Many organizations complain that they have silos - departments that do not cooperate with one another. Silos can exist between head office and a branch location, between office and factory, between union and salaried employees, and between sales and operations. These behaviours start at the top and filter down, throughout the organization. Here are some ideas to reduce and eliminate silos in your organization, and create greater cooperation and teamwork.

How silos start and grow

Some departments are the brunt of jokes from people working in other departments. Often a sarcastic comment here and there. The problem with sarcasm, and the reason it is effective, is because it has two meanings. The human mind has trouble taking sarcasm purely as a joke because there is often a hint of truth. The criticism of another department's performance combined with sarcasm often is seen at all levels in an organization. It begins at the top, permeates the senior management team, cascades down through middle management and eventually to front line leaders and the workforce. Another factor is the way performance is measured and reported, causing departments and divisions to compete against each other rather than maximizing profit and cash flow for the entire company. The consistency of leadership and the fair and equitable reinforcement of policies and procedures between managers and departments can contribute to silos as people feel that one department has it better than another.

There's a hint of truth there

In one recent workshop that combined unionized employees and salaried managers, there was a lot of joking back and forth about who caused most of the problems, who had the better end of the deal. Everyone seemed to be having a good time - just kidding around. On a break one of the unionized employees said that he worried that there might have been a hint of truth in the joking and it caused a rift between the union and management.

Accounting is a country club

Everyone in the office knew it. Accounting even knew it. The staff in accounting had it better than everyone else and other departments resented it. The problem started with the department manager who gave her people a lot of latitude in their work hours, breaks and level of authority. The department frequently got together to celebrate accomplishments, birthdays and other occasions. They went out together and took long lunches. There were definitely some positives from these celebrations and it created strong teamwork in the department but people in production planning and purchasing resented the special treatment that accounting received. The inconsistencies in the leadership approach caused the interdepartmental conflict. That was reinforced by sarcastic jokes by both sides.

Address behaviours and watch the silos fall

Here are some solutions that have reduced silos in as little as one week:

1. Senior management agrees not to say anything negative about another department either serious or joking, especially within earshot of any other employee. If there are specific issues, they are discussed in private with an action plan to correct them.

2. When managers overhear employees talking negatively about another department, the manager refuses to join in and reinforce the negative comments. The manager makes a supportive comment and suggests that the employees might want to give the other department the benefit of the doubt, or set up a meeting to discuss specific issues and get them resolved.

3. Measurement and reward systems that pit one department against another to the detriment of overall performance and value-creation should be eliminated.

4. Inconsistencies of leadership and the application of policies and procedures need to be addressed at the top and corrected. It could be with coaching, training, or simply deciding what is acceptable or unacceptable.

See how we can help you build up your leaders and break down the silos in your organization. Call or email (866)700-9043 or info@uniquedevelopment.com.

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Leadership Development Outline

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Course Catalogue