What exactly IS the function of an ORG Chart?

Two phrases I’ve heard in the past week…

1. ”I feel like our business needs more from our employees.” and 
2. “I feel like we have holes between what our business needs and what it actually has!”

My answer? You’re absolutely correct. Happy Monday friends, Thomas Joyner with business on purpose here. We’re going to answer the question today of what exactly is the function of an ORG Chart in your business.

Let’s go back to those questions that I was asked this week. And surprisingly, the two go together.

The first one gets to the thought of What does your business need? It’s a great question to ask. If you could wipe the slate clean, fire everyone (hypothetically speaking, please don’t go out and fire everyone right now), and build your business to serve your needs today... would you have the job roles you have?

Probably not!

No, you need more from your employees, because they were hired in chaos... NOT from a place of vision. “Gah, the phones are ringing off the hook, we have to hire another administrative person!” Or maybe something like this, “We’re driving all over the place, we need someone who can handle estimates and still do a little work on the job, so let’s make a hybrid Project manager/estimator role to fill the gap for right now.”

Well, that whole fill the gap excuse lasts a year, then 2 years, then you can’t remember what you were hoping that role grew into in the first place.

You’re not crazy, it happens all the time!

Let’s look at the second question. “I feel like we have holes between what our business needs and what it actually has!”

Of course, because when you hire in chaos, it’s solving an immediate need, but not the most efficient, best long-term need. 

And here is what happens. You end up with a bunch of people on your team with overlapping job roles, working outside of their strengths because the urgency is informing the hire instead of the vision and the need informing the hire!

When we start in crisis and don’t think things through we end up with an ORG chart that looks completely different than what the business needs. So... where do we start and how do we combat this?

You have to go back to this thought of if I could start over from scratch and build my business to serve my current revenue numbers, what job roles does the business need. 

Notice what you didn’t hear me say. I did NOT say, who do we currently have in our business and what else do we need.

No, this may take us shaking up our entire business to finally, FINALLY give the business what it so desperately needs.

So, go through the 4 main pieces to your business, ADMIN, Marketing, sales, Operations, and start putting down roles.

To handle the administrative tasks our business needs, what roles does that require? Do we have 4 people handling this part-time? Could it be blended into one job role to help with communication and collaboration?

In looking at Marketing, ask, who is quarterbacking the marketing processes. Who is leading the charge and what support do they need?

With Sales? Who’s in the field, how much can they legitimately handle? How many salespeople and managers does the business truly need?

And with Operations, what does that team ideally look like? Is that how we’re running things? If not, why not?

The last question I want you to filter all of this through… Does this ORG chart, we built allow us to manage the growth we’re expecting and wanting in our vision? If not, what are the necessary roles we need to get there?

I love doing this! It’s so simple and yet gives you a framework for all hiring. No more hybrid roles where one person is operating in total confusion because they’re just a stop gap for all overflowing work!

That’s not effective and horribly inefficient. Your business will tell you what it needs if you’re willing to put in the time and listen.

But think long-term for a second. What if your business had all the roles filled that it needed, with employees that knew what they were held accountable for... with room for business growth!

That’s the purpose of an Org Chart. To tell you what your business needs today... and what your business needs to accomplish your vision.

Thanks for listening today... Hey, make sure you subscribe to our podcast and our YouTube channel. We’ve got free content coming out daily for your commute to work or for just sharing with your team. Get on and subscribe...