A practical masterclass on hierarchy, influence, and the hidden structure of human systems
Organisations describe themselves through charts, mandates, titles, and chains of command. But anyone who has worked inside an organisation, movement, coalition, or conflict system knows that the formal structure is only part of the story. Work gets done through relationships. Influence travels through trust, access, reputation, and informal authority. Sometimes the person with the most formal power is not the one others actually turn to. Sometimes the most important actor is not at the top — it's the one quietly connecting groups that would otherwise remain separate.
Instruments for Complexity #3 introduces Social Network Analysis as a practical way to see beyond formal hierarchy and understand the relational structures that make human systems actually function.
We will draw on examples from military hierarchy, the political rise of the Medici family, and conflict data analysis to ask: what becomes visible when we stop asking only who is officially in charge, and start asking who is connected, who brokers relationships, who sits between groups, and who is structurally isolated?
The focus is on building analytical intuition — how to recognise when a network lens reveals dynamics that formal structures obscure, and how to use it responsibly without turning every system into a diagram.
What we will explore
Why formal structures rarely explain how organisations and groups actually function
How hierarchy, influence, and relationship networks differ — and why it matters
What Social Network Analysis can help us see that org charts and stakeholder maps often miss
How concepts like centrality, brokerage, bridges, clusters, and isolation can sharpen analysis
What the Medici family, military hierarchy, and conflict data can teach us about hidden structure
How to use a network lens without overclaiming
Who this is for
Practitioners, researchers, evaluators, strategists, organisers, peacebuilders, and systems thinkers working with organisations, movements, communities, coalitions, or complex social change processes.
No background in statistics or data science required.
About the facilitators
Omar Salem is a researcher, evaluator, and systems-oriented practitioner working across peacebuilding, conflict analysis, social change, and learning. His work focuses on how relationships, trust, influence, and informal structures shape whether interventions, organisations, and movements actually function as intended. He has worked with international NGOs, research organisations, and evidence systems, using both qualitative inquiry and practical data tools to make complex social dynamics more visible.
Pedro Portela is co-founder of the School of Systems and Complexity and has spent a decade working at the intersection of complexity science and field practice — in governance, peacebuilding, and organisational change. The Instruments for Complexity series is his attempt to put serious analytical tools in the hands of practitioners who need them.