SEVENTH ANNUAL KEY EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE
Leading with Courage and Confidence in Turbulent Times
FHI 360 Conference Center, Washington, D.C.
Wednesday, May 11, 2016
“SILO-BUSTING” THROUGH
ACTION LEARNING
JOSEPH A. SCLAFANI MBA PHD
CHANGE MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATES INTERNATIONAL, INC.
What does Silo mean to you?
11 May 2016
7th Annual Key Executive Leadership Conference:
Leading with Courage and Confidence in Turbulent Times
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Silos
“Silos in organizations [are] vertical cleavages running up and down
the hierarchy that separate functions from each other.”
- Mintzberg (2009)
Functional silos are “compartmentalized operating units isolated from
their environment. . . . [They] are often created as specific business
processes or functions are delegated to a group within a company.
- (Motiwalla & Thompson (2009)
11 May 2016
7th Annual Key Executive Leadership Conference:
Leading with Courage and Confidence in Turbulent Times
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Silos
“Silos are nothing more than the barriers that exist between departments
within an organization, causing people who are supposed to be on the
same team to work against one another.”
- Lencioni (2006)
A Functional Silo is an “individual business function that tends to act as a
stand-alone function, often formulating its own strategies and work plans in
parallel with other business functions. This expression is used when
describing an organization whose functions tend to be less communicative
and collaborative.”
- Technology Training Ltd.
“Silo . . . is a figure of speech for organizational entities – and their
management teams – that lack the desire or motivation to coordinate (at
worst, even communicate) with other entities in the same organization.”
- Serrat (c.2010)
“ . . . Like viruses, [silos] occur naturally”
11 May 2016
7th Annual Key Executive Leadership Conference:
Leading with Courage and Confidence in Turbulent Times
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Help or Hinder Organizational Effectiveness?
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7th Annual Key Executive Leadership Conference:
Leading with Courage and Confidence in Turbulent Times
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Discussion
In what ways do you find that silos
contribute to your organization’s
effectiveness?
11 May 2016
7th Annual Key Executive Leadership Conference:
Leading with Courage and Confidence in Turbulent Times
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Silo Positives
Pool expertise – facilitates the exchange of
ideas, knowledge, contacts
Supports specialization – technical excellence &
social interaction
Economies of scale – reduces duplication of
resources by different work flows
Facilitates information flows – up & down the
functional vertical
11 May 2016
7th Annual Key Executive Leadership Conference:
Leading with Courage and Confidence in Turbulent Times
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Discussion
In what ways do you find that silos
detract from your organization’s
effectiveness?
11 May 2016
7th Annual Key Executive Leadership Conference:
Leading with Courage and Confidence in Turbulent Times
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Silo Negatives
Barriers to cross-silo collaboration
– Metrics incentivize silo vs.
organizational performance
– Bureaucratic processes stymie
innovation, e.g. decision-making,
silo-specific tools/techniques
– Limits view of end-to-end
workflow, i.e. across functional
boundaries
– Detracts attention to broader
organizational objectives
11 May 2016
7th Annual Key Executive Leadership Conference:
Leading with Courage and Confidence in Turbulent Times
Silos work against
recognition of
corporate-level
opportunities
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Like “talking to the wall”
11 May 2016
7th Annual Key Executive Leadership Conference:
Leading with Courage and Confidence in Turbulent Times
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Lack of Accountability
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7th Annual Key Executive Leadership Conference:
Leading with Courage and Confidence in Turbulent Times
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Misses the “Big Picture”
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7th Annual Key Executive Leadership Conference:
Leading with Courage and Confidence in Turbulent Times
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Limits Vision
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7th Annual Key Executive Leadership Conference:
Leading with Courage and Confidence in Turbulent Times
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11 May 2016
7th Annual Key Executive Leadership Conference:
Leading with Courage and Confidence in Turbulent Times
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Discussion
Any examples you know personally
of yourself or someone else
successfully managing beyond silos?
11 May 2016
7th Annual Key Executive Leadership Conference:
Leading with Courage and Confidence in Turbulent Times
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11 May 2016
7th Annual Key Executive Leadership Conference:
Leading with Courage and Confidence in Turbulent Times
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Limiting Silo Negatives
Promote lateral processes:
• Informal/voluntary, e.g. interdepartmental
rotation; interdepartmental events; colocation; consistent metrics & rewards
• Formal cross-functional groups, e.g. workouts,
agile management processes
• Linkage processes, e.g. corporate values,
policies, procedures & rules
• “Integrator” role to lead the formal group
11 May 2016
7th Annual Key Executive Leadership Conference:
Leading with Courage and Confidence in Turbulent Times
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Discussion
What do you find to be your biggest
problem in managing beyond the
silos?
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7th Annual Key Executive Leadership Conference:
Leading with Courage and Confidence in Turbulent Times
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Silo Negatives
Silo Mentality – “reluctance to share information, make
connections between their work and the work of other
departments, or see where collaboration could bring
mutual benefit”
• Entrenched subcultures with distinct
values, perspectives
• Internal status systems
• Distrust or resentment of other
departments
• Allegiance to profession over
organization
• Facilitates “victim” psychology, e.g.
fosters finger-pointing, blame shifting,
defensive personnel
11 May 2016
7th Annual Key Executive Leadership Conference:
Leading with Courage and Confidence in Turbulent Times
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Loudon (2005)
• “vertical ghettos”
• “foxhole
management”
• “hardening of the
categories”
• “towers of Babel”
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Key Challenge
Silo Mindset
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7th Annual Key Executive Leadership Conference:
Leading with Courage and Confidence in Turbulent Times
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“True collaboration begins inside the individual, . . .
Then works its way out into the organization.”
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7th Annual Key Executive Leadership Conference:
Leading with Courage and Confidence in Turbulent Times
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Action Learning
A process of insightful questioning
and reflective listening by a small
group working on real problems,
taking action, and learning while
doing so
Action Learning creates dynamic opportunities for
individuals, teams, leaders and organizations to
successfully adapt, learn and innovate
11 May 2016
7th Annual Key Executive Leadership Conference:
Leading with Courage and Confidence in Turbulent Times
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11 May 2016
7th Annual Key Executive Leadership Conference:
Leading with Courage and Confidence in Turbulent Times
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Puzzles vs. Problems
Puzzles are “difficulties from which
escapes are thought to be known.”
Problems have “no single course of action
. . . so that different managers, all
reasonable, experienced and sober, might
set out by treating them in markedly
different ways.”
(Revans, 2011)
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7th Annual Key Executive Leadership Conference:
Leading with Courage and Confidence in Turbulent Times
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Action Learning Group
• 4-8 members
• Diverse
• At least one member
should be unfamiliar
with situation/problem
• May call on external
resources when needed
• Empowered to take
action
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Ground Rule #1:
Statements only in Response to a
Question; and anyone can ask a question
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7th Annual Key Executive Leadership Conference:
Leading with Courage and Confidence in Turbulent Times
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Power & Role of Questions
• Changes dynamics of listening
and problem solving –
counteracts “bias to
premature action”
• Serves as foundation of
dialogue – develops a shared
understanding of problem
context & content
• Creates receptiveness to
change and development
• Builds group cohesion
The seeds of solutions often reside in questions
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From Debate . . .
. . . to Dialogue
11 May 2016
7th Annual Key Executive Leadership Conference:
Leading with Courage and Confidence in Turbulent Times
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Clarify the Problem
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7th Annual Key Executive Leadership Conference:
Leading with Courage and Confidence in Turbulent Times
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Puzzles or Problems?
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7th Annual Key Executive Leadership Conference:
Leading with Courage and Confidence in Turbulent Times
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Surface & Challenge Assumptions
“There are no
facts, only
interpretations.
- Nietzsche
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7th Annual Key Executive Leadership Conference:
Leading with Courage and Confidence in Turbulent Times
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11 May 2016
7th Annual Key Executive Leadership Conference:
Leading with Courage and Confidence in Turbulent Times
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Take Action
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7th Annual Key Executive Leadership Conference:
Leading with Courage and Confidence in Turbulent Times
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Ground Rule #2:
Action learning coach has authority to intervene
when s/he identifies a learning experience
during and at end of session
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7th Annual Key Executive Leadership Conference:
Leading with Courage and Confidence in Turbulent Times
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Double-loop Learning
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7th Annual Key Executive Leadership Conference:
Leading with Courage and Confidence in Turbulent Times
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Accountability
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7th Annual Key Executive Leadership Conference:
Leading with Courage and Confidence in Turbulent Times
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Decisions to Trust
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7th Annual Key Executive Leadership Conference:
Leading with Courage and Confidence in Turbulent Times
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11 May 2016
7th Annual Key Executive Leadership Conference:
Leading with Courage and Confidence in Turbulent Times
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