What's to love about your silos?

Have you ever been out driving and suddenly you see a beautifully painted silo? It's a pleasantly surprising treat.?Or maybe you have driven the silo art trail? Most states seem to have one.

When we talk about silos in workplaces, we tend to be all about breaking them down. But maybe it's worth keeping in mind their very useful aspects to get the most out of them.

If your organisation has an org chart, there are going to be silos - or best case scenario - the potential for them.

Siloes are sturdy structures designed to be filled with one particular substance in order to store and protect it against the climate until it's required. There has been a lot of work and investment needed to fill them.

Similarly, the knowledge and specialist expertise that is contained in the workplace silo is also valuable. What is contained in the silo has also taken work and investment and is ready to be extracted when required.

And while there is a lot to love and be thankful for in your siloes of expertise, they are at their best when mixed in sufficient quantity in the right way to make something tasty.

It's like if you tried to cook something with just one type of grain from one silo. What you'd make wouldn't be very yummy. But mix in a few other ingredients, and Wow!

Equally, if all the ingredients are just jumbled in together willy-nilly, you won't be able to get the right mix, and you'll just be making what we used to call in our student days, "slorp" - a mix of all the leftovers in the fridge into a sort of stew thing.

Just as you don't need everyone to be an expert in everything in an organisation, there are times when we need our groups of experts to deliberately work with, or coincidentally bump into the other groups in order to best support the organisation's continued success.

So, rather than saying, "We need to get rid of siloes", it might be helpful to unpack what you mean.

With a silo mentality, organizations lose their collaborative advantage as they are being over-managed and under-led. Pearl Zhu

What are you noticing that is causing concern or want to mitigate against? And what questions could you ask to shape your response?

Processes

Silos often lead to costly and inefficient duplication of effort as departments or teams unknowingly work on similar tasks or projects, wasting time and resources. They can lead to decisions based on incomplete or biased data without considering the broader impact on the organisation and its objectives.?

> How do you know what's happening in other areas, at least at a high level? Can you identify and work with teams or departments dissatisfied with how things are working at an organisational level to head off rogue players? Do you have a process to identify and engage the right people in decisions without creating a culture of time-wasting over-collaboration?

People

When departments or teams aren't aligned or communicating effectively and exhibit a lack of consistent messaging, responsibility shifting, and convoluted processes, the outcome can be a poor and costly customer experience. Plus, working this way is exhausting and demotivating for employees who may feel disconnected from the organisation's larger purpose and experience decreased job satisfaction as they manoeuvre in this environment.

> Are you engaging with your customers and employees to eliminate process pain points? How are your purpose, values and behavioural expectations being shared and supported? Are your rewards focused on individuals or teams?

Growth

Departments that operate independently can resist change and the need to adopt new processes or technologies that could benefit the organisation as a whole, so they don't disrupt established routines. And operating in silos doesn't allow for the coincidental "A-Ha" moments as expertise mingles near the water cooler and in the corridors and serendipitously, an idea that changes things for the better emerges. ?

> Are you creating opportunities for cross-functional teams? Do you have informal activities or competitions where employees feel empowered to work with others on passion projects for the business? Does your change methodology engage end-users early and often?

There is so much beautiful, rich expertise in those very useful siloes. Creating the environment to release all that and blend it in valuable ways will create a healthy and sustainable workplace. It's worth diving deeper into where the blockages are and tailoring where you put your efforts to get things flowing again.

Until next time,

You might like to:

• purchase my books
• message me about speaking at your next event
• book a 15-minute Focus Call to see how we could work together.

Image: visit.victoria silo art trail