Practitioner tool · Version 1 (beta)

Mapping the Organizational Terrain

The org chart shows who’s supposed to have power. This shows who actually does. Map the people inside your organization who can move, shape or quietly stop your effort, then decide who to see first and who should carry the message.

Quick mode (hide the coaching notes)

Use roles or initials, not names, and never enter classified, CUI or sensitive information. This page has no server and sends nothing anywhere. Your map is saved in this browser only if you ask it to be.

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Why the org chart isn’t the map

Every organization has two structures. The formal one is on the org chart: who reports to whom and who signs what. The informal one is how work actually gets done: who people go to for advice, who they trust, and who quietly shapes a decision before it reaches the boss. New advisors tend to work the chart. Experienced ones work the terrain. This tool helps you map it, using three well-established ideas.

1. Power has more than one source

Social psychologists John French and Bertram Raven identified the bases of power in 1959, and Raven later added information. A person can hold several at once, and someone with little formal authority can be strong on the others.

Source	What it looks like	Where it shows up in this tool
Legitimate	Authority that comes with the position	Formal authority
Reward and coercive	Control over what people get or lose: money, assignments, evaluations	Controls resources
Expert	Knowledge others depend on	Informal influence
Referent	Respect and personal loyalty; people want to follow them	Informal influence
Information	Control of what others know and when, including the boss’s calendar and in-box	Controls information; access to the principal

2. Influence runs through informal networks

David Krackhardt and Jeffrey Hanson showed that informal networks, especially the people others go to for advice and the people they trust, often explain how an organization really behaves better than its formal chart does. Watch who drafts the first version, who people check with before they commit, and who can slow a decision without ever saying no. Those people may be two levels below the decision-maker, and they may be the most important stop you make.

3. Stance tells you how to engage

Grant Savage and colleagues paired each stakeholder’s potential to help with their potential to threaten. The strategy follows from where someone sits: involve supporters, collaborate with those who could go either way, defend against opponents, and monitor everyone else. The map below uses the same logic. Powerful supporters become your messengers. Powerful skeptics get an early, private conversation before any group meeting.

How to rate

Rate for this effort. Someone central on budget may not matter on a communication question.
Rate what you’ve seen, not what the title implies. If you don’t know, say so; unknowns are a finding.
A quiet veto is anyone who can slow or stop the effort without formally deciding: the person who controls the calendar, the staffing, the legal review or the boss’s ear.
Use roles or initials. This is a working map for you, not a document to circulate.

Sources: French, J. R. P., & Raven, B. (1959). The bases of social power. In D. Cartwright (Ed.), Studies in Social Power. Raven, B. H. (1965). Social influence and power. Krackhardt, D., & Hanson, J. R. (1993). Informal networks: The company behind the chart. Harvard Business Review, 71(4), 104–111. Savage, G. T., Nix, T. W., Whitehead, C. J., & Blair, J. D. (1991). Strategies for assessing and managing organizational stakeholders. Academy of Management Executive, 5(2), 61–75. Pfeffer, J. (1992). Managing with Power. Harvard Business School Press.

What are you trying to move?

Your effort, in one line "Get approval for a new engagement plan," "Change how we brief the board."

Why this matters. Influence is specific to the issue. The person who runs the budget may not matter on a messaging question, and the quiet deputy who has drafted every statement for five years might matter a lot. Map the terrain for this effort, not in general.

Who’s on the terrain?

Add each person or office that could help, shape or block this. Rate only what you’ve seen.

Why this matters. Power inside an organization comes from more than position: formal authority, the respect of peers, access to the boss, and control of money, people, information or the calendar. Someone weak on paper can be strong in practice, and the reverse. Watch who drafts the first version, who people check with before they commit, and who can slow a decision without ever saying no.

After each move, rescore

Terrain shifts every time you engage someone. Record what you did, update the ratings above, and compare.

What did you just do? "Pre-briefed the CFO," "Deputy agreed to carry the message."

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Built on my own time from almost 20 years of advising senior leaders. It draws on public research: Mitchell, Agle & Wood (1997) on stakeholder salience; Savage, Nix, Whitehead & Blair (1991) on stakeholder stance; French & Raven (1959) on the bases of power; Krackhardt & Hanson (1993) on informal networks; and Pfeffer (1992), Managing with Power.