What is a business silo, how do they form, and how to break them down and open up the company to true teamwork across all functions.
How do silos form, and why is it damaging to the company
A silo is an organizational separation of resources and information within a company and could affect an entire department or even individuals on a team. A silo forms when a leader is more focused on personal achievements and recognition than on the overall mission and goals of the company. This could be driven by a need always to be seen as a “winner” or an inherent “distrust” of colleagues, or that a leader is suspicious of others’ “motives.” Therefore, they can go to great lengths to protect their “turf” by not sharing resources and information and are also prone to talk behind people’s backs. To put others “down” might be seen as another “winning” strategy.
This does not mean that such a leader is not “effective” and reaching their own goals or is not well-liked by their employees, but the behavior is destructive to the company’s overall performance and culture. Also, leaders who primarily look out for themselves hire and promote like-minded people; therefore, the “cancer” spreads throughout that person’s team or organization. However, the motivation for such behavior might not always be driven by "own greed" but an inherent lack of trust and communication within the company.
A silo can form anywhere within a company.
A silo can even form within a small group where team members are not cooperating well and feel a need to protect their knowledge and information. This often starts if team members do not trust the team leader. This will also be very damaging to morale and culture within the group. When the same silo formation happens for an entire large organization where the Senior VP is siloing off a large portion of the employees, the effects can be devastating to the company. So be aware that silos can form anywhere within a company, not only between big departments.
How do we find practical solutions that will break down the silos?
On top of the company, the CEO might be aware of silo problems but cannot always deal with them. Often the CEO will not fully understand the problem because it’s hard to get the information to the top. Everyone is putting on their best behavior in front of the CEO and is reluctant to discuss concerns with colleagues.
The practical steps to breaking down silos are communication, listening, understanding, sharing, aligning around common goals, and ultimately reshaping the culture if needed.
Dialogue to understand each other, find common ground, and align around the company’s mission is critical to breaking down silos. This will lead to the realization that only if we work together will all of us ultimately succeed.
A senior leader is expected to have the ability to reach out to colleagues and initiate a conversation if there is a sense of a peer creating a silo environment and is not fully cooperating within the company. One must hear each other out. The key is to understand what the motivation is for specific behavior. It could be based on misunderstandings, fear, or uncertainty about how someone fits in or that colleagues don’t understand each other's goals. Reach out to your colleagues when there is a concern, open up, be honest about your situation, show vulnerability, and empathize with the person you are reaching out to.
It takes courage to reach out to someone to share your concerns and to show vulnerability. This is authentic leadership, and the other person will most likely appreciate the outreach because they know operational improvements are needed but don’t know how to handle it or don’t dare to initiate the conversation themselves.
Silos in a Hybrid Environment
In a hybrid work environment, it can be even more challenging to break down silos because it can be harder to initiate the needed conversations if one is not meeting as often or have to have this type of conversation via video. There is no question that there is a higher threshold for initiating what could be perceived as a “challenging” conversation on video. As much as possible, find the time and place to have these types of “high stakes” conversations in person if at all possible. If not, the conversation has to take place on video. In that case, make sure you pay exceptional attention to body language and tone of voice and listen with the intent to understand — this happens more naturally when meeting in person. Hence, you need to be more intentional on a video call.
The goal of reaching out to colleagues
The end goal of conversations between two or more leaders to improve cooperation and break down silos is to build trust and align around common goals. Only when there is trust and everyone understands what is truly important to the other person can there be a break in old protective behaviors, leading to unprecedented resource and information sharing, which will lift the entire company. It will also have a significant positive impact on the culture and well-being of everyone involved.
Find solutions among colleagues
If the issue of silos and protective behavior can be proactively resolved between colleagues rather than the CEO or other superiors having to step in is much preferred. If there has to be “force” from the top, it’s more unlikely that an excellent long-term solution will be found based on trust and common interests. The mistrust will linger, and answers could only be temporary. Therefore, reach out to your peers and initiate the needed conversations.
Summary
Authentic leaders will reach out to colleagues when they see destructive silo behaviors, even if it means “stepping outside their comfort zone” to take the needed action. Show vulnerability and empathy will be required to find common understanding and build trust.
Try it; it will not necessarily be easy, but truly worth it. And the irony is that a leader who is not afraid of showing vulnerability will be highly regarded and trusted, resulting in the ability to create win-win solutions. Ultimately, the CEO and Board will appreciate and promote such leaders because it drives engagement and productivity and rallies everyone around the company’s mission rather than protecting individual leaders’ own “turfs.”
Five Steps to Break Down Silos and Find Long-Term Solutions
Look for issues regarding sharing resources, information being held back, and other distrustful behavior.
Initiate conversations with leaders who are reluctant or not willing to cooperate.
Approach the discussion with vulnerability and empathy (critically important - nobody fully knows the other person's situation).
Get a clear understanding of concerns and what is important for each leader, and agree on common goals that will strengthen the respective organizations.
Agree to routinely follow-up meetings to discuss any new or lingering concerns, ensure ongoing understanding and alignment of goals, further resource and information sharing, etc.
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