MANAGING THE INTANGIBLE: WHAT DOESN’T APPEAR IN THE ORGANIZATIONAL CHART

 

Today I would like to share some reflections on that layer of organizations that is often not seen but is constantly present. That layer we could call intangible or invisible.

From a classical perspective of organizational management, we usually distinguish the following areas: on one hand, strategic management, the area where the mission and the major future directions of the entities are defined; and on the other hand, operational management, which focuses on making the day‑to‑day activity possible. Between both areas, we often find an intermediate level: coordination, which acts as a bridge between strategy and operations.

However, beyond —and beyond this rather simplistic division— there is another layer that cuts across all these areas. A layer that permeates the whole organization, an intangible layer, and one that is not always easy to put into words.

It is the layer that appears when we shift our focus toward people and relationships. Toward the inner workings of teams.

 

Looking at people and teams

When we adopt this perspective, we ask ourselves: what happens inside a team? How do the people who are part of it feel? What dynamics and relational patterns operate there?

We also ask: what do these dynamics contribute to? What do they promote? What do they limit? What fears or resistances lie behind them? Or what hopes or dreams emerge?

This individual and collective dimension inevitably influences the way teams relate to each other within the organization. And here the same questions reappear, but on another scale: how do the different teams feel? What dynamics are established between them? What is working and what is not? What is being avoided? What is being held? What is being desired?

If we keep pulling this thread, we reach the whole organization. And perhaps from here we can start to understand why an organization behaves in a certain way, why it advances, stagnates, or moves backward in relation to its purpose and mission.

 

The importance of paying attention

Paying attention to this invisible layer is key. Paying attention has a lot to do with being close to the people and teams who manage, decide, and sustain the organization.

Being close means, first, being present: looking people in the eye, asking, listening, understanding, and accompanying what individuals or groups identify as a difficulty.

Being close also involves helping regulate the rhythm of the teams. Sometimes it will be necessary to slow down, respect times and processes. Other times, it may be necessary to accelerate to facilitate making difficult decisions that are not healthy to postpone indefinitely.

And being close also means trying to feel what is not said, to see what is not shown. And with all this often subtle and sometimes uncomfortable information, provide support: support to improve what is not working, or support for what is new and being built.

Bringing this attentive perspective into decision‑making and action is a way of supporting the proper functioning of organizations, and a concrete way of taking care of the people who form part of them.

 

Is this accompaniment essential?

Over the years I have come to see that this way of accompanying is not strictly essential. Organizations can function without paying attention to this intangible layer. However, the results that emerge, the fluidity with which they are generated, and the level of well‑being within the organization have a lot to do with the depth, constancy, and attentiveness with which this layer is accompanied.

 

Thus, the question I ask myself is:

How can all this be made sustainable in the day‑to‑day life of organizations?

I do not have the answer nor a magic formula. And I don’t even know if it exists, but I do have some intuitions about how it could be articulated, based on experience and on some cases where this way of working has yielded good results.

When we talk about organizational sustainability in relation to this function, there are at least three key issues:

Who should develop this function?

First, it is important that it be a recognized function. Understood as necessary and integrated within the leadership that the organization wants to promote. It cannot fall on a single person nor remain at the periphery of the organization. It must be present at different levels and be able to coordinate when needed. What is not integrated into the structure ends up not permeating the culture.

With what dedication and depth?

Neither dedication nor intensity are constant. There will be moments requiring a pause, moments of “re‑”: rethinking, reorganizing, reconsidering, reconnecting with meaning… And other moments more oriented toward small reviews to ensure that people and teams are —and feel— where they should be.

Is it an internal or externalizable function?

It must clearly be an internal function within organizations. It must be part of the organization’s DNA, its culture, its leadership style, and its way of caring for its workers. However, at certain times it can be very valuable to contrast, review, or share this function with external professionals who know the organization deeply, its values, the people who form part of it, and its way of understanding the meaning of what it does.

 

To conclude

Looking at and managing this invisible layer is not a luxury nor an add‑on, but a different way of understanding organizational functioning: more relational, more interconnected, and probably more sustainable.

When this perspective becomes integrated into the everyday life of organizations, they not only function better internally, but they also position themselves differently externally, in relation to their ecosystem and society.

Perhaps this could be one of the keys to moving forward more collectively toward shared purposes.

 

__

Picture by Svitlana Shakalova in Pexels