Understanding ONA: How Organizational Network Analysis Uncovers the Real Way Work Gets Done
Most org charts are clean, tidy, and hierarchical. But real influence, collaboration, and bottlenecks don’t follow the boxes—they flow through the informal networks that connect people every day. That’s where Organizational Network Analysis (ONA) comes in.
ONA helps us look beyond the job title and reporting line, and into the actual web of relationships—who people go to for answers, who brings teams together, who is isolated or overloaded. It’s a powerful tool to uncover the hidden patterns that shape productivity, engagement, and innovation.
What Is Organizational Network Analysis?
Organizational Network Analysis is a method that maps and measures relationships and flows between people, teams, or even systems. It uses data from communication platforms (like email, Slack), surveys, calendar meetings, and other collaboration tools to understand how information, decisions, and energy move across the organization.
Instead of focusing on “who reports to whom,” ONA looks at who talks to whom, how often, and why.
Why ONA Matters for the People Function
HR professionals are often the ones tasked with diagnosing organizational issues like poor collaboration, burnout, low engagement, or knowledge silos. But these issues are hard to measure—and even harder to solve—without visibility into how people are actually connected.
ONA allows People teams to:
- Spot hidden influencers who may not be senior but are central to decision-making
- Detect collaboration overload—those employees who are pulled into too many meetings or requests
- Understand cross-functional dynamics, especially after reorganizations or M&A
- Identify isolated individuals or teams, which can signal risk of disengagement or turnover
- Track cultural integration in hybrid or remote environments
Privacy Considerations: Doing ONA Responsibly
ONA can touch sensitive ground, especially when using communication metadata. It’s essential to:
- Anonymize the data wherever possible
- Focus on patterns, not individuals
- Get clear consent if survey-based ONA is used
- Communicate transparently with employees about purpose and usage
The goal is not surveillance—it’s to empower organizations to design better, healthier ways of working.
Getting Started with ONA
You don’t need a full tech stack or enterprise license to begin. There are two common approaches:
- Survey-Based ONA: Ask employees questions like “Who do you go to for help?” or “Who energizes your work?” It’s simple, but powerful—especially when repeated over time.
- Passive ONA: Uses metadata from tools like Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace (e.g., calendar invites, email frequency). This provides more continuous, large-scale insights, but requires stronger privacy frameworks.
Some ONA vendors include: Microsoft Viva Insights, TrustSphere, Polinode, Network Perspective, among others.
Final Thought
Organizational Network Analysis reveals the real structure of your organization—not the one on paper, but the one that actually drives work, decisions, and culture.
As People leaders move from admin to strategic enablers, tools like ONA help us go deeper into the human systems behind the numbers. If you want to truly understand your workforce, ONA should be on your radar.