Why org charts hold back transformation

Top-down, fanning out? if your org chart has this shape, it's telling you that there are silos actively preventing knowledge being shared.

One reason org charts look the way they do is they represent the standard career ladder people ascend. The dictionary of terms like VP, SVP and C-level are showing distinct, ranked levels of skill, experience, specialisation and of course, pay. When you look at the org chart you are seeing the way people lead teams, accountability, budgets, how teams deliver to a goal in their department - but also how careers progress in that organisation.

Unfortunately, the traditional org chart is a problem. It doesn't naturally encourage a knowledge sharing culture, because it reinforces silos. Information, systems, budgets and skills are being gated and partitioned into teams.

Consider this: If you're in a sales seat, you're highly likely to hear technical feedback about your product from prospects - far more likely than anyone else, since you handle objections. The product team, and the engineering team ultimately need what you've heard, but they're not in the room. There's a whole system of plugs and connectors trying to make this happen (standing meetings, Jira boards and more). Some organisations have key generalist roles spanning sideways across the org. chart to solve this, too.

AI-backed knowledge with deep *and* wide visibility of each team is the answer. A store of facts and knowledge that can see and read the status of an entire business and surface knowledge in timely, contextual chunks - all indexed over time, learning from the calls, emails, CRMs and taking account of proper governance about visibility. The technology to do this (knowledge graphs, MCP tools and LLM reasoning layers) exists and can be orchestrated to do remarkable things. We can finally overcome the org chart blocking data into departmental silos.

If you want to add the connectivity that spans your org chart and doesn't upend your business, Cambridge AI Works can map out and implement the strategy. You can arrive at an AI tracking a common goal across teams without taking excessive risks. A workshop to find the answers is a fast, actionable way to start and we offer exactly this kind of support.

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Author: Michael Wells