When I was a child growing up in the farm belt of Central Indiana, silos were nothing out of the ordinary. They rose above the weather-beaten farm houses along every gravel road. From the time I was ten years old until I was out of high school I must have seen all of them at one time or another from the passenger side of my father’s dusty truck.
Dad drove for an Indianapolis creamery and every day ran his route of back-road dairy farms, collecting huge cans of milk for processing. I often went along to help him out. The silos were the tallest structures I had ever seen. Their purpose was to hold corn silage – the fermenting grain, corn stalks and other leftovers from crops. Silage was a high-protein food for cattle. Although it had a terrible odor, when cycled through a cow it produced great milk.
I don’t remember the first time I heard “silo” used to describe how some departments, divisions, or even committees try to function within an organization. I do remember the concept caught my attention and I realized these “business silos” had the same terrible odor as the silos of my youth, but without producing anything that someday could be turned into ice cream.
I remembered seeing these silos rising from the cubicles and production lines of businesses, but I also had seen them towering above non-profit organizations, schools, government agencies, churches, and even families. Any time two or more human beings got together to try to accomplish some task, it seemed it was just a matter of time before someone tried to construct a silo.
Several business gurus have attempted to define precisely what a silo is. My favorite comes from Patrick Lencioni, author of “Silos, Politics, and Turf Wars.” Lencioni says 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.
My own observations tell me people build these silos out of fear and insecurity. Those who operate within a silo view feedback from outside the group like the judgment of a jury. In other words, the best offense is a good defense. High walls make good neighbors. Hide what you are doing in the silo and no one can challenge your wisdom.
It would be a mistake, however, to lay the blame for silos primarily on the workers and sub-managers who build them. The real construction engineer is not at the bottom of the organization or even in the middle. The real engineer is sitting behind the big walnut desk in his or her private office.
Silos are the result of inconsistent, poorly-focused leadership. Leaders cause their subordinates to build silos by failing to provide vision, a sharply defined mission, proper planning and adequate training. If we were unable to clearly define the goals and objectives of Centralina Workforce Development Board, it is a safe bet that silos will flourish within our organization.
But there is good news. It is much easier to not build the silo than it is to disassemble it once it is constructed. Silos not only cost organizations and company’s dollars through inefficiency, they cost them through the loss of good employees and committed volunteers. Real team players cannot grow or contribute in a silo. Eventually, they will leave for places where they can make a contribution and receive the rewards of success.
With the game changing events taking place in our economy today, it’s time to be ruthlessly honest about the old “Silos” towering above our agency, while keeping an eye out for any new ones we might be tempted to build.
The next time you hear words like “my department” or “my division” or “my people” or “my budget,” or “my funds,” you can be assured the foundation is being laid for an awesome “Silo.” My recommendation is that you follow the advice of Barney Fife: “Nip it! Nip it in the bud! Nip it! Nip it!”
