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What’s one of the best ways to foster creativity and growth in the workplace? Dismantling silos and building internal bridges.
Members of various corporate C-Suites are beginning to recognize that silos are a major factor that prevent companies from hitting growth and profit targets. Not only that, they understand that silos are partially responsible for key employees not reaching their full potential and losing them to competitors.
The term ‘silo’ has been used in the corporate arena for the last 30 years. It is borrowed from what we know as farm silos which store grain for farmers. When you look at farm silos, they have no windows, they have limited points of entrance, and in older silos, the grain cannot be easily extracted. How ironic. The instrument that is used to store a product to sell at a later date for profit is the same instrument that obstructs the full life and fervor of the farm. The same is true when applied to companies.
When organizations directly or indirectly permit silos to exist, they are effectively disallowing colleagues to “look in” or obtain needed information from other departments to grow the business unit and the company at large. In silo situations, employees work at a disadvantage and cannot perform at peak performance. Operating in a ‘silo mindset’ is a dangerous business risk because it potentially jeopardizes the life of the entire organization. Over a period of time, productivity will falter, profits will shrink, employee morale will decrease, and clients will leave.
Conversely, when employees from across all departments, divisions, and geographical areas creatively collaborate, ideas become reality which lead to a network of team spirit. Then you can look forward to a surge in productivity, client growth, and profits.
Do this today: Make a commitment to create room in the business plan for an effective organizational transformation. Change comes from the top. A new mindset and a rejuvenated mission will place the company back on track to open communication to get things done for the benefit of everyone involved.
Make it a great day and remain exceptional !
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