As the idea of a job for life has generally disintegrated over the years, people are now changing jobs and professions as a regular life choice. It’s fair to say that I have witnessed silo working to a greater or lesser degree in every industry I have worked with from hospitality to banking, the judicial system and government. In my experience it is the larger organisations that tend to work in this way. A culture of “own department” and “own targets” has driven this approach.
As people move around industries, they bring with them new ways of working and a desire to change the status quo. These challenges are often met with the “But we don’t do it that way” attitude. This attitude gets in the way of organisational and cultural change needed to survive in the modern workplace by perpetuating the rigidity of silo working.
As more and more organisations face significant challenges, the need to utilise skills from across the organisation rather than relying on “Titles” from within silos becomes more important. There is always untapped talent and resource from within the current establishment.
On large housing regeneration programmes where a Local Authority is involved many of the disciplines exist to form multi-functional teams which are critical to success and timely implementation – drawing people from different departments together to form special project teams to deliver the outcome required. The project will usually be time limited and not require full time attendance by the team. Sounds simple, however the challenges start around the governance of these sorts of arrangements where ingrained ways of working in the “own department” and “own targets” mindset present barriers.
Trust, empathy, daring, steadfastness, flexibility, and time are all required for these teams to work effectively. However, these leadership skills and cultural values must be lived, and be seen at the very top and all the way through the organisation. If these values and characteristics are lived, in my experience people will step up, feel appreciated and provide the discretionary effort for the benefit of the organisation and their own professional growth.
The benefit of integrated and active multi-functional teams is clear when recognising the wide range of capabilities people have to offer. The interaction among colleagues from across departments and organisations helps to develop a multi skilled workforce more able to adapt and lead on new projects. It builds stronger teams equipped with new skills and can reduce the cost to deliver the sizable projects undertaken by large organisations.