Collaboration is crucial for the success of your organization. The benefits of effective collaboration in the workplace are enormous as are the risks you face if you let the silo mentality set in.
Collaboration is a lot more than just divvying up tasks.
In part one of the series on ‘Break Down Silos and Spark Collaboration’, I discussed the many pitfalls of working in silos, how we could overcome these barriers to collaboration, and bring in a much-needed cross-functional collaboration.
To dive a little deeper, in this second part, let’s take a look at what causes organizational silos and understand how you can create value by adopting a collaborative culture in the workplace.
In the last two years, every one of us has had to deal with different forms of work-life pressure. In some cases, this has caused engagement with other team members to take a hit, bringing down employee happiness and productivity.
Further, this can even hamper the performance levels of employees more than you can imagine. Reports revealed that companies that have made collaborative initiatives a part of their work culture are five times more likely to be high-performing than those that fail to do so.
While the benefits of a collaborative culture are many, to be able to break down silos and achieve collaboration across the organization — you need to tackle the problem at its roots. What causes a silo mentality and how does it creep into the business environment?
Let’s get to the bottom of this.
A silo mentality can be defined as an isolated mindset.
A silo mentality in an organization will result in pockets of information that end up dividing teams.
Take, for instance, your product teams — if they choose to work in silos and disregard the need to share insights and updates on product developments, your sales team might be going to market with stale information.
Now think of it this way — if your sales team works together with your product and marketing teams, passing on important customer insights and feedback to them — you will be able to roll out products and campaigns that drive your customers more than ever before.
In this tweet, Sameena Safdar Kluck, Innovation Evangelist, National Speaker & Author says silo mentality is the real talent killer and I couldn’t agree more.
We’ll now run by the common causes of organizational silos:
If you ask me, mindset is everything. It’s time we stop blaming the culture and start creating the change.
Leadership teams need to ensure that there is a clear understanding of the narrative behind what you’re trying to achieve as an organization. Make it a point to let your teams know the ultimate benefits of tearing down silos and embracing collaboration in the workplace.
We often tend to reason out the lack of cross-functional collaboration by blaming it on immature employees and their inability to work together as a team. Instead of letting resentment set in between teams, try to find a solution that encourages collaboration and make sure this solution is realistic and scalable.
According to reports, high-performing employees spend an equal amount of time working individually (45%) as well as collaborating with other team members (45%).
Source: Zippia
Apart from top-notch performance, the benefits of team collaboration are multifold! Let’s run by a few of them:
By now you might be all geared up to smash the organizational silos — while this might be a lengthy process, it sure is a fruitful one!
An arsenal of the right tools, a shift in mindsets, a relatable and clear underlying vision coupled with consistency and discipline will help your teams tear down the walls of silos, collaborate like never before, and row fiercely toward achieving the larger organizational goals.
For more insights on management topics and industry trends, follow me on LinkedIn.
Chief Executive Officer, Opus
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