You May Not Be Able to Eliminate Organizational Silos, But You Can Navigate Them
As a company grows, the organization is more likely to get broken up into silos. With silos, it can become more difficult for teams to work cross-functionally, transparently share information, and work together on behalf of the customer.
In my experience working at large companies like Amazon, Disney, and the NFL, I've come to realize that silos are inevitable when an organization reaches a certain size. Unlike in smaller companies or startups, where teams are more flexible and individuals often juggle multiple roles, larger organizations require more defined structures and divisions to operate. Whether these divisions are based on business units or specific job functions, the reality is that in a large organization, you have to collaborate across different divisions to get things done.
I recently joined the Results by Design podcast to discuss how to navigate silos effectively. Check out the video, and read more below.
While it can take time, I believe that it is possible to drive change and innovation, and make an impact within a siloed organization by focusing on these five key aspects:
Earn trust with stakeholder teams
The most valuable lesson I've learned about navigating organizational silos is the importance of earning the trust of cross-functional stakeholders in order to succeed. When starting a new role or joining a new team, it's essential to listen first and absorb information before making any assumptions about how things should be done based on past experiences.
Earning trust takes time. Be patient and keep working at challenging relationships. As you demonstrate your value to a stakeholder, collaboration will get easier.
Share knowledge and information
Second to earning trust, information sharing is critical to effectively working across silos. Unfortunately, not every company or team has a culture of open sharing of information and business performance data. You may find that it’s hard to get access to this, but I encourage you to ask for it. Ask your leaders questions so that you can gain a more holistic context on business performance and where your program fits in.
And when you have information, share it. Create a regular forum with a cross-functional team for information sharing, like a quarterly meeting with the finance department. Through this, you’ll gain an understanding of what’s most important to your stakeholders, and you’ll also gain an ability to better “speak their language” going forward.
Take ownership and empower others to do the same
Get in the trenches. Of course, you need to be careful not to overextend yourself, but if you demonstrate that you’re a team player who is willing to go outside of your scope to get the job done, you are likely to earn stakeholder trust.
Empower those that you lead to be owners. Define clear ownership “swim lanes” for your team members. Clearly articulate what each team member is responsible and accountable for, while outlining opportunities for experimentation and stretch learning.
Advocate for the customer
Poor customer experiences are often a reflection of silos within an organization, given that the customer experience is a byproduct of the work of each contributing department. (See my blog article on how earning trust with the customer starts with internal teams.)
Every company I've worked for wants to put the customer or the fan first, but in reality, it's not that simple. Companies need to be profitable to survive, and sometimes there are compromises that affect the customer experience. In other cases, the team may be enthusiastic about a product feature or technological innovation that initially seems exciting for the customer, but it turns out to be confusing or impractical. Regardless of the situation, it's important to consistently advocate for the customer experience by bridging the gap between different departments. If a stakeholder team is not prioritizing to your project, it's crucial to explain to them why it is important for the customer.
Collectively celebrate wins
There isn’t enough of this in my experience. We’re humans. We all want to feel appreciated. This is closely connected to earning trust: if we celebrate how our collective contributions resulted in a win for the customer or a win on a business goal, we’re more likely to remember that positive feeling of camaraderie the next time we need to collaborate on a new initiative.
If your organization or team is looking for practical guidance on how best to navigate silos, we’d love to hear from you.
