A network map changes nothing. What matters is what you do with the knowledge.

Okay, you’ve just been given a picture of what the networks in your organization actually look like.

Could this be roughly how you’re thinking?

“Overall, it looks pretty good. Finance sticks together, but that’s only natural. The development teams are based in two different locations, so it’s not surprising that they form two groups. The management team connects the organization, and we did meet our colleagues from Skåne at the kick-off this spring.

Then there are a few people who seem to be very central in their groups. Good, they get things moving.

A little more concerning are a few people who are almost outside the network. But maybe they’re leaving anyway.”

If that’s roughly how you read the map, I think you should take another look.

Because what you may be seeing is an organization where collaboration largely stops at organizational boundaries. The fact that managers meet in a management team does not automatically mean that the relationships between the groups are strong.

The person everyone else seems to go through may be a fantastic asset. But they may also represent a dependency. What happens to the flow of information and to the group if that person changes jobs?

And the people who are outside the network?

That’s where it becomes especially important not to start guessing. Maybe someone is on their way out. Or maybe, on the contrary, it is someone who could contribute significantly more if their relationships with the rest of the group worked better.

This is where network analysis becomes valuable.

Not because the map itself changes the organization, but because it helps us see where we need to act.

Should we create more relationships between two groups? Reduce the dependency on one central person? Help some people become part of the network? Strengthen connections across organizational or geographical boundaries?

A network map is a basis for decision-making. It is not the change itself.

Change begins when knowledge leads to action.