Sixty percent of companies said, in 2015, that “organizational silos are the biggest barrier to improving customer experience”, according to a report, ‘Marketing in the Driver’s Seat: Using Analytics to Create Customer Value’, issued by Harvard Business Review.
There are a few definitions of ‘working in silos/Silo Mentality’ in management literature, one of which was from The Business Dictionary, namely: “a mindset present when certain departments or sectors do not wish to share information with others in the same company”. In simple language, it is the work approach in an organization where teams work too independently, without collaborating, trying to outdo one another to take individual glory, and without commonality of goals geared toward the overall benefit of the organization.
Like most outcomes of human actions, especially within organizations, the intent may either be noble or malicious. The same principle applies to the members and/or leaders of teams that work in silos in a given organization.
To the innocent culprits, it could be the management style of the teams’ leaderships, work ethic of members, or a warped understanding of competition within the organization. To the deliberately malicious ‘offender’ it could be the surest way to undermine the organization and its management, especially the one not liked by the leadership of such offending teams; an opportunity to ruin the reputation of other teams’ members, or a way of settling personal scores or squabbles.
This monster workplace practice will be addressed first, by highlighting its causes, and eventually discussing solutions. One of the causes of silo mentality is the management style of the leadership. In some firms, ‘turf wars’ are created or encouraged. In those institutions, you hear statements like “that is the way we do it here, bear your own cross”, or “make your department more visible and you will get whatever you want”.
Another factor is lack of coherent organizational vision and/or strategy. It is commonsensical analogy to infer that an organization where people are left to their own devices may increase the depth and intensity of silo mentality. When there are no rules, defined work culture (written or otherwise), shared vision, or corporate/functional strategy, every department/function/group within the organization may think and act independently in the erroneous desire to ‘out-shine others’, which eventually weakens the organization.
Also, organizations that place huge premium on individual performance at the detriment of the whole in their human resources practices, especially regarding reward and sanctions, tend to encourage, albeit unwittingly, work-silo approach. In the quest of employees (and their managers) to gain reward and avoid sanction compared to other departments, they throw the larger vision, the interests of the entire organization, out of the window; and rather concentrate on improving their own corners of the business.
Organizations operating a conglomerate or Group structure with diverse locations and geographies suffer from this malaise. This could happen in the form of almost independent relationships among branches, zones, divisions, subsidiaries, and in extreme cases, the Head Office. In this case, one is assailed with statements such as “Do not mind them at the Head Office; we are on our own here”; or “Why should I take up that role on behalf of the Group, I am a subsidiary CEO like you”; or still “My department already did that”.
Another reason for silo mentality is lack of goal congruence and not ‘seeing the bigger picture’. For instance, in my career in consulting and elsewhere, I have seen certain projects fail on account of work silos, especially in the area of adoption of new applications in Information Technology (IT), Human Resources (HR), etc. It was either the supervisory department/function over-concentrated focus on itself for various reasons, or other relevant stakeholders, across the organization, were never carried along enough, hence, the level of buy-in and cooperation was less optimal.
One of the ways through which companies could uproot silo mentality from their workforce is to create a culture of collaboration across the organization. This could be implemented by rallying the entire workforce (including areas such as core-technical, finance, marketing, operations, human resources, support, etc) around a clear, unified, and shared vision and strategy, and getting every stakeholder involved in the conception, and implementation/execution of the components of the vision and strategy. In doing this, the organizations’ long term goals, objectives, and initiatives should be agreed and aligned among employees with a view to transiting from the mentality of “my department” to the desired one of “our company”.
Further, cross-functional teams and work-streams may be created. These teams should not be too large to prevent freeloading and avoidable red tape.
Another proven tool is clear, upfront delineation of roles and responsibilities for work-streams and teams; and the requisite measurement of outcomes in line with the axiom that “nothing measured is nothing done”. Only a few things are as frustrating in a team as not clearly defining these two vital outcomes of team work-roles and responsibilities. This antidote answers the “who will-do what-by when” trilogy question.
Organizations’ HR practices should be strategically aligned to reward (and sanction) group input and output. If employees know that their actions, and/or inactions, contribute to the overall development of the organization, as opposed to over-focusing on their work areas and blaming inefficiencies on departments other than theirs, they would be encouraged to collaborate and work effectively with their colleagues. In some organizations, the annual bonus policy is tilted toward collaborative work; and this practice has had positive effects on the growth of such firms. In fact, a successful, well-known, big-4 consulting firm in Nigeria adopts an annual appraisal review that recognizes cross-functional team work.
A classic case of using HR practices to combat emerging silo mentality could, for instance, be observed in a company that wishes to significantly improve its reputation. On this basis, enhanced product quality may be a corporate objective; and if this is so, incentives may have to be instituted to encourage mutually beneficial work approach among staff in product development, strategy, customer service, internal and external communication, finance, operations, IT, etc.
Organizations should also encourage open, cross-functional, company-wide communication and transparency regarding the operations of the organization with a view to instilling ‘goal commonality’ among all staff.
I conclude with the second part of The Business Dictionary’s definition of Silo Mentality: “…mentality will reduce efficiency in the overall operation, reduce morale, and may contribute to the demise of a productive company culture”; just as I agree with Patrick Lencioni, in his book ‘Silos, Politics and Turf Wars’, where he stated that:“Silos- and the turf wars they enable- devastate organizations. They waste resources, kill productivity, and jeopardize the achievement of goals”. Organizations should be proactive in taking steps to avoid work-silo practices that could endanger the going concern status of their businesses.
Tajudeen Ahmed
