Silos, Politics and Turf Wars

often the best suggestions and ideas about an issue come from people not closely involved in that issue

silos rise up not because of what executives are doing purposefully but rather because of what they are failing to do: provide themselves and their employees with a compelling context for working together

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

if your employees don’t feel any sense of unity or commitment to each other, they’re going to be more likely to look for it somewhere else

Silos.
Some called it departmental politics, or infighting, or lack of divisional cooperation.

Consider the time and energy that will be saved by providing your team with a unifying sense of purpose, by giving them an understanding of how everyone contributes to that purpose, and by making it easy to get employees throughout the organization rowing in the same direction.

Every executive team that I’ve ever taken through this exercise has come away with a very real sense of clarity and accomplishment

The first step a leadership team needs to take toward establishing a thematic goal and identifying its related components is to carve out enough time to discuss the organization’s priorities.

The real problem with matrices is that they put employees in difficult—maybe impossible—situations by asking them to please two different leaders who are not aligned with one another.

They should be able to see how the company’s long-term vision connects to its short-term objectives.