Extreme silos exist when everyone is doing ‘their own thing,’ not thinking about the ramifications of their actions and decisions to other departments, and eventually results in‘bottle-necks,’ conflicting agendas, mis-alignment and eventually failed opportunities and initiatives within a company. What you get is a scene from West Side Story where the Jets are versus the Sharks, one gang versus the other gang. It’s a mess.-From
Many Parts, One Body.
How would you describe your organization today, on the same page, moving in the same direction, ‘singing to the same hymnal?’ Or is everyone ‘doing their own thing,’ and not trying to work together, as one unified team?
I had a meeting a few months back with an owner of ‘Company X,’ a privately held manufacturing company. He came to because he was at his wits end. He and the CEO were not on the same page.
‘Owner’ wanted the company to focus on maximizing their efficiencies and minimizing operational expenses and overhead. They had been losing over a hundred thousand dollars a month for over 24 months now. And something had to change quickly.
There was a problem, the CEO didn’t agree. He believed that the company could ‘sell’ their way out of their mess by gaining more clients. He believed that the owner was not giving him enough time.
Being ‘conflict averse,’ the Owner admitted to me during our dinner meeting that he had not been forthright enough to the CEO and didn’t want to ‘lay down his foot.’
My council was simple,’lay down your foot now, align, get on the same page with your strategy or continue to see your company implode before your very eyes. If you don’t agree to take steps to converge, I can’t help you.’
I want to be clear on somethig, mis-alignment and conflict in the workplace is normal. Healthy companies however, work through their conflict and ensure everyone gets on the same page and works together towards common visions, strategies and goals. Healthy teams realize they are on the same team and that the ‘greater good’ and benefit outweigh the ‘smaller body parts.’ Healthy leaders make sure they work together and ensure their respective initiatives compliment one another and the over-arching company’s strategies.
If your team is currently experiencing conflict and ‘silo’s,’ here’s a simple process that you can do to break them down. Whether or not you need to include an expert facilitator will be determined by how objective your participants can be without using an external expert.
Breaking Down The Silo’s Process
1) Set Objectives
a) To create optimum and healthy working relationships
b) To be fully aligned to your vision, strategies, key milestones
c) To completely understand one another’s top priorities and success criteria
d) To understand how to support and compliment one another
2) Set Expectations: If there are silo’s within your team, everyone knows. Don’t hide it. Be truthful. Making it ‘right’ is what matters most.
a) Be transparent
b) The goal is to align, be on the same page, work through current differences and eventually map out our inter-dependencies moving forward
3) Set Ground Rules: Setting ‘ground rules’ before engaging not only sets the mindset of the participants but ensures you leave gossip, blame and judgment out of the session.
a) This is about progression and alignment NOT ‘pointing fingers’
b) Freedom to speak and be truthful
c) Not being judged
d) Listen and prove you are listening
e) Focusing on resolution not blame
f) Confidentiality
4) Start with clarity first on the over-arching Vision and Strategies of the team (DO NOT MOVE ON UNTIL ABSOLUTE ALIGNMENT IS ACHIEVED IN EACH STEP)
a) Ensure ALL team members are clear ‘why’ the team exists and ‘what’ Vision the team is trying to fulfill.
b) Re-calibrate and re-affirm the strategies that the team has established to fulfill the Vision
c) Assess EACH strategy and determine how ‘close or far’ the team is to fulfilling each strategy. (Note: Determine your own grading scale. I like to use 1-10 scale.)
d) Evaluate and assess why the team members scored the strategies they way they did.
e) Trouble-shoot, discuss, determine how to ‘attack/address’ the low areas of your strategy and look at:
a) Processes
b) People
c) Budget
d) Timing
e) Etc…
This is where the team will discover the causes of the conflict. This is where the team will see the ‘bottle-necks’ that need to be addressed. This is where the dialogue will really take place and the silo ‘walls’ will start to come down. It is simply because as ‘one unit,’ the team will be resolving and working together.
f) Prioritize which ‘bottle-neck’ to address.
g) Appropriate out who ‘owns-what’
h) Solidify success criteria
5) Determine ongoing support needs of one another
a) What does each leader need from one another moving forward?
b) When is the next evaluation point?
6) Determine the ‘communication protocol’ to go out to the rest of the company
a) What do team members who were not able to participate need to know/not know?
b) What does the rest of the company need to know?
7) Map out next steps and determine owners
I have been involved with what some would call, ‘hopeless team situations,’ where many did not believe there was a ‘chance in hell’ that the team members could get on the same page. When there is at least some willingness to make things better and admission to things not being good, there is always hope. In a matter of hours, I have been personal witness to some of the most toxic situations becoming healthy and aligned. Get aligned. Get on the same page. Work out your differences. Fully compliment and support one another. Your teams will thank you for it!
About The Rubi Ho Group
As an Executive Coaching and Strategic Leadership Group, Rubi Ho and his affiliates are about helping Organizations, Teams and Leaders break down silo’s, move in the same direction and optimize their overall performance. Visit therubihogroup.com for more information or contact Rubi Ho directly at [email protected].
