Breaking Down The Silos

It’s common to have various teams across a workplace focused internally and not looking at the inter dependencies with other teams.

We quite rightly refer to that as ‘working in silo’s’. And it’s problematic.

However, one of the things we don’t talk about so openly are silos within the team.  

Think about the work team you are part of. 

Would you say you work together to achieve shared goals, or do you feel like you are merely a group of individuals beating to your own drum and struggling to get your own jobs done?

Do you even know what your team goals are?

Many teams I work with in my culture building programs are surprised when we first talk about their purpose and the goals of the team.  Most don’t consciously hold their team’s goals in the forefront of their minds.  This of course perpetuates an individual versus team approach.

Work’s busy.  We’re all doing the best we can, sometimes struggling just to fulfill our own roles. So, the instinct to retreat and focus only on self can be forgiven.

But if this is your status quo you are missing out on so much richness, and the team and organisation are suffering too.

We risk becoming self protective and competitive when working in this space, which results in defensiveness, nit picking and throwing our colleagues under the bus (rather than helping them onto it).

In contrast, if we are working as a team, we are connected, supportive of each other, open, honest and growth focused.  We all have a shared goal and are working together to achieve it. This is a much more constructive place to be and benefits everyone.

Take a look at the images below and reflect on how you’re working in your team.

Are you hiding in the silo, or are you collaborating and contributing as a team?