What Do Silos Mean in Management Culture?

Introduction

It is called the “silo mentality” and it is considered to be a bad thing. Similar terms with the same meaning are: Silo Thinking and Silo Vision.

In management jargon, silos are groups of like-minded people who work closely together. The bad thing about silos is that they are homogeneous and isolated, and they stop the cross-fertilization of ideas. And if you think your organization is immune, know that silo mentality can happen anywhere, regardless of company size or structure. We are encouraged to reform and restructure our organizations to remove silo thinking.

How Do Silos Form?

Relatively early in childhood, most of us discover we are good at some things and less so at others. Through teachers and parents, we are introduced to a whole range of activities, such as swimming or acting. Some will suit our temperament better than others. The more they suit our ability and temperament, and the more we are able to do them at our own speed and in our own way, the better they will work for us. And it is fun to be around like-minded people who share our passion, worldview and interests. We are, after all, social animals.

Over time, we may, through pure enjoyment, invest time and energy to get better at the activities that suit us. We are, in a sense, exploring our talents. And so, we discover vocational interests and preferences. This, in turn, can lead to a particular choice of disciplines at school and university, as well as to professional training.

It is, therefore, no wonder that an actuary going to a marketing conference, for example, is struck by how little he is like marketers or, indeed, how little he likes them. It is so much more enjoyable, comfortable and productive being with people from your own department or area of speciality.

For efficiency, firms are also divided into areas of specialization, such as finance or IT. These often have their own spaces, or even buildings. These, over time, become silos. It is a perfectly natural form of evolution.

Why Is Silo Mentality So Bad?

The danger, however, is that physical isolation and exclusive intra-group communication cause people in a silo to become a special tribe, with their own language and loyalty, and that they trust only their own chief. So silos can mean poor interdepartmental communication and a lack of company alignment.

But there are problems in ridding organizations of silos. People seem to prefer them, like to build them and rebuild them soon after they are destroyed. And the danger of solutions aimed at breaking down silos is that they can lower morale and productivity if the natural evolution of silos is not understood.

Communication Is Key

A culture of communication needs to start from the very top if there is any hope of it becoming part of the foundation of the company and that is to get those in silos to communicate with members of other silos and to feel part of the bigger team.