What good is collaboration if your teams are siloed?
In reality, siloed communications force your teams to work harder, not smarter — and that’s not a winning recipe.
This creates organizational chaos as teams have no idea who’s doing what, where a project is, and what the next steps are. This happens all the time when a disconnect forms between product, marketing, sales, and technical teams.
A business plagued by communication silos is exactly like a body whose limbs move in isolation. Rather than a well-oiled machine, it operates as a clattering, loosely connected collection of moving parts that sometimes reach its destination.
Can such an organization still succeed? Of course. But only with considerable difficulty. And all else being equal, it won’t be able to compete with a business that isn’t held back by siloed communication.
Let’s talk about how one can shatter those silos and create a more open, collaborative, and innovative workplace.
Effective Collaboration Start With Leadership
Widespread organizational change almost always begins at the top.
Start scheduling regular brainstorming sessions between department heads. Have them discuss a few of the ways their teams could benefit from working together, such as leveraging diverse expertise and eliminating productivity bottlenecks.
These meetings are also an excellent opportunity to identify opportunities for consolidation — but more on that in a moment.
Lay the Groundwork for a Cultural Shift
You need more than a few brainstorming sessions to break down communication silos. If your organization is like most, it will require that you transition from a culture of competition and isolation to one of collaboration and cooperation.
As you’ve probably guessed, that sort of shift doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a slow evolution built atop several closely related initiatives, detailed below.
Define Your Vision
Start by taking a step back and assessing your organization. What are your stated values? What is your core business objective, and how will you accomplish it?
Take the answers to these questions, and think of a few ways collaboration would fit.
Once you’ve figured that out, workshop the idea with employees and leadership until everyone’s satisfied with what you’ve got. This will be your vision — the bedrock from which you build a more collaborative organization.
Maybe your vision is to improve collaboration between sales and marketing. Perhaps you want better visibility between your developers, operations, and security teams. Whatever the goal, it starts with improving visibility and collaboration between these teams.
Reward Teamwork
Too many people think that collaboration and recognition can’t exist alongside one another — that you have to choose between a hypercompetitive and performance-oriented workplace that rewards individual excellence and one entirely focused on teamwork.
They are completely wrong.
It’s entirely possible to maintain a workplace that rewards teams for their achievements while also recognizing each team member’s individual contributions.
Encourage and reward your teams for collaborating effectively. While it may take time for a collaborative culture to catch on — the rewards are well worth the effort.
Encourage Shared Goals
Two people working toward a shared goal will be both more effective and more productive than two who are siloed off from one another.
Break down goals and milestones into multi-disciplinary objectives that can be shared between departments. Let’s say, for example, one of your goals is to increase on-page engagement for your website.
You may need to bring in a web developer and possibly a designer. But you should also call on other departments as well. Your marketing team, for instance, may have a unique perspective on how people interact with your site’s content. Sales may contribute by sharing valuable insights from conversations with ideal customers.
Whatever you focus on, be sure to create shared goals that brings everyone together.
Explore Team Building Opportunities
The phrase “team building” has become a dirty word in professional discourse, and it’s not difficult to understand why.
Over the years, too many inept managers have attempted to force team-building on their employees. Rather than developing team-building activities geared toward the things that make their people and workplace unique, they rely almost exclusively on generic events.
Don’t be like them. Instead, talk to employees to find out what sort of team-building exercises they’d want to see.
Provide Opportunities for Professional Development
In the past, businesses hired people based on qualifications, knowledge, and skills.
These days, multiple industries are staring down a hiring crunch. Many businesses don’t realize that they have access to a massive talent pool — they no longer have to hire locally or find someone willing to relocate.
They also fail to realize that knowledge can easily be acquired, but skill and talent aren’t so simple to manufacture. As a result their managers fail to notice that Bill from accounting would make an excellent security professional. They don’t pick up that Amy from IT has a knack for storytelling, making her the perfect choice to market more technically complex products.
This leads to businesses missing out on opportunities and losing some of their best people. On the other hand, organizations that encourage lateral hiring and professional development tend to enjoy greater productivity while cultivating greater loyalty and job satisfaction in their employees.
But what does that have to do with collaboration?
A great deal. Employees who know their organization encourages and supports lateral hires are likelier to interact with other departments than their own. Someone who moves from one department to another will not only bring with them unique ideas and perspectives but also potentially act as a bridge between departments.
Create Cross-Functional Teams
Start bringing teams from different departments together to work on cross-functional projects.
These could include multichannel marketing campaigns, full product lifecycle management, or an effort to improve the customer experience.
The point is less the projects themselves. It’s about understanding that cross-functional teams benefit from diverse knowledge and expertise when working together.
Consolidate Your Technology to Boost Visibility
Sprawl and technology debt are both common causes and consequences of siloed communication.
Because every department works largely in isolation, they all have their own way of doing things. They all have their own tools, platforms, and processes. And in many cases, they aren’t receptive to change.
A scattered, fragmented ecosystem like this works against the culture of collaboration you’re trying to build.
As part of your push to eliminate communication silos, consolidate whatever solutions you can and work to establish a single source of truth for organizational data. It’ll likely be a slow process, but well worth it in the long run.
Look for ways to unify productivity and collaboration solutions into a single platform. That way, your teams know exactly how to connect in the workplace, collaborate to solve problems, and work together to grow the business.
Put an End to Communication Silos For Good
Communication silos do not support innovation or productivity.
The good news is that they’re not as difficult to tear down as you think. With the right knowledge and expertise, you can transition your organization to a collaborative culture that makes silos a thing of the past.
Not sure where to start? Let us walk you through the best productivity and collaboration solutions for your business, so you can put an end to communication silos for good.
