52 silo-busting ideas in ten minutes
I recently worked with an organization that had merged more than a decade ago. It was a classic post-merger Company A versus Company B divide. Long after integration of technology platforms, payroll, and a change in the organization’s name, many individuals in the organization still clung to tightly held US versus THEM corporate identities.
Silos waste time, money and interfere with optimal performance whether your organization makes widgets or manages block chain technology. It might be Sales versus Marketing or New York versus L.A. - deep divides across corporate teams have a negative impact on revenue, market share and innovation.
A transportation company I worked with had one office in the U.S. and another in Europe. These two locations built up such an intense rivalry that they ended up competing against one another, rather than leveraging their buying power, with an important service provider. Of course, this resulted in higher costs for the entire enterprise as well as hard feelings between the U.S. team and those in Europe.
I’ve spent my 30-year career helping professionals build trust across US versus THEM divides. Doing this for the past two years using virtual tools lead to a surprising discovery. Not only are solutions well within reach, a virtual platform can make it easier and more cost effective to achieve.
During a one-hour virtual presentation with about 70 employees of Company A-B, I posed questions using an interactive presentation tool called Mentimeter. This free tool allows all participants to respond anonymously using their phones from any location. Early questions were designed to activate the common identities of the participants, which in this case revolved around geographic location. Next, I asked questions designed to foster awareness of current divides. Questions such as, ‘Since the merger, how well integrated are the two companies into one collaborative, cohesive organization?’ and ‘Do you think there are US versus THEM gaps that sometimes interfere with optimal efficiency or the client experience? To this last question, 80% of the participants reported either ‘yes, lots of gaps’ or ‘some gaps.’
After framing the organization as a corporate culture that has the flexibility to unify and improve, participants were asked this simple open-ended question. ‘What is one action you could take in the next week to bridge gaps and start your WE-building effort?’ In less than ten minutes 52 actionable commitments appeared on a screen for everyone to see.
To be sure, not every participant generated a commitment to take action, but all the participants saw concrete solutions and genuine enthusiasm for closing gaps. Most professionals want to work in unified, collaborative teams. When asked ‘How motivated are you to take action to build a WE culture?’ 82% responded ‘very likely’ or ‘somewhat likely.’
Fostering cohesion is within reach of any leader
with a wi-fi connection and a WE-mindset.
*Join my mission to inspire a WE-Building revolution where people take action to bridge US versus THEM gaps in the workplace and beyond.