The People, Process, & Progress Podcast - Four Reasons Why Hierarchy Matters | Foundations Friday #98

Episode Date: June 16, 2023

In Four Reasons Why Hierarchy Matters | Foundations Friday #98 I share why I believe and have seen the benefits of having a hierarchy in organizations and on program and project teams.Basic Points:Shows who's whoTells who is accountableProvides protective umbrellaClarifies Unity of Command

It's time to lace up, chalk up, get logged in, and get locked on to the KevTalks Podcast. By way of enlightening guest interviews and solo episodes with me, your host, Kevin Pinnell, I will share people's intriguing stories, industry-leading best practice processes, so that team leaders like you can make progress. Thanks for being here. Please subscribe and share the show, and go to the KevTalksPod.com website for more information. Now, let's get into this episode in 3, 2, 1. Hey everybody, thanks for coming to Foundations Friday 98.

Why hierarchy matters. There's a lot of talk in companies, I guess, over the last few years of flattening the organization and why we don't need hierarchy or people subscribe to different things. And there is value, I think, in not having layers just to have layers for administrative purposes. But I truly believe that hierarchy matters and can make a difference. And here's why.

One, it shows who's who. So there's not a question of it's also the third thing of the foundational five if you call the foundational five are one leaders intent two smart objectives three functional org structure four requests and coordinate resources and then five communicate you know make communications plan all that stuff so it clearly says who's who who owns what i like functional org structures meaning i'm gonna put a box that says, here's all the technical people, and then a box that says, here's all the clinical people,

and then a box that says, here's the business or finance people, and then under those, we'll have who's who. But in that top box, the person that is then accountable, which is my next point, is who we're gonna go to if we need more money, more time, if the team's just not doing well, or that group is not doing well, it helps to have a clearly identified escalation point.

So, and when I say accountable, that gets back for us program and project management folks, and folks that aren't in that field, here's a little lesson. That speaks to the RACI, R-A-C-I, or responsible, accountable Accountable, Consulted, and Informed. So what that means is the responsible person is who's doing it. Who's the responsible, usually manager or lead. Accountable means ultimately who's the final authority. They can say, yes, no, you can't have more money. Consulted, we just need to get their insights and maybe get their feedback and informed. It's typically your executive, right? Like, hey, here's what's going on. Certainly they can come back.

And it's kind of a funky mix between the accountable person because ultimately you could say the CEO is accountable for all of it, but then you just get lost in minutia of a giant org chart. So that's what I mean by accountable. This is the person that says, okay, here's the authority over this group.

And then who's above that person? If we're needing more decisions, say that that manager only has decision making authority for a certain amount of money, then we need to go to the next level. And who is that person? So that's why if you have a clear hierarchy or org chart, really, it's really a great place to start early when you're formulating teams. If I know clearly what the leader's intent is, I have my objectives, we go, hey, here's the org chart, we're pretty sure that we need for this project or program, then it really shows who's who. And then from there, we can then get into

the whole racy chart and really break that down and stuff like that. So first, it shows who's who. Second, I think hierarchy matters because it identifies who's accountable. Third, it creates a protective umbrella for leaders to provide, right? So it also shows who can I go to when things aren't going well, when I need to ask for help. And for us as leaders, if we have folks that are reporting to us in the org chart, one, we're above them technically on the form, right? Because we have more responsibility. We're responsible for all their care. Are they taken care of, you know, at work? Are they doing well at home? Do they need something in the project or program they're working? Do they need

more funds? Do they need guidance on how to do something? Do they need us to share our experience to help them make their own decisions? So a hierarchy shows clearly to our team members who they can go to, right? Whether it's the day-to-day reporting or delegated org structure in a temporary project or a program, even a long-standing program. So that third thing to me is it shows who is providing or can provide that protective umbrella as the leader to your teams.

And the fourth thing, and there's more and I'd be interested to hear from y'all. You can email me at kevin at kevtalkspod.com directly, or you can fill out the feedback form on the website, either one. So the fourth thing I have is that it provides clear unity of command. So unity of command is something we talked about in the public safety and incident management world. That means I only report to one person. I don't have three chiefs coming at me from the same department, different departments, different organizations, because that's a mess. It's just like the whole office space.

I have to make three TPS reports or I hear from three bosses when I screw up, that kind of stuff. That shouldn't happen for our teams. Our team should know clearly, here's the one person that can come to me with feedback. Not that we don't talk to other people on the team, but the unity of command means that you officially really only report to one person. Are you going to interact and get feedback and consider discussions with other people? Absolutely you are. But having a clear hierarchy denotes this is the person I'm reporting to, right? Whether it's temporary to program or permanently as part of the org structure.

So again, quick rundown why I think hierarchy matters in just four steps and maybe I'll have some more in the future. It shows who's who, it just practically, you know, who's who on the project or the program. Two, it says who's accountable, right? By kind of default, the higher person in the hierarchy is accountable. Then of course, we'll supplement that with a racy chart. Three, it creates a protective umbrella. It shows who should be providing that protective umbrella to our teams. And then fourth, it provides that clear unity of command. Who's the one person that I report to that can say, hey, we have to do this or do you need help or something like that. So thanks so much for listening to the KevTalks podcast. You may have noticed

different graphics, different logos coming at you. There's different seasons, there's different flavors. I know consistency is probably great in branding. I'm not a brand strategist. So I said, hey, let me try this one. Let me try that one. Again, give me your feedback. I like the one we have now. I'm going to stick with this KevTalksPod logo. And I thank you all for sticking with the KevTalks podcast. Got some great discussions and guests coming up. I won't spoil who that is. Getting some other ones lined up. I'm going to really focus on health and wellness and family and things like that. But also, of course, talking about that foundational five, they can help in any, whether it's personal or professional, as if you are giving or receive good leaders intent. If you're creating those good, smart objectives,

you're putting together a functional org chart or hierarchy, and you're coordinating resources, requesting those and using them efficiently, and you're communicating, you can get any project or program started or special event planned or incident response going. And whether you start from the beginning of it or jump in the middle, those foundational five are key. So thank you all so much. Please go to KevTalksPod.com. Listen, subscribe to the podcast, share it, leave a review on Apple or Spotify. That'd be super duper. Have a plan, everybody. Stay informed with facts, not to the podcast, share it, leave a review on Apple or Spotify. That'd be super duper. Have a plan, everybody. Stay informed with facts, not fear and rumors and get involved so you can make a difference.

Godspeed, y'all.