The three types of silos most used today are tower silos, bunker silos and bag silos. A silo mentality is the reluctance to share information with employees in different divisions of the same company. This attitude is considered to reduce the efficiency of the organization and, in the worst case scenario, contributes to a damaged corporate culture. Business silos are separations in the company's human resources.
In silos, certain employees, leaders, or entire departments don't share resources such as information, funds, or talent with other departments or employees. Silos in companies can slow down production and hinder growth by creating a more competitive environment. Silo is a business term that has been spread and discussed at many meeting tables over the past 30 years. Unlike many other modern management terms, this is a topic that hasn't disappeared over the years.
Departmental silos are seen as a growing problem for most organizations of all sizes. Executive leaders and management have a duty to prepare and equip their teams with the right mindset to break down this destructive organizational barrier. Like any established objective, it is important that once this objective is defined, it is also measured precisely. The leadership team must establish a time frame to complete the common goal, the benchmarks for success, and delegate specific tasks and objectives to other members of the management team.
Regularly scheduled meetings should be held with the intention of holding each employee accountable for the task assigned to them. It's not uncommon for a great deal of inertia to be needed to maintain momentum. Let's not forget that teams thrive thanks to routine and constant reinforcement. Teamwork and constant cooperation must be present for the above 3 steps to work properly.
This is equivalent to the development of silos, but there are many ways in which a company can go down the wrong path and contribute to the silo effect. However, by breaking down the barriers created by the silo mindset, silos can be beneficial to your company. In smaller start-ups, organizational silos can be fatal to the company, as internal struggles over resources consume energy that is better spent on succeeding, and silos can even destroy the company if left unchecked.
