How can internal communication eliminate silo thinking?

Silo thinking is like kryptonite for internal communication. (For readers who don't know what kryptonite is: It's what kills Superman.)

Silo thinking paralyzes the organization, slows down innovation, blocks knowledge transfer, leads to a lack of motivation and destroys an organization over time.

As a result of the corona crisis and with the new hybrid working models in many companies, the distance between teams is growing and new hybrid silos are forming. Actually give 86% managers, employees and trainees in companies claim that lack of cooperation or inefficient communication is the reason for workplace failures.

What can an internal communication manager do to break the silo mentality?

1. Collaborate and communicate empathetically

Silo thinking usually develops when people get into the habit of only communicating with people from the same team. For example, when sales and marketing teams don't talk to each other enough, both departments can feel the impact. Another important cause of silo thinking is that managers are unable to connect departments with cross-team OKRs, resulting in team silos.

Through regular joint meetings, all employees have the opportunity to exchange ideas with employees from other teams. Corporate events can also be held outside working hours, for example organising a trip once a month. By giving different departments the opportunity to create entertaining activities , you can improve communication and collaboration in the workplace.

In companies, managers can promote empathy in the workplace by creating a diverse and inclusive environment in which employees are involved in decision-making and feel connected to each other.

Using collaboration tools, such as a Corporate Intranet, can help everyone involved, even across departments, stay in touch. Within the intranet, tools such as cofenster can be introduced, which make it easy for managers and department heads to promote a culture of information exchange. In this way, you can break the silo mentality and communicate and get in touch with authenticity and empathy.‍

2. Listen and recognize silo thinking together with your team

When you actively listen to your employees, you get a better understanding of their experiences as employees. These insights can help improve your internal communication and identify silo thinking.

One of the ways to listen is through surveys. But there are other ways to feel the pulse of the organization. For example, by Create space for employeesto ask questions and provide feedback. This space can be created both in a decentralized and in a hybrid work structure, as long as the organization's managers assume responsibility for actively reaching out to and listening to their employees.

Employees often recognize silo thinking as a problem and often even have a solution. But what they don't have is a space where they can share their concerns and feedback.

By listening to individuals wherever possible, you can also listen to the so-called”IKEA effect“or “equipment effect.”

This means that people who get involved creatively in the early phases of a process invest more in the process as it progresses. For this reason, it is helpful to let employees from different departments have their say at an early stage. In this way, not only can more ideas be found to overcome silo thinking, but entire teams and departments can also work together.

3. Create a unified vision and goal

A shared vision and a comprehensive understanding of the company's goals and how individual departments support these goals can prevent silo thinking from arising in the first place. In other words, every employee and every team must know how they contribute to the big picture.

In order to show employees the common goals and overall vision of your company, there is no need for daily meetings with all employees. Instead, you can get a much better result with highly appealing and authentic corporate videos.

We process people 90% of information visual, and it is only natural that video as a form of communication compared to other forms of communication is 12 times higher engagement achieved.

In summary, it can be said:

Each of your departments may be the best of their kind, but if they don't work together, kryptonite is close and there is a risk of silo thinking. Such a situation can be dangerous for your company and has the potential to destroy your success. However, through early recognition and proactive action, you can ensure that your organization maintains its structure and team spirit.