Organizational Silos in

the Digital Age

What Experts Say

Prepared by Henry E. Liebling

H5 Consulting, LLC

For additional information, please contact me at hliebling@h5consulting.com

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www.h5consulting.com/ training@h5consulting.com 1-603-928-7084 ext 103
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 Does your roadmap for Digital and Organizational
Transformation success include reducing organizational
silos?
Do you need to accelerate change or reduce the cost of silo thinking?

This document gives you excerpts, quotes, and links. We hope it is relevant and
gives you an extra boost.

Our Cross-Functional Business Acumen solution prepares people to have a new

mindset about cross-functional thinking and empathy.

Our solution is based on our experience with cross-functional teams, plus programs we
developed, or co-developed, for IBM Software Group, AT&T Learning Services, Monster
Worldwide, General Motors, and Nokia.

In a survey (May 2021), we asked project managers what problems do you see that
are associated with silo thinking and weak cross-functional business acumen.
The survey results were: More than half of the respondents voted these problems:

• Communication problems
• People do not understand how other departments operate
• We nod in agreement, but are not on the same page
• People do not fully understand a cross-functional process
• Stress among cross-functional team members
• Deadlines are missed (example – getting a product to market)
• Getting requirements right is extra difficult

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Henry E. Liebling
Consulting Partner, H5 Consulting, LLC

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These quotes are used by permission in our training materials.

Speak in Business Terms

“The biggest challenge in IT is not finding candidates with deep technology skills. The
biggest challenge is finding IT experts who can also speak in business terms.”

Source: Georgia Papathomas, Ph.D., former SVP and Group CIO,

Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceuticals. Used by permission.

Organizational Hurdles – Silos – Customer Experience

“When respondents were asked the question about organizational hurdles for improving
the customer experience, seven out of ten people said that ‘silo mentality’ was the
biggest organizational hurdle.”

Source: Beyond Philosophy, LLC. Used by permission.

http://www.beyondphilosophy.com

“Who” is in IT … and “Who” is in the business?

“The best cross-functional teams I’ve observed are those where you can’t tell who is in
IT and who is in the business.”

Source: Dr. Behnam Tabrizi, Consulting Professor at Stanford

University’s Department of Management Science and Engineering and
Managing Director, Rapid Transformation, LLC. Used by permission.

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Silo Thinking
Cross-Functional Thinking and Empathy
Goal: Cross-Functional Business Acumen

Used in our training program. Copyright @ H5 Consulting, LLC 2021

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 Table of Contents
Cost Of Silo Thinking And Weak Business Acumen ..............................................................................6
Five Steps To Break Out Of Your Organization’s Business Silo Mentality ..............................................6
The CIO As Champion of Change (Collapsing Silos) ..............................................................................6
Forget About Agile vs. Waterfall, It’s About Silo Busting ......................................................................7
Do You Have A Culture Of Silos? .........................................................................................................7
Breaking Out Of Silos .........................................................................................................................7
Combating Silos .................................................................................................................................7
Three Ways Disrupting Healthcare Silos Helps Achieve Triple Aim Goals ..............................................8
Silo Thinking (State Government) .......................................................................................................8
Consequences Of Organizational Silos ................................................................................................8
Silo, Solo, So Long - - Breaking Down Departmental Barriers ...............................................................9
Is Silo Mentality Hurting Your Customer Experience? ..........................................................................9
Seven Ways To Break Down Workplace Silos ......................................................................................9
Don’t Break Your Silos – Push Out The Silo Mentality ..........................................................................9
How Silos Damage Customer Experience .......................................................................................... 10
Digital Transformation (9th trend - knock down silos) ........................................................................ 10
Break Down Your Global Teams Silos With These Simple Steps ......................................................... 10
Making Collaboration Across Functions a Reality .............................................................................. 11
Breaking Down The Silo Mentality (Supply Chain) ............................................................................. 11
Breaking Down The Silo Mentality In Nonprofit Organizations .......................................................... 11
Five Strategies To Free Your Team From Organizational Silos ............................................................ 11
Silo Thinking .................................................................................................................................... 12
Short Video (82 seconds) .................................................................................................................. 12
EMPATHY ........................................................................................................................................ 13
The Importance of Empathy in the Workplace .................................................................................. 13
The Value of Empathy in the Workplace ........................................................................................... 13
Seven Benefits of Empathy in the Workplace .................................................................................... 13

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 Cost Of Silo Thinking And Weak Business Acumen
This one-page document describes several cost areas to be concerned about.

https://www.h5consulting.com/library/Cost%20of%20Silo%20Thinking.pdf

Five Steps To Break Out Of Your Organization’s Business

Silo Mentality
The author of this article reminds us that the term “silo” was created to indicate a similarity
between grain silos that separate one type of grain from another and the segregated parts of a
company. In a company suffering from silo syndrome, each business unit or function
interacts primarily within its own “silo” rather than with other groups across the
company.

The problems of “silos” show up in:

• Duplication of cost and effort
• Working at cross purposes
• Lack of synergy
• Little knowledge transfer or economies of scale
• The largest problem, however, is a lack of alignment with the overall company strategy.
In short, people are acting in the interest of their silo and not the entire organization.

https://www.tlnt.com/five-steps-to-break-out-of-your-organizations-business-silo-mentality/

The CIO As Champion of Change (Collapsing Silos)

This article highlights JetBlue's CIO (Eash Sundaram) who makes himself a champion of
change by collapsing silos within the organization.

According to Eash Sundaram: The most important thing we are doing here is collapsing the
silos. When we think about a program, we don't think about IT and finance and commercial
operations. We think about how the program improves our customer or employee experience.

https://www.cio.com/article/2989725/the-cio-as-champion-of-change.html

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 Forget About Agile vs. Waterfall, It’s About Silo Busting
This article is written by a ScrumMaster and Agile Coach. According to the writer, “Agile vs.
waterfall isn’t the issue, its’ communicating across the organization. Silo busting is the key
ingredient to successfully getting stuff done.” The writer makes a challenge: “Let’s get back to
the basics of busting silos, the true killer of productivity.”

Do You Have A Culture Of Silos?

From the Forbes Coaches Council, the writer offers these steps to improve cross-
boundary communication and to break down a culture of silos.
• Create A Systems-Thinking Mindset
• Master Your Stories
• Make It Safe
• Create Mutual Purpose

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2017/06/30/do-you-have-a-culture-of-silos-
heres-how-to-break-them-down/#6f7005c523e8

Breaking Out Of Silos

This American Management Association article gives ideas on what you can do to tear down
silos in your organization, reduce conflicts, and increase collaboration. Here are some of
these ideas:
• Close communication gaps
• Reward cooperative behavior
• Encourage innovation
• Create a culture of collaboration
• Find opportunities for cross-functional initiatives
• Hold retreats to build camaraderie

https://www.amanet.org/articles/breaking-out-of-silos/

Combating Silos
The writer makes the following points: There is nothing wrong with silos. The actual
problem is isolation. The idea is not to smash silos in the company, but to ensure that there
are effective communication channels between them, and that the silos have a shared strategy
in mind.

https://bscdesigner.com/combating-silos.htm

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 Three Ways Disrupting Healthcare Silos
Helps Achieve Triple Aim Goals
This article discusses the silo mentality as being a major obstacle to healthcare reform and the
Triple Aim Movement (the backbone of healthcare reform). The article describes silo-based
barriers that slow progress to achieving the cost and quality goals of the Triple Aim.
• Episodic vs. Holistic Healthcare
• Moving from Episodic-Care to Well-Care Management
• Removing the Barriers to Collaborative Care

https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/patient-flow/3-ways-disrupting-healthcare-silos-helps-
achieve-triple-aim-goals.html

Silo Thinking (State Government)

This blog is from the perspective of a CIO in state government. The blog covers a lot of
ground, including:
• An explanation of silo thinking – when a department or group focuses inward only, solely
on what they control and contribute, and not on where they fit into the enterprise
common goal.
• Silo organizations lack collaboration.
• Symptoms of silo thinking.
• 6 Strategies of Collaborative Thinking.

https://cio.nebraska.gov/blog/2018/04/silo.html

Consequences Of Organizational Silos

In this Forbes blog, the author highlights consequences of organizational silos. These
consequences include: (1) destroying trust, (2) cutting off communications, and (3) fostering
complacency. Ideas for eliminating silos are also included.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkotter/2011/05/03/breaking-down-silos/#5fd1be5863b6

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Silo, Solo, So Long - - Breaking Down Departmental Barriers
This blog provides good points about (i) the perils of siloed working, (ii) how to fight the silo
effect, and (iii) the importance of organizing training sessions with mixed teams. The blog also
reminds the reader that collaborative tools are redundant without the will to work
together. In other words, why provide the necessary tools if you have a siloed workforce that is
blind and deaf to the benefits of collaboration.

https://www.viima.com/blog/silo-solo-so-long-breaking-down-departmental-barriers

Is Silo Mentality Hurting Your Customer Experience?

This article discusses common problems and provides key statistics about the impact of silo
mentality on customer experience.

https://www.destinationcrm.com/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=107633

Seven Ways To Break Down Workplace Silos

This article offers seven ways to break down workplace silos. One of the suggestions is to
improve communication and transparency – especially between departments.
• Begin with your leadership
• Conduct an evaluation
• Communicate, communicate, communicate
• Have a formal plan
• Create a culture of gratitude
• Get social
• Share organizational stories

https://charityvillage.com/cms/content/topic/seven_ways_to_break_down_workplace_silos#.Xgt
Dy9JKiM8

Don’t Break Your Silos – Push Out The Silo Mentality

This article is summarized with five key takeaways. Here are two of them:
• Silos may decrease social capital, create disorder, and complicate the decision-
making process in a company.
• Silos do not need to be destroyed if they are ventilated often.
https://www.infoq.com/articles/break-silos-ventilators/
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 How Silos Damage Customer Experience
According to the writer, silos may be a great way to store grain, but can cause problems when
silo mentality runs unchecked in a company. We have all seen silos at work in individual
departments, regional offices, different channels and even in different management levels within
an organisation. Unfortunately on most occasions, silos encourage behaviours that are
beneficial to the occupants of the silo, but are often not in the best interest of the overall
business or its customers. The author makes this suggestion: get people to see things from
other perspectives.

https://www.matchboard.com.au/How-silos-damage-Customer-Experience/

Digital Transformation (9th trend - knock down silos)

In this Forbes article, all ten trends are interesting. The 9th trend is that culture remains a
hurdle.

As the pace of change continues to increase — and the number of new technologies continue to
grow — it will become even more imperative that companies move fast while moving forward
toward growth. Companies that do not embrace agility, or fail to knock down silos, will have
an even more difficult time next year.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielnewman/2017/09/26/top-10-trends-for-digital-transformation-
in-2018/#717beab4293a

Break Down Your Global Teams Silos With These Simple

Steps
The author describes several strategies for breaking down your global teams silos.
• Daily alignment call
• Tackle issues right away
• Build trust, transparency, and respect among your team
• Share the burden
• Encourage collaboration

https://www.inc.com/maya-hu-chan/break-down-your-global-teams-silos-with-these-simple-
steps.html

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 Making Collaboration Across Functions a Reality
This article offers insights and examples about making collaboration across functions a reality.
Companies have long struggled to break down silos and boost cross-functional
collaboration—but the challenge is getting more acute. The speed of market change requires
a more rapid adaptation of products and services, while customers increasingly expect an
organization to present them with a single face.

https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/making-collaboration-
across-functions-a-reality

Breaking Down The Silo Mentality (Supply Chain)

This article focuses on a company’s supply chain. The author writes that the first step is to look
at the supply chain in its totality – breaking down the silo mentality which exists in many larger
corporations, with each direct more worried about his/her department’s performance than the
overall benefit to the company. An obvious question to ask CEOs and FDs (Finance Directors)
is: How do you incentivise your departmental managers? Are you perpetuating or even
encouraging the silo mentality by basing performance reviews, bonuses and promotion
prospects on a simple bottom line equation?

https://www.supplychaindigital.com/scm/breaking-down-silo-mentality

Breaking Down The Silo Mentality In Nonprofit Organizations

This article focuses on nonprofit organizations. The article explains silo mentality and makes
the point that breaking down the silo mentality starts with leadership. The article also offers
several useful guidelines. The article emphasizes the importance of creating an “our
organization/cause” mentality rather than a “my department” mentality.

https://www.socialsolutions.com/blog/breaking-silo-mentality-nonprofit-organizations/

Five Strategies To Free Your Team From Organizational Silos

This article provides information on how leaders can break down various internal silos that
might be present in their organizations. Here are several of the strategies:
• Encourage mistakes/failures as opportunities to learn and improve.
• Redirect the team’s competitive spirit toward external targets.
• Build trust across your teams/departments.

https://www.tanveernaseer.com/how-to-break-organizational-silos/
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 Silo Thinking
This post reminds the reader that sometimes people forget they are part of the same
team. The post identifies what top management can do to reduce silo thinking. One such idea
is to provide employee training. The blog also contains a section on how you can eliminate
silos.

https://eruditescholars.wordpress.com/2015/07/31/silo-thinking/

Short Video (82 seconds)

“Is your organization using cross-functional business acumen or stuck in solos?

https://www.h5consulting.com/index-7d.html

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 EMPATHY
The Importance of Empathy in the Workplace
This article is easy to read and contains very good information on:

• Definition of empathy in the workplace.

• Difference between sympathy and empathy, as the two are often confused.
• Four Ways Leaders Can Show Empathy in the Workplace.
• How Organizations Can Encourage Empathy in the Workplace.
o Talk about empathy.
o Teach listening skills.
o Encourage genuine perspective-taking.
o Cultivate compassion.
o Support global managers.

https://www.ccl.org/articles/leading-effectively-articles/empathy-in-the-workplace-a-tool-for-effective-
leadership/

The Value of Empathy in the Workplace

The article starts out with this phrase, “To walk in someone’s shoes” and continues with a
number of good ideas and suggestions, including:

• Listen, Really Listen

• Master the Art of Asking Questions
• Avoid Stereotyping
• And more

https://www.asaporg.com/the-value-of-empathy-in-the-workplace

Seven Benefits of Empathy in the Workplace

The writer offers seven reasons why empathy in the workplace matters.

• Empathy is at the core of your mission.

• Empathy boosts productivity.
• Empathy fuels effective collaboration.
• Empathy improves cultural competency.
• Empathy elevates customer satisfaction.
• Empathy builds leadership.
• Empathy is a competitive advantage.

https://www.civcom.com/blog/7benefits
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