I’ve written before about the problems of traditional organizational charts. They are collective fictions, really, of how an organization should behave rather than how it does. Earlier, I offered network mapping as one odd alternative. But there’s another that’s less complex and perhaps more fun: the genogram.
Genograms are used by family therapists, social workers, and medical professionals when exploring family health and relationship patterns. With a set of standard symbols, genograms allow you to map not just family trees, but relationships between members (closeness or distance, even co-dependence or complete estrangement), and other health/profession/informational factoids. By sketching out an extended family tree, practitioners can find patterns of health, relationship, or behavior that often shed light on why the family is the way it is.
Not all the symbols are relevant to an organization (divorce or adoption are probably only useful if nepotism is a driving hiring strategy), but some can be quite interesting when overlayed on the traditional organizational chart. Imagine if the box office manager, for example, had more direct connection to the facilities manager than to the marketing or development director. Or what if the development director was enmeshed (overly close) with the board of directors, leading to an end-run around the traditional chain of command? Or what if a retired or deceased founder is still connected somehow, through meddling or myth?
Organizations are just aggregations of individuals, relationships, contracts, and assumptions. When mixed with mission-driven or personally rooted incentives and goals, they look more and more like families, with the same dysfunctions and hidden role-playing games. In that way of thinking, genograms can be like ‘Family Counselor: The Home Game,’ and well worth a doodle or two during your next staff gathering.
