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How to make an org chart

An org chart is a list of people and who they report to, drawn. That is the whole secret, and most ways of making one go wrong by starting with the drawing. Here is the order that works: the list first, the picture last, and a check in between. It takes an afternoon for a company of a hundred, and about four minutes for a team of twelve.

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Twelve rows, drawn

Alexandra PierceChief Executive OfficerMorgan LeeExecutive Assistant to the CEODavid ChenChief Financial OfficerSarah KimFinance ManagerOlivia ParkFinance InternINTERNRachel TorresChief Operating OfficerBen CaldwellDirector of OperationsKevin ParkDirector of Information TechnologyPriya RamanData ConsultantCONTRACTOROlivia GrantChief Marketing OfficerNina PatelBrand DirectorOpen roleVP of Sales
Vantage Group · 12 people · the blank template, imported and laid out by the engine. It carries one of everything a chart has to say: an assistant beside the chief executive, a dotted line from the brand director, a contractor, an intern, and an open role.

Six steps, in this order

Each one is cheaper before the next. The drawing is step four for a reason.

  1. Start with the list, not the boxes

    One row per person: name, title, department, and who they report to. Export it from the HR system, or type the two columns that matter, name and manager, into a spreadsheet; the templates have every column filled in as an example. Two people who spell a manager's name differently, a person whose manager left in March, a department that exists in three spellings: the list will show you all of that before any drawing does.

    This list is the chart. Everything after this step is a view of it, which is why a chart drawn by hand is stale a month later and a chart drawn from a list is not: when a row changes, the picture changes.

  2. Decide who the chart is for

    The audience sets the depth and the content. A board pack wants the chief executive and two levels, exported clean. Onboarding wants every name and title in the new hire's department. A hiring plan wants open roles drawn as vacancies with a start month. A public page wants leadership only, with each person's consent. The same list feeds all of them, and the mistake is one chart that tries to be all four.

    Whatever the audience, assume the chart will be forwarded to someone you did not intend. What would be a problem then does not belong on it now.

  3. Pick the structure, or admit the one you have

    Functional, grouped by what people do. Divisional, grouped by market, product or region. Matrix, a discipline for your career and a project for your work, drawn as solid and dotted lines. Flat, everyone under the founder. Nearly every company is some mix, and the examples show each drawn properly, by structure and by industry. The types page draws all nine, line and staff, team-based and network among them, and compares them in a table.

    Draw the structure the company actually runs on, not the one in the strategy deck. The dotted lines nobody wrote down are the most useful thing on the chart, and the reason a new hire keeps it open all week.

  4. Draw it from the list

    Import the spreadsheet and let a layout engine do the drawing: every card placed, wide teams stacked under their manager, lines routed so they do not cross, and the whole thing redrawn when you move someone. Mark assistants as staff so they sit beside their manager, second managers as dotted lines, open roles as vacancies, contractors and interns as what they are. The spreadsheet guide lists every column the importer reads and what it fixes without asking.

    If you must draw by hand, in Excel or PowerPoint, keep it under about twenty boxes and expect to redraw it. Past that, the drawing becomes the job.

  5. Check it

    Six things, and they take ten minutes. Spans of control over about eight, or under two: a manager of one is a title, not a team. Layers against headcount: a company under a hundred people with four levels below the chief executive should be able to say why. Anyone with no manager who should have one. Every dotted line explained in a sentence, with an end date if it has one. Every open role with a title, a start month and a cost. Every name spelled the way its owner spells it.

    Then have two people who know the organization read it. Someone in it always knows a line that is wrong, and would rather tell you than the board.

  6. Share it, and keep it current

    One chart, not seven. Give it a date and an owner. Share a link rather than a file, so people see the current version and report mistakes to you instead of copying them; export a fixed image only for the documents that must not change, like a board pack. When the list changes, change the row or re-import it; every quarter, re-import from HR to catch what nobody mentioned. The assistants' guide is written for the person who ends up owning this.

What to put on it

  • Every person in scope, with name, title and department, as their manager would introduce them.
  • Who each person reports to, as a solid line, and second managers as dotted lines.
  • Open roles as vacancies with the title the job will have.
  • Contractors, agencies and interns marked as what they are.
  • Assistants beside their manager, not below.
  • A date, and the name of whoever keeps it.

What to keep off

  • Salary, band, bonus, equity: anything about pay.
  • Home addresses, personal phone numbers, birthdays, anything from an HR file.
  • Performance ratings, succession notes, flight risk, the names of people who are leaving.
  • Levels below what the reader needs. Two is usually enough; five is a wall.
  • Photos, unless the chart is for onboarding and the people in it have agreed.

For a particular job

The steps are the same; the emphasis moves. A reorg is two charts, today and proposed, and a draft nobody else can see. A merger is two lists with different words for the same jobs, and a Day 1 chart with transition lines. A consulting engagement is a client's current state in a day and a deliverable that survives the handover. An executive's assistant keeps the one chart everyone actually uses.

The tools, honestly

For a chart drawn from a list that has to stay current, use something that draws from a list: this, free to build at any size. For a first look at a hierarchy, Google Sheets has a chart type that takes a minute and stops at dotted lines. For eight people on a slide, SmartArt in the Office you already have. For a chart that lives among flowcharts and floor plans, Visio or Lucidchart, at their prices. Each guide says where the tool stops, from the vendor's own pages.

Questions people ask

What should an org chart include?
One card per person with their name, title and department, connected to the person they report to. Beyond that, the things people usually leave off and later wish they had not: second managers as dotted lines, assistants as staff cards beside their manager, open roles as vacancies, and contractors marked as contractors. Not pay, not personal details, and not more levels than the reader needs.
What is the easiest way to make an org chart?
From a list. Put names in one column and each person's manager in the next, add titles and departments if you have them, and import the file into a tool that lays the chart out for you. A team of twelve takes a few minutes; a company of a hundred takes an afternoon, most of it checking the list. Drawing boxes by hand is the easiest way to start and the hardest way to finish.
How do you show someone who reports to two people?
A solid line to the manager who owns their pay, performance and career, and a dotted line to the person who directs their work. Draw both; picking one is how the chart ends up half wrong. If you cannot say in a sentence why the dotted line exists and when it ends, it is a solid line you have not admitted to.
How many levels should an org chart have?
As many as the reader needs and no more. A board pack shows the chief executive and two levels; an onboarding chart shows a new hire's own department to the bottom; a whole-company chart of several hundred people folds its lower levels and lets the reader open the branch they need. A company under a hundred people with more than three layers below the chief executive should be able to say why.
Should open roles be on an org chart?
Usually yes, drawn as vacancies with the title the job will have. A vacancy on the chart reads as a plan; a vacancy discovered later reads as a gap. Leave off only the role that exists because someone is leaving and has not said so.
What is the best free org chart maker?
It depends on what you are making. For a chart drawn from a list of people that has to stay current, this one: building is free at any size, and you pay only for a clean export. For a first look at a hierarchy, Google Sheets' built-in chart takes a minute. For a team of eight on a slide, SmartArt in the Office you already have. For a chart that lives among flowcharts and floor plans, Visio or Lucidchart, at their prices. The guides for each say where they stop.

Your list is already an org chart

If you have names and who they report to, the rest is drawing, and the drawing is done for you. Import the list, check the guesses, and share the link. Building is free at any size.

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