Breaking down barriers
As organisations scale, the loose networks that enable small organisations feel personable and nimble, can no longer cope.
Barriers and silos form, defensive walls go up, the communications between teams become formalised, and centred on process.
Why do barriers form?
The barriers relate to our need for tribes, and our ability to manage the relationships within and outside our tribes.
British anthropologist Robin Dunbar, argues there is a “magic number” of 150, which is the limit of the number of relationships we can maintain. Above that our networks fall down, social trust is reduced, and we start to put processes and controls in place to manage our interactions.
As far back as 1954, Muzafer Sherif’s observations of two groups in a study known as the ‘Robbers Cave’, showed that when groups form, they create a dynamic where they only speak good of their own group and bad of others. A similar pattern is found in many tribes; those who support different baseball or soccer teams, for example.
Do you have tribal barriers?
Lets us pause there for a moment. Ask yourself:
Do you struggle with cross functional working?
Does it feel that other teams are putting barriers in your way and causing your team to jump through their hoops?
Do you find your team speaking badly of other teams?
Do you find that other teams do not care about the quality of what they pass between teams?
All these are symptoms of where silos have formed, along with their natural barriers.
As a leader it hurts rather than helps to have silos and barriers within your organisation. It blocks creativity, collaboration, trust and agility as each team protects its own turf.
Breaking down barriers
It is possible to create organisations which reduce the silo behaviour. Think about Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon. Early on he implemented the Two Pizza Rule. He recognised that to enable flexible and fast communication small teams are essential, teams no bigger than can be fed by two pizzas.
If fundamental changes to your operating model feel like a step too far in breaking down the barriers between your silos, there are a few ways that you can mitigate their impact
Awareness. Recognise that this is a natural part of organisational growth
Language. Change the rhetoric to break down the barriers, encourage your teams to speak well of each other
Be human. Create human connections. It is easy to criticise or mistrust a faceless group, it is harder when it is a person
Lead by example. Create your ‘best’ buddy on your exec team as the person whose team seems to have the most conflict with yours
Common Goals. Find ways to have common goals that require the teams to work together for success.
Imagine for a moment. If you could wave a magic wand and build the behaviours to give you a competitive advantage; what would that look like. Blue sky thinking. Removing all your current constraints.
A simple exercise, but it will inspire you to nudge your organisation in the right direction when you get the chance.
If this is your organisation, and you would like help making a difference, we address the barriers in our Navigating Complex Organisations workshop, along with How to make more effective decisions.