Why siloed thinking and behaviour is such a major obstacle
Organisational silos are parallel parts of an organisation that do not cooperate as they should. If workers are not accustomed to sharing information across departments, the organisation as a whole will perform poorly.
This problem is usually a long-lasting one. That is dangerous since, according to an article on the website of the McKinsey company, the digital age requires an interdisciplinary approach. You need to be able to combine data science, design and human science. Therefore, today, cross-functional collaboration is a must.
If your organisation is siloed, workers often believe that a certain problem is someone else’s responsibility. How to change this way of thinking? First, find the appropriate mechanisms that will enable you to build and nurture a shared understanding of business priorities and why they are important.
The more context your employees have, the better their decisions will be when a sudden, unexpected change occurs. Remove barriers that prevent workers from collaborating easily; often the cause is unnecessary bureaucracy.
Combating silos: rotate your leaders
Rotating executives between individual departments or business units can help a great deal.
Rotation may be carried out at various levels and will always help to align an understanding of the company’s aspirations and direction. An additional advantage of rotations is that they help to build informal networks across departments.
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