Breaking Down Silos: A Strategy You Can Implement From Any Level

Silos exist in almost every organization, stifling collaboration and efficiency. Most employees want the silos to diminish, but feel like only senior leaders have the power to do something about it.

Good news - you don't have to sit back and wait. In this video, I share a practical strategy that ANY employee can implement from ANY level to boost collaboration and break down silos. Let's get to work!

• Read the video transcript

  Okay, before I jump into this week's story, I want you to think of a person at work or another department at work who you work with but there isn't a whole lot of collaboration going on and there could maybe be a benefit from stronger partnership, stronger collaboration. With that person or that department in mind, let me tell you a story.

  Just this last Friday, my youngest daughter, Harper, had a few of her soccer teammates over, four girls came over. These girls, they're in second grade, they love soccer and so most of the evening they were out back, behind our backyard in the park playing soccer. After a while, some boys showed up to the field and they wanted to join in on the soccer. Now, keep in mind that these are fifth grade boys against second grade girls. And the girls were pumped. They were all in.

  So before the scrimmage started, they actually gathered up in their little huddle, all on their own accord. They did their Chicas soccer cheer, and then they sprinted out to their formation, got in position on the field. We were kind of watching from the back patio, keeping an eye on things, and it was amazing. The girls were using their fancy footwork and they were passing, they were staying in formation and their teamwork had them outscoring the boys. They were beating these boys. And of course, it started to get a little bit more physical as the boys realized they were losing to second grade girls.

  But it's a great example of natural teamwork making a difference. While these boys were kind of just mostly focused on their own performance, who was going to score, who was going to drive down the field.

  And so back to this person or department that you have in mind. There is an opportunity to work together more collaboratively. Research tells us that we actually make better decisions as a team 66% of the time than as individuals. There is power in putting our minds together.

  And so with this person or department where you could see some stronger collaboration, here's my challenge for you. Here's what I want you to do. I want you to invite them to a 30-minute meeting, kind of an interview, okay? And in this session, I want you to focus on learning.

  Kick it off maybe with one thing that you appreciate about them or you value about the work that they're doing and then go into your questions.

  The first question is: What is one thing - colleague/department - that I'm currently doing in my work that's actually working well, that you want me to continue to do more of in terms of how our work intertwines, how we work together?

  The second question is: What is one shift that I could make in how I'm approaching my work, how I'm approaching our partnership that would be beneficial to you?

  The third question is: What is something about your work, your processes, your policies, your constraints, what's something about your work that maybe I'm not aware of that I could better understand and you have been waiting and wanting me to better understand?

  Okay. Those are the three questions that you're going to ask after you share something that you appreciate about them and you're just going to learn. And this is going to give opportunity to foster stronger collaboration moving forward, maybe setting you up for the kind of passing that the girls had in their scrimmage last Friday night.