It is safe to say that many of us have worked in companies that have silo-based teams. You have a business concern, and the first reaction is to approach that one specific person who is the ‘expert,’ usually because they have been in the role for a long time.
That may have worked when employees had ample time, organizational stability was embedded and subject expertise was a defining factor in a career, but that’s a problem in today’s evolved, constantly changing and agile work environment.
Having single points of contact in your team can create lots of challenges. What if they retire? What if there’s an injury? What if there’s an expectation for development and they’re not available? Everything comes to a grinding halt or starts from scratch to upskill replacement resources so they can be productive. Such rigidity makes it very difficult to work rapidly and dynamically. So, let’s shift your team culture to a collaborative set of career skills that can all interoperate amongst a series of projects.
To bring this change, it is critically important to consider work motivation and how to transition whole teams to work as a collective rather than single-point experts. It is important to acknowledge that it can be difficult if your embedded culture has propped up single point expertise and there are ways to change it, but they are not overnight. Let’s explore some steps.
First and foremost, you must find early adopters who are interested in becoming more effective in their career and are willing to set egos aside. It’s critical to have key individuals— allies on your team—who buy into your philosophy of changing the organization’s work structure. Whether it’s engineering, human resources or instructional design; the success and evolution of the team is a defining motivator.
Identify existing team members who are naturally curious and lifelong learners who embrace evolving methodologies and strive to improve. Find those individuals and work with them rigorously to develop their core skills, embed strategic and critical thinking, and have them work on a project where they have ZERO subject expertise. Get them out of their comfort zone (safely) and after small wins, showcase their work to other team members to win their confidence. This will inspire others to follow and champion the positive experience.
This becomes the springboard for first followers. Don’t get caught in the trap of deferring to your innovative ‘star.’ You can’t just have one person doing something innovative all the time, without others having an opportunity. Then, they become the new ‘silo.’
Now is the time you engage the next wave of employees. That soon-to-be first follower needs to see the benefits of minute changes in techniques, working methods and have an awareness of the benefits they can gain, whether it’s in accelerated development, greater creativity, increased awareness, or great client feedback.
Witnessing and being a contributor adds to the value proposition of breaking down those silos for other team members. If your team members are working on a project and it gets done significantly faster, all the pressure is not on one SME or skills expert. There is high engagement, there’s great creativity and everyone has a positive experience because they brainstormed to meet a common goal.
As transitions become more normalized, your organization will benefit from a broader group of satisfied stakeholders. The added benefit is that projects get an inherent flexibility with workload levelling which fosters healthy normalcy in routine work. I think that’s a benefit essential for team’s mental health.
Having a couple of innovators on your team isn’t enough. A critical part of your role as the team lead is to clearly articulate the new expectations to the team. Whether you are in a team meeting, announcing a role change, or taking new corporate initiatives— there is an opportunity to reinforce those expectations. This includes how they work together as interchangeable but important assets, and not merely as isolated points of contact.
Sometimes, that can be difficult. You’re going to have individuals who were very successful in the previous model and more than likely you are not going to change them overnight. What you can do is work with constantly changing themes that are clear, consistent, and concise. It takes time. It’s gradual. You’re not going to see culture shift from silos to collaboration in a day, but the time and effort are worth the end goal.
The result is a team that embraces a completely different way of working, thinking, collaborating, and then pushing the business goals forward.
