SME Strategy Leadership, Management and Strategy

How to Improve Team Communciation (By Connecting Organizational Silos)

Written by Anthony Taylor | November 24

For a variety of reasons, teams struggle to communicate with one another. Therefore, it's crucial for leaders to understand how to improve team communication. 

As a leader, you may be in charge of a team, department, or organization. To achieve the goals you set, you will need to communicate information between these different parts.

A major roadblock to achieving your strategic goals is communication silos. Though you may understand the importance of connecting communication silos to help your people collaborate, it can be hard to do this while still performing your day-to-day operational tasks. 

This blog post highlights how to improve team communication by connecting your organization's communication silos. 

 

How to Improve Team Communication - ANTHONY'S PERSPECTIVE

 

If you're a senior leader, you're likely spending upwards of 80 percent of your time communicating. This level of communication is necessary to lead others, collaborate with departments, and effectively cascade your plan throughout the organization. Therefore, if you want to become a more effective leader, I encourage you to focus on improving your communication. However, one of the biggest challenges we run into within organizations that prevents effective communication is communication silos.

 

 

 

 

When I refer to "silos," I mean fractured teams or groups within your organization where information isn't flowing. You can think of silos as forming a communication gap. This is a problem when intended communication isn't being received by others because of these gaps.

 

In addition, internal departments or groups may have different goals, intents and assumptions. As a result, even if communication does make it across the gap, it may be misinterpreted because of these differing perspectives. This inevitably leads to rifts of trust and understanding among your internal groups. And the further your teams are from one another, the more difficult it is to work effectively together.

 

If trust has eroded throughout your departments, the act of leading through communication becomes significantly more difficult. To overcome this, it's necessary to call-out these shortcomings to work to establish a foundation of trust. Only then will it be possible to establish effective communication.

 

Once trust has been reestablished, it is then necessary to focus on defining and establishing communication processes and expectations. These pieces are critical because without the right foundation and systems, then you risk fear, confusion, and uncertainty throughout your organization.

 

I encourage you watch my video for further detail and insight on this topic.

 

FURTHER INSIGHT

 

To gain a well-rounded perspective on how to effectively break down communication silos within your organization, we recommend reviewing these pertinent articles.

CONTRARIAN CORNER

 

In this segment of Leader's Digest, we highlight a new approach to dealing with the topic of discussion. This will identify alternative modern solutions for your consideration

 

Take a look at the following article, which applies a different perspective on how to treat communication silos.

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!

 

Here are some of our actionable tips that you can use now to begin the process of improving team communication by addressing communication silos.

  • 7 Strategies to Break Down Silos in Big Meetings

    In team meetings, it can be difficult to get the participation of other departments. This article outlines seven strategies you may use to spark discussions, promote collaboration across departments, and create connections between them.

  • The Silo Mentality: How to Break Down the Barriers

    Most organizations of all sizes view departmental silos as a growing pain. This article outlines five steps strategies to help leadership teams create a shared vision and break down communication silos.
  • Knowledge Silos in the Workplace: What They Are and How to Overcome Them

    Communication Silos often create knowledge silos. Costing organizations millions of dollars annually, harming business culture, and killing teamwork. This article explains what communication silos are, how they form, and the clear harm they're doing to your organization.

WEIGH IN

You're invited to become a part of the conversation.

Participate in this poll question:

Why do you believe organizational silos form?

  • Different goals
  • Inefficient systems
  • Too many active projects
  • Corporate inertia

Click here to provide your answer and view the collective results.

 

SME STRATEGY NEWS

 

There's always a lot going on at SME Strategy. Here's a snapshot of recent and upcoming articles, events, and news.

RECENT STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATIONS

In November, SME Strategy completed several successful in-person strategic alignment facilitations and strategy implementations over the past month. These include DEED in Anchorage, SlingShot Aerospace in Los Angeles, and CAS in Boston.

 

NEW BLOG POST: 8 REASONS YOU NEED A FACILITATOR FOR STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION

 

You've spent a lot of time and money developing your strategic plan, but putting it into action can be difficult because you may be too busy working "in" your business to find time to work "on" it.

If achieving your strategic objective is critical and valuable to you and your organization, you must devote sufficient resources to make it a reality.

 

Read our most recent blog post to understand how working with a facilitator can help you keep focus on your strategic priorities and help you achieve a successful strategy implementation.

Read here

 

BOOKING INTO JANUARY 2023

 

If you are considering a strategic planning session for your organization, please reach out to us at your earliest convenience. Due to strong demand, we are now booking professional facilitations into January 2023.

 

Learn more and schedule today by clicking here.

 

ABOUT SME STRATEGY

 

SME Strategy facilitates strategic planning and helps teams implement their plans through regular check-ins, executive coaching, and team development. We've successfully crafted hundreds of strategic plans for organizations active in more than 35 industries.