Workplace Mapping & Finding Organic Leaders

Chart who works where, who listens to whom, and where to spend organizing time

Workplace mapping, often called wall charting, is how you understand the real power structure of your workplace. It is not only who works where. It is who listens to whom.

This is sensitive data

Because mapping tracks member sentiment, this is sensitive data. Do not store it on employer networks, and do not pin scored names on a public board. Download the template and keep the file on a personal device.

Officer Learning module

Module 6 expands this playbook with scenarios, a self-test, floor checklists, and printable take-to-meeting sheets.

Building Collective Power →

Download the Workplace Map Template (CSV)

Opens in Excel or another spreadsheet app on your own device.

When to map, and who holds the file

A map is for organizing density — a membership drive, a contract campaign, or a department that never hears from the union. It is not a substitute for one intake file.

When to map. Build it before you ask people to sign or vote. Skip a full map if you only need notes for one member; use Steward 101 instead.
Who holds it. Two or three trusted stewards keep the file. Not a group email, not a shared employer drive, and not the local's public cloud account.
Where it never lives. Never pin a scored map on a public union board, never store it on employer cloud, and never photograph the wall chart.

A score is not a hit list

Duty of Fair Representation still applies. A 4 gets the same representation as a 1. Mapping tells you where to spend organizing time. It does not decide who you represent.

Duty of Fair Representation →

Step 1: The physical map

Start by listing every worker in your unit. Group them by:

Days

Student Services
Library

Nights

Student Services
Front desk

Weekends

Library
Cafeteria

Department or unit
Shift (days, nights, weekends)
Physical location (which floor, which building)
Break schedules (who eats lunch together)

Takeaway

If you do not know who is in a department, you have found a blind spot in your communication tree.

Step 3: The 1-to-5 assessment scale

Once you have your map, honestly assess where every worker stands. Use this standard organizing scale:

Organizer

Supporter

Neutral

Anti-union

Unknown

1: The organizer. Actively volunteers, comes to meetings, and brings others along.
2: The supporter. Votes yes, wears the button, and supports the union, but will not actively lead or organize.
3: Undecided or neutral. Does not know much about the union, is scared of management, or does not care. This is where you spend most of your organizing time.
4: Anti-union. Vocally opposes the union and defends management. Do not waste time arguing with 4s.
5: Unknown. You do not know where they stand. Your immediate goal is a 1-on-1 conversation to turn this 5 into a 1, 2, 3, or 4.

Where to spend time

Spend organizing time on 3s and on 5s you have not met. Recruit 1s and 2s who are already organic leaders. Do not argue with 4s.

1-on-1 conversations

A 5 stays a 5 until someone talks with them. Keep the conversation short, listen first, and update the map the same day.

Listen. Ask what is going on in their area. Do not pitch the union before you have heard the issue they already care about.
Connect. Name that issue, then how the union already acts on it — a clause, a grievance, or a meeting they can join.
Ask. If they are ready, ask them to join or to bring one coworker to the next conversation. One ask, then stop.
Log it. Update the score the same day. A 5 you talked to is no longer a 5.

Takeaway

Take a 1 or a 2 with you when you talk to a 3. Organic leaders open doors that a steward badge does not.

Membership signup playbook →

Worked example: Student Services days

Fictional Student Services day shift. Names and scores are teaching only — not a real workplace.

Week 0, list everyone — Write every name on days and nights. You already know the day-shift cluster; nights are still blank.
Find the organic leader — Coworkers gather at Priya's desk after policy emails. Mark her as an organic leader and a 2.
Run the 1-on-1s — Listen to Sam about dues. Ask Alex, who has never been asked. Do not debate Riley in the lunchroom.
Name the blind spot — Nights still have no assigned steward. Quinn is the night-shift organic leader; Morgan is still a 5.

Teaching example — fictional names, not a real workplace. Download the same rows as a spreadsheet in the files section.
Name	Shift	Organic leader?	Score	Notes
Priya N.	Days	Y	2	Coworkers gather at her desk after policy emails
Jordan M.	Days	N	1	Volunteers and brings Priya's cluster
Sam K.	Days	N	3	Unsure about dues; listen first
Casey L.	Days	N	3	New hire; asked Priya how to do the job
Riley P.	Days	N	4	Defends management; do not debate
Alex T.	Days	N	5	No 1-on-1 yet
Morgan D.	Nights	N	5	Blind spot — no steward on nights
Quinn H.	Nights	Y	2	Night-shift cards and gifts

Takeaway

Jordan (a 1) should take the next 1-on-1 with Sam. Priya (a 2) is the person Casey already trusts.

Keep the map alive — and private

A map that is six months old is a rumour. Update it after 1-on-1s, and keep paper and files where members and managers cannot browse them.

Update the same day. After every 1-on-1, change the score that day. Stale maps lie.
Paper stays locked. A paper wall chart belongs in a locked private room, not on the cork members walk past.
Never photograph it. A phone photo is a leak waiting to be forwarded. Copy names by hand if you must move the chart.
Revisit before a drive. Look again before a membership drive or a vote. Blind spots — nights, weekends, satellite sites — are the next organizing work.

Privacy warning

Never build your map on a work computer, employer-provided Office 365, or an employer Google Drive account. Keep mapping files on your local, personal device to protect your members.

Files and related tools

Use the blank sheet for your workplace. Use the sample sheet to see a filled row. Org Chart prints who to contact; it is not a place for scores.

Blank workplace map

Empty spreadsheet with the eight columns. Fill it on a personal device, never on employer cloud.

Download the Workplace Map Template (CSV)

Opens in Excel or another spreadsheet app on your own device.

Sample Student Services chart

The fictional rows from the table above, with the same column headers as the blank file. Rewrite every name for your own workplace.

Download the sample chart (CSV)

Org Chart is not this map

Org Chart prints officers and stewards for a public board. Mapping scores stay off that cork. Use Org Chart for names and roles; keep this spreadsheet on a personal device.

Org Chart

When a 5 becomes a 2

Walk the membership signup playbook — card, witness, and steward follow-up. Do not store signed cards in the same file as scores.

Membership signup playbook

Sources & references

External resources cited in this guide. National and government URLs often move; if a link 404s, search from that organization’s home page. OPSEU / SEFPO pages on opseu.org may block automated checks — open those links in a browser before you share them in a workshop.

Ontario Federation of Labour
Provincial labour federation — solidarity and movement education; cite, do not mirror.
National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE)
National affiliate federation — solidarity links on local sites; cite, do not mirror.
Canadian Labour Congress
National labour congress — solidarity links on local sites; cite, do not mirror.

When to map, and who holds the file

Step 1: The physical map

Step 2: The social map and organic leaders

Step 3: The 1-to-5 assessment scale

1-on-1 conversations

Worked example: Student Services days

Keep the map alive — and private

Files and related tools

Blank workplace map

Sample Student Services chart

Org Chart is not this map

When a 5 becomes a 2

Sources & references

When to map, and who holds the file

Step 1: The physical map

Step 2: The social map and organic leaders

Step 3: The 1-to-5 assessment scale

1-on-1 conversations

Worked example: Student Services days

Keep the map alive — and private

Files and related tools

Blank workplace map

Sample Student Services chart

Org Chart is not this map

When a 5 becomes a 2

Sources & references