You might call it company politics, cliques or departmental competitiveness - Silos are caused by the formal and informal barriers that stop people working together (and in some organisations even cause people to actively work against each other!)
I’m sure you're familiar with the type of organisation I’m thinking of.....
Where the finance and HR departments never seem to be on the same page and marketing? Well they're on a planet of their own because the Chairman thinks the marketing manager can do no wrong. Projects never seem to achieve their projected deadlines or savings and certain individuals (rightly or wrongly) get the blame.
Is your organisation anything like this? During our current isolation, while we now have smaller numbers working at company premises, and many individuals working from home are you, as leader, inadvertently creating lots more mini-silos?
In your leadership role, have you been communicating more with one person/group than others? Have you (inadvertently) made one type of work seem more important that others? Are people moving at a different pace from one another? Or even in different directions? Is your approach different from the approaches of other leaders in the organisation?
Silos appear not because of what leaders do, but more usually because of what they have failed to do.
At this time of crisis when you have crushing financial pressures and a million fires to put out, its easy to fire off emails instructing colleagues to do this and that. Your temper is probably shorter than usual and you’re micromanaging.
So what can you do to stop those silos building?
Visionary leaders provide a compelling business picture which sets the context for why and how their teams need to work together. With this understanding, people recognise how their efforts fit in to delivering the company goals and how all actions are interdependent.
If you’d like to find out more about how silos can be smashed by people working to a common purpose contact Steps for Growth today linda@stepsforgrowth.co.uk
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