
Sometimes that person is the General Manager.
Sometimes not.
Sometimes it is a manager.
Sometimes it is not even a specialist.
But wherever the organization gathers around someone, one of the informal centers of power is there.
A manager who cannot read this map begins to manage the story the organization tells, not the organization itself.
He sees the reports.
But he cannot see how those reports are formed.
He sees the decisions.
But he cannot see who shaped those decisions.
He sees the problems.
But he cannot see why those problems reached that point.
Then he expects performance from the wrong person.
He holds the wrong person accountable.
He gives authority to the wrong person.
He expects results from the wrong person.
Meanwhile, the real flow is moving somewhere else.
That is why, when I enter a new company, the first thing I begin reading is not job descriptions.
It is people.
Then the numbers.
Then the organization chart.
And immediately after that, the informal power map.
Because the truth of a structure is often hidden there.
Where no one has written it down.
Where no one has drawn it.
Where no one has reported it.
A company's informal power map shows not who holds a title, but who holds influence.
It shows the centers everyone knows but no one names.
It shows those who slow decisions down.
It shows those who shape decisions.
It shows those who use power without taking responsibility.
And most of the time, it is exactly there that you find why the company does not work the way it should.
That is why I do not try to manage a structure I have not yet understood.
First, I try to understand how people work with one another.
Then how decisions are formed.
Then how information flows.
Then how power is distributed.
Because a company's real organization chart may not be hanging on the wall.
But the informal power map is lived by everyone, every day.
And most of the time, that is exactly what determines the future of the company.