Definition of ‘silo mentality’: “An attitude found in some organisations that occurs when several departments or groups do not want to share information or knowledge with other individuals within the same organisation.”
Similar Terms: Silo Thinking and Silo Vision
Risks of ‘silo mentality’:
- Localised, disconnected decision making. Each person or department makes decisions based on their own departmental or personal requirements and where there is no incentive to make changes in order to support changes or resolve issues in another department.
- There can be issues when trying to engage people when trying to instigate change.
- When researching this topic, an article pointed out that people who work in silo environments are often prepared to continually attend meetings, have their say, and make appropriate comments but when the meeting is over, apathy sets in and little is done until the next meeting. (This really struck a chord with me, as I have been caught up in this behaviour many times during my career and it has been the cause of so much frustration).
- Silo mentality reduces efficiency and can be a contributing factor to organisational failure, or serious regulatory non-conformities.
Causes
One identified cause can be related to Managers being protective of their budget or being tied to the power of the purse. How budget decisions are made can affect an individual’s direct responsibilities or the department’s overall resources.
In the same way that a manager may fall into the belief that they own the budget, this could be said for the department. This is where the departmental personnel feel that they own the department, its processes and procedures and an overprotective (sometimes defensive) culture takes hold.
Another cause is the lack of communication and understanding of each other’s activities and how the activities interlink. I have seen examples where departments have become competitive and have developed a culture of blame, with each department quick to chastise the other without any investigation into the root cause of an issue. It’s almost like a race to prove which department is best rather than how we can work together to improve the outcome for the organisation.
From my experience, the overall cause of ‘silo mentality’ is bad or ineffective Management. I have seen managers practically climb over another manager to prove that they are the best at what they do. Perhaps consistently complaining about another Departmental Manager, then the aggrieved Manager responds by complaining back or becoming secretive or defensive. This type of behaviour often affects the entire Department.
What can be done?
The key to busting ‘silo mentality’ is to interrupt (not totally disrupt) the way in which departments function by introducing cross departmental structures and responsibilities.
Some ideas are:
- Cross-functional efforts
- Diversified project teams
- Rotating job responsibilities
- Shifting office layouts
- Nipping departmental disagreements in the bud
In successful organisations, the management ensures that information and knowledge flows freely between departments and encourages them to function as a team, all aiming for the same objective.