The End of the Silo Movement: The New World of Agility

A lot has happened over the last one year or so in the corporate space. It is clear that businesses are now coming back up, coming back stronger and coming back to the adoption of the new normal. However, a conversation around what to do best, what now suits the new business environment, has become more important and more urgent now than it was before. This especially comes in the backdrop of a threat never before experienced by most businesses, one of extinction. 

The current buzz around Safaricom and its announcement around the adaptation of the agile business model is one such example of businesses modeling to adapt to the new environment. Safaricom has received a lot of criticism from the unions and the general public who have questioned the new CEO’s move to operate the business under an agile model. However, agility is not only new, but is a school of thought that culminates from the constant conversation around silos and the inefficiencies created by the silo movement characterized by departments or business units.

Wielding fiefdom levels of power

According to Investopedia, silos refer to “business divisions that are highly bureaucratic and seek to operate independently and refuse to share information.” In the old organization you would have departments and department heads wielding such immense levels of power  and ownership over these fiefdoms . This meant many layers of approvals, highly guarded information within these units and the common – single source of communication – where only the boss communicates externally to any internal or external stakeholders.

Whether this was bred from the departmental heads needing to control the departments, their people and their power or it was out of ignorance will never be known. What is clear is that over time, the silo mindset proved be the most inept model of operating a business.

The beginning of the death of the silo movement

Due to the confusion caused by the silo movement, the management schools invented a model that sought to bring an evolution in businesses. This was done through the introduction of the business partnership models where departments started to see themselves as part of the larger business. And because of that, decided to partner with the other business departments.

This enabled a finance business partner for example to understand the challenges that exist in the production department. And how by using their finance skill, they would be able to assist the production department to achieve the organizational goal. In my opinion, that was the beginning of the death of the silo movement.

Collaboration is the new agile

However, it has become even more urgent to use more agile ways of working to achieve business objectives. Collaboration is the new in and it is the new agile. Businesses should model themselves around objectives, as that is all that matters. If a business objective for example is to satisfy a specific market with a specific product. Who then or what resource is needed to satisfy that market? How many? In which particular format? What particular skills and knowledge bases are required?

A business then needs to coalesce the answers to the questions around that objective. Once that objective is achieved, then what is the next objective? Businesses should consistently seek to drive their most important resources, specifically the people towards ensuring that those particular objectives are met. This model can also work well for a department, once the department understands its goal, it could lobby the department's resources towards the goals which will ensure a leverage of the resources constructively.

How working from home will champion the agile business model

The new normal that is, working from home, is a phenomenon that I think will enable the agile model. There will be no time to clock in and clock out which will be left to a very few number of industries and businesses that require physical presence. However, employees will largely be measured by output. That is what the agile model is seeking, to say, what is the deliverable? Who needs to deliver it? We do not know where they come from, we are not concerned about their specific departments, we are concerned about how they can leverage and work together to solve a problem.

In conclusion

The key to successfully embed the agile model in a business is clarity of objective for businesses and departments. The management communication of the objective ensures that the right resources are matched to the right objectives. Another success enabler would be the businesses’ ability to sell the idea that the transfer of knowledge does not diminish the value of one single individual. If nothing, the transfer of knowledge enriches the body of knowledge in the business that causes a seamless objective to be achieved across the business.