BREAKING OUT OF THE SILO MENTALITY
‘C oach Kriengsak, I’ve been working as CEO for one year now and as someone who came to the company from outside, I’ve noticed that our organisation has a strong silo mentality,” Chuan tells me. “This prevents us from achieving our new vision. Today, I want to discuss how to break out of the silo mentality in our organisation.”
“Okay Khun Chuan. But first let’s define the term of silo mentality. What do you mean by that?”
“I like the definition I saw on BusinessDictionary.com: ‘A mindset present in some companies when certain departments or sectors do not wish to share information with others in the same company. This type of mentality will reduce the efficiency of the overall operation, reduce morale, and may contribute to the demise of a productive company culture.’ ”
“That’s a good definition. Now that we know what we want to change, let’s start with a clear end in mind. Where do you want to see your organisation? In another word, what will success look like if you break the silo mentality?”
“Coach, My dream is that by the end of 2020, my organisation will be a high-performance organisation that works well together like a great football team.”
“Can you describe the core characteristics of your dream team?” “Here is what I want to see:
They all know where we are going by heart.
They all know that the company’s goal, other departments’ goals and their individual goals are aligned.
They all work as one team — not as departmental teams.
Sharing information across the enterprise seamlessly and securely.
They behave according to our core values.”
“Good. What do you need to do to achieve your dream?”
“Coach, I along with 10 senior executives have already developed the vision, strategies and core values for our next five-year plan. What I need to do is to communicate this information to our people.”
“Do you have any core values that discourage the silo mentality?”
“We do. In order to achieve the vision our people have to be ‘one great team’. We specifically define that one great team as one that will not adopt the silo mentality as in the past.”
“Great, Khun Chuan. You have a vision to create a great high-performance organisation that works as a great team. You also have a clear end in mind in terms of what it looks like. Your business plan also has one core value that explicitly discourages the silo mentality. You plan to communicate all of this to your people.”
“That’s right. But I’m concerned about two of our top executives. Since we worked on the five-year plan together two months ago, eight out of the 10 are clearly demonstrating the new behaviour we want to promote. But in my view, the head of sales and the head of finance are still stuck in their silos. Both of them have had conflicts for the past year. I’m not sure what to do.” “What options do you have?” “Coach, I can think of three choices: I meet with each one individually and ask for cooperation, I meet with both of them together and ask for cooperation, or I meet with all 10 members and ask for their cooperation.” “Which one do you prefer?” “Coach, I prefer the last option. It eliminates the chance of a confrontation between me and the two executives.”
“Okay. Let’s step back a little bit. You’ve been here for a year. Among these three options, which one is actually the most effective in the context of your organisation?”
Chuan thinks for few seconds. “The first option, I would have to say. Here there is still respect for seniority. If I instruct each individual, they will follow the instruction.”
“So why don’t you choose the first option then?”
“In this case, I’m not comfortable about confronting these two chiefs. Usually, before they accept any instruction, they seek a more detailed explanation of the rationale from me. They want to know all the factors affecting the decision. I need to explain things to them more than I do to the others.” “What is your decision?” “Coach, I need to prepare myself to approach each person individually.”
“What kind of preparation do you need?”
“I already have the rationale I need to convince each person. But I need to practise my debating and persuasion skills.” “How do you plan to practise?” “Coach, I’d like you to do some role play with me. You pretend to be the executive and we can practise the confrontation scenario.”
After 30 minutes of role-playing during which we cover many possible aspects of the conversations, I ask, “How do you feel now, Khun Chuan?”
“I’m more confident about having this discussion with the two chiefs.”
“Assume that you can successfully influence these two people, what’s next?”
“I will need to hold a town hall meeting to communicate with all of my people. In addition, I want to have an internal communication programme in place as an ongoing journey, not a onetime event.” “How?” “I will discuss it with the chief of HR. All right, Coach, let’s stop here for today and I’ll update you in our next session.”
Kriengsak Niratpattanasai provides executive coaching in leadership and diversity management under the brand TheCoach. He can be reached at coachkriengsak@yahoo.com. Daily inspirational quotations can be found on his Facebook fan page: https://www.facebook. com/TheCoachinth. Previous articles are archived at http://thecoach.in.th