Org Charts

Organizational charts can help employees visualize their career paths within your company. If an employee realizes that he can make no further progress within your company and he is still in his twenties, it is unlikely that he will remain with your company for very long. He is likely to seek alternatives that will enable him to tackle new problems and advance to a higher position (most likely with more pay) in another organization.

You can use organizational charts to identify key employees who have shown tremendous potential. When a high level opening is available, you can quickly look at the profiles of employees who can fill the opening. If your company has a training and development program, you can select the best employee based not only on what they have done in the past, but also on where you see them in the future.

Software packages are available that can design organizational charts for you and provide you with different analysis tools, as well. Some include the ability to perform "what-if" analyses for planning purposes. If you know that someone is going to retire or move within a few months, you can use this tool to understand the advantages and disadvantages of moving different employees into the opening.

Using Organizational Charts for Career Planning

Other benefits of using software in conjunction with org charts is that both the company and the employee can make sure that they are on the same page. Performance reviews and competency analyses can be taken into account when evaluating an employee. If an employee would like to move into a managerial position and the company sees potential in her, you can easily assess the best position in which she can gain additional experience that she may currently be lacking.