#01: Why do Silos Exist in Large Organizations and How to Break them Down

Thoughts about the Lack of Collaboration - You are in Control!

Do you experience those pains?

🙄 You see that your team is wasting resources. This makes it difficult to meet your own objectives.

🙄 You feel like a kindergarten teacher because you have to deal with interpersonal problems of your staff. Person A does not want to work with or support person B.

🙄 Deadlines slip because people don´t share data.

🙄 Projects or initiatives fail because people don´t collaborate enough.

You are not alone. Silo mentality in organizations is very common. Therefore, it is a topic worth exploring and I will publish a series about the reasons and the cure.

Here are the main reasons that I have seen myself and heard from other corporate employees.

Things in Your Control

No matter what your position and level of power is in the organization, you can impact your own work environment.

To keep it simple I split the list of reasons into two categories.

First, things that you can control no matter your seniority level.

Second, changes that also need involvment from top level management.

🍏 Lack of Collaboration

This is one of the six key elements.

I recently talked to established entrepreneurs of two medium size businesses. They both agreed:

Communication is everything.

At the same time they made fun of all the coaches and trainers that teach people how to communicate better. Five minutes later they vented about the collaboration challenges they face in their own business:

Team members tell me about their issues with colleagues instead of talking to the person directly.

I keep telling them to talk directly but they don´t do it.

Communication is at the core of better collaboration. And many people say you just learn it as you get older. Yes, you do but there is a fast lane to accelerate the learning process. Collaborating effectively, efficiently and enjoying it (!) is a skill that makes life easier. And anybody can learn it.

You know, everybody studies something to add value to other peoples lives and to make money to support their own life. This is true for the carpenter, the nurse, the software developer, the aerodynamicist, the mail man…

People should think about communication the same way: It is a skill to learn to add value, to live a happier life and to contribute to solving todays complex challenges in business.

🍏 How to Get Better at Collaborating

1. Observe your next meetings at work and reflect afterwards

   1. Why did you progress or did not progress?

   2. Did you inspire your team? Motivate them? Why not?

   3. Write it down to structure your thoughts.

   4. Write down the questions you need to find an answer to to get better at collaborating.

   5. Send those questions to me by commenting on this post or by emailing me. I will respond!

2. Make an effort to learn more about collaboration. It is in your control. Set the intention and go.

3. Reflect on why you work well with some people and not as well with others. One reason probably is that you know some colleagues better than others and trust them more. Some are more sympathetic than others and easier to work with because you know how they tick.

4. Could that be applied to your entire team? I mean could you help them to build trust and connect in a way that will break down existing silos?

Have you noticed that you need a good reason to talk to strangers? I rarely ever talk to a stranger in business for no reason. Time is precious. There must be some kind of interest first. The same is true for your team members. They need a good reason to talk and collaborate. You need to show them this good reason first. (Hint: Presenting company goals won´t do the trick.)

They need to develop interest for each others work, reduce anxiety and build trust.

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You can read about other reasons for the existence of silos and what to do about it in the upcoming newsletters.

The topics that you have control over will (most likely) be:

🍏 Different Goals and Objectives, #02

🍏 Leadership Style, #03

🍏 Company Culture, #04

The topics that require involvement from top level management:

🍏 Organizational Structure, #05

🍏 Competition for Resources, #06

Stay tuned!

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Send me the questions you discovered about improving team collaboration in your organization. I will respond. I promise.