Design Your Hierarchy

Choose this exercise

Purpose: Map structural barriers to communication and sketch practical adjustments for cross-department information flow.

Use it when: Use when departments experience recurring information silos, slow decision handoffs, or unbalanced influence between divisions.

Skip it when: Skip when the team has no mandate or interest in discussing operational structure, or when acute interpersonal conflict requires direct mediation first.

Group arrangement: Cross-functional groups of 4 to 6 participants. With 4 to 7 participants, run as a single working group.

Timing: Source specifies 15 to 30 minutes. 30 minutes allows time for structural analysis, collaborative sketching, and shared debrief.

Materials and tools

• One copy of the Hierarchy Structure Worksheet per small group
• One large blank sheet (flipchart paper or 11x17 paper) per small group
• Four colored markers per small group, including red and blue
• Digital whiteboard template for remote participants

Before participants arrive

1. Print the Hierarchy Structure Worksheet for each small group or load digital whiteboard templates.
2. Place large paper and colored markers at each workspace.
3. Pre-assign or arrange seating so divisions and functional roles are mixed across tables.

Say this to open

Formal structures shape how information moves, stalls, or pools. Today we examine how structural design impacts daily communication. In mixed groups, you will analyze sample structures, identify common bottlenecks, and sketch adjustments that support balanced knowledge flow across teams.

How to run it

1. Form groups and review models 5 minutes

   Place participants into mixed cross-functional teams of 4 to 6. Deliver the opening script. Distribute the Hierarchy Structure Worksheet and large paper with markers. Each group reviews the three sample archetypes on the sheet and selects one to analyze, or chooses their current real-world org chart.

2. Map bottlenecks and power 6 minutes

   Teams analyze their chosen chart. Participants mark red crosses where messages or decisions stall. They draw blue stars next to divisions or roles that hold disproportionate veto power or bottleneck influence.

3. Redesign structure and flow 9 minutes

   Each group sketches an adjusted diagram on their large paper. They must add at least two explicit horizontal knowledge channels that bypass vertical choke points. For example, draw a weekly direct liaison link between Support and Engineering instead of routing all product questions through division heads.

4. Share designs and debrief 10 minutes

   Call on exactly 2 groups to share one key structural adjustment from their diagram within 90 seconds each. Then facilitate the debrief using the prepared questions, taking exactly 1 spoken response per question to finish on time.

Debrief questions

• Which structural bottleneck appeared most frequently across the designs?
• What is one horizontal communication link that could be tested immediately without changing formal reporting titles?
• How did shifting communication paths alter where power and influence sat in your diagram?

Finished output: A redesigned organizational diagram per group showing specific pathways for cross-department knowledge transfer.

Remote

Set up breakout rooms with 4 to 6 people. Provide a shared digital whiteboard pre-loaded with the Hierarchy Structure Worksheet. Groups use digital drawing tools to annotate bottlenecks and sketch new horizontal links. In the main room, 2 groups share screens to highlight their key structural changes.

Hybrid

Keep remote participants in dedicated virtual breakout rooms using digital whiteboards. In-person tables use paper and markers. A designated presenter from one remote group and one in-person group shares their diagram to the whole room using the main display.

Access and participation choices

• Participants may choose drawing, scribing, speaking, or silent timekeeping roles within their team.
• Anyone may focus on abstract sample models instead of critiquing their current workplace directly.

If the session gets stuck

Groups spend the entire time venting about current executive leadership.

Refocus the team on concrete mechanics: 'Look at the lines connecting the roles. What operational link or routine can bridge these two boxes?'

Participants assume only senior leadership can alter communication flow.

Clarify that the exercise includes peer-level routines, cross-team working groups, and liaison handoffs, not just formal reporting lines.

Terms used here

• Knowledge flow: The speed, accuracy, and direction with which necessary information, ideas, and decisions travel between people in an organization.