Need a Boost in Productivity? Break Down Your Silos

 

Digital transformation remains alive and well across most companies, as adaption and agility have become the norm in order to stay competitive. To successfully function at the pace required today, a company has to do more than rely on technology or processes. Creating the right culture is pivotal in ensuring ongoing success. 

One of the more challenging aspects of building a cohesive culture is to break down silos. The ability to collaborate across departments and job functions offers greater transparency and builds team unity. In fact, nearly two-thirds of global operations managers say cross-functional collaboration is key to helping their company reach strategic goals (PWC).

If we recognize that cross collaboration is so beneficial, how is it that silos begin in the first place? Often, management is at fault. Prioritizing the value of one department over another, for example, can breed self-importance and minimize a shared vision. This happens more readily than you think, especially when there is an earnest effort within the company to meet critical goals, such as a yearly sales metric, bringing a new product to market or getting a new facility online.

Silos also occur by default. Consider who reports to you or who you report to. Often these individuals become your own little silo because your daily tasks are prioritized by staying in close contact. Also, the larger the company, the less interaction occurs with executive leadership, effectively creating a sealed echo chamber for the C-suite where they are not interacting enough with all levels across all departments. 

Quite frankly, there are times where silos just make sense. The commercial team may not always need to interact with the engineering team, for example, or accounting may not need daily interaction with IT. Silos occur naturally in cases where efficiency is prioritized.

Still, the ability to push past silos in the work environment creates more engaged team members and better work outcomes. Improved productivity is also a significant byproduct. Sharing knowledge improves productivity by 35%, according to McKinsey, perhaps even more when you consider employees typically spend 20% of the work week just tracking down the information necessary to do their jobs.

How do you know if your organization is suffering ill effects from its silos?

Confusion is one of the most common issues. Do team members know who owns what and who to go to when needing information or answers – not just in their own department but across the company? Is everyone aware of company goals and how their own jobs and departments are helping to meet those goals?

Inefficiencies abound. Are you finding that resources aren’t used well in your organization or do budgets run out faster than they should? Are you struggling to meet deadlines? Is the flow of a project or its timeline unclear? Do departments struggle to properly hand off projects to each other? If the answer to these questions is yes, you likely are running much less efficiently than you could be.  

Another clear indication of siloed organizations are rivalries within. Do departments struggle to work well together? Is it a challenge to get anyone to accept responsibility or even blame if something goes wrong?

If you’re seeing warning signs of siloed behavior, it’s likely already hurting your business. Consider these tried and true ways to effectively eliminate silos: 

Develop shared goals

The effort to develop shared goals must start at the top. Members of the leadership team need to not only understand the company’s long term goals, they also need to champion them. That unified vision then trickles down to teams and helps each individual see beyond their own department and feel connected to the entire organization.

Take advantage of technology to accomplish a shared vision as well. There is a wide range of cloud-based collaboration tools that make it easier to share ideas and information. StrategyBlocks, for example, helps make strategic goals highly visible for all departments. Our system easily links activities and output to metrics and outcomes, helping team members to connect with a shared vision and has necessary insights into enterprise-wide performance. Collaboration tools can make sharing information seamless and can significantly improve productivity.

Create opportunities for cross collaboration

One of the easiest ways to foster cross collaboration is to educate and train different departments together. This not only helps to educate team members about the role of each individual in the organization, but it also can be a cost savings as training can happen all at once. 

Instilling a liaison to help with cross-departmental projects is also highly beneficial in sharing information and building camaraderie among various team members. Team building events and informal get-togethers create a sense of community and breed greater trust. Finding proactive, meaningful ways to connect team members will help to foster corporate culture in the fastest way possible.

Optimize communication and hold everyone accountable

The importance of strong communication cannot be overstated. As shared earlier, sometimes silos are created out of a very real necessity to get work done. Not all labor can or should be shared. This is why communication is so critical because it helps to ensure everyone is aware of what work is being done and why. When communication is seamless between teams and departments, individuals within the organization are able to make better-informed decisions and serve customers more efficiently and effectively. 

In addition, be rigorous about holding everyone accountable for transparency and collaboration. It shouldn’t fall on any one department or individual to take the reins, but instead should be a consistent, company-wide priority. When every team member feels they can trust the efforts of every other team member, silos naturally start to disappear.

Silos are a common byproduct of an organization, especially as it grows. It’s natural to get pigeon-holed into focusing on day to day activities and lose sight of the broader vision. Making a concerted effort to break down these silos can prove to be a powerful boost in productivity, efficiency and team unity.