Sparkline blends sharp trend analysis with practical foresight to help senior leaders make strategic moves today that build lasting advantage and legacy.
Trend
Framing the big-picture shift reshaping how business gets done.
Traditional org charts show formal structures, but real work happens through informal networks of trust, influence, and knowledge sharing. Organizational Network Analysis (ONA) is emerging as a critical approach to visualize and optimize these human connections, helping leaders understand who actually drives innovation, collaboration, and change.
Signal
Fresh, real-world moves from companies responding to the trend.
Confirm leverages Organizational Network Analysis to reveal how employees truly drive team outcomes, innovation, and problem-solving, surfacing high performers and key mentors often invisible in traditional reviews. By grounding evaluations in actual collaboration data, Confirm reduces bias and subjectivity, enabling fairer, more accurate talent assessments.
Before restructuring, a Fortune 500 company in the medical equipment manufacturing industry conducted ONA surveys with 1,800+ employees to map five key interaction types and compare collaboration to top industry standards. By classifying employees based on connection strength, they uncovered how work and knowledge truly flowed across teams and tenure, highlighting leadership’s role as a central connector. This insight helped pinpoint collaboration gaps and ensured the reorganization would strengthen cross-functional teamwork and knowledge sharing critical to staying competitive.
Cisco is taking ONA to the next level. Their Purpose Innovation team leverages interactive network maps to simulate scenarios like the departure of key talent, enabling proactive risk management. By identifying how top performers build connections, they create models that guide career growth and collaboration. This strategic, real-time use of ONA transforms it from static data into a powerful tool for workforce planning, especially critical in today’s hybrid work environment.
Spark
A provocative 'what if' that stretches strategic thinking forward.
What if the hidden influencers in your organization got the recognition they deserve? What if you could surface the hidden engines of collaboration and innovation, and use that insight to reshape culture, lock in top talent, and power unstoppable growth?
Strategy
Turning future signals into decisive advantage.
Use ONA to build a network-savvy organization.
Don’t wait for formal reporting lines to reveal where work gets done. Combine ONA with engagement surveys, performance data, and business outcomes to identify key influencers, collaboration gaps, and overburdened connectors. Design interventions that strengthen critical ties, break silos, and build trust networks aligned with your strategic priorities.
Stewardship
A reflection on the legacy of your strategic choices and the future they shape.
The networks you nurture today build tomorrow’s resilient organization.
Organizational health depends on evolving relationships, not just current processes or policies. The informal networks you cultivate now reveal patterns that shape how your teams adapt, innovate, and collaborate in the future. By regularly mapping and supporting these connections, you prepare your culture to respond and thrive amid uncertainty and change.
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People illustrations by Storyset