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Working in silos is a well-known hindrance to organizations, but its real effects are often underestimated. It prevents the sharing of information, slows down decision-making, fuels tensions between teams and makes it difficult to achieve common goals. Each department operates autonomously, according to its own priorities, tools and indicators... and the collective takes a back seat to business logic.
Breaking down silos doesn't happen overnight. It requires action on several levels: strategy, organization, management and culture. Here are 5 concrete levers to trigger this change and develop smoother, more sustainable collaborative working.
Silos often form in the absence of a clear collective direction. Each entity optimizes its own scope, without understanding how it fits in with the others. The result: tensions over priorities, duplication of effort, and efforts that cancel each other out.
At Leroy Merlin, as part of the launch of its omnichannel services, the store, digital and supply chain teams took part in a joint seminar. The aim was to set up an alignment framework and define the roles and impact of each on the customer experience. As a result of this exercise, arbitrations were accelerated and decisions became more coherent, as they were based on a shared understanding.
Key point: a well-structured alignment period is often the first step in breaking out of a silo approach.
When exchanges between trades are rare or informal, misunderstandings set in. It's not a lack of will, but often a lack of space. And without regular knowledge sharing, decisions become longer, riskier and more frustrating.
A major French bank found that its digital projects were falling behind schedule due to recurring friction between product, marketing and compliance. Rather than rethink everything, it set up an inter-team ritual: 30 minutes a week, with a review of shared indicators, an arbitration point, and follow-up on decisions. This format has helped to streamline interactions, avoid misunderstandings and reduce internal back-and-forth.
Key point: structuring short, regular, well-prepared moments can be enough to break down silos and boost cooperation.
As long as managers are judged solely on their team's results, they have no reason to concern themselves with the overall operation. Collaborative management implies a change of framework : you don't just manage a team, you contribute to the smooth running of the whole.
A food manufacturer reviewed its performance indicators to encourage co-responsibility. Production and sales, often at odds with each other, were given a shared customer objective in terms of lead times. This encouraged them to exchange more, to set up regular inter-team meetings, and to make decisions together. As a result, the atmosphere has improved and performance has stabilized.
Key point: to achieve more ambitious goals, managers need to move away from a "defensive" approach and play as a team.
Working in silos is reinforced when evaluation is based solely on individual criteria. Cooperative efforts then take a back seat, in the absence of explicit recognition. Participative management also means changing the signals sent by HR systems.
A technology startup has decided to integrate cross-functional collaboration criteria into its appraisal interviews. Each month, time is also set aside to identify cross-functional contributions, which are presented as a team. Sharing information in this way enhances the visibility of collaborative gestures and anchors new standards in the internal culture.
The important thing to remember is that valuing collaboration isn't about making speeches. It's about integrating it into concrete recognition systems.
Working in silos is not just organizational. It is also based on mental habits: fixed representations, preconceived ideas between professions, internal narratives ("they don't understand our constraints"). The solution lies in initiatives that encourage people to meet and understand each other.
In a major industrial group, a "Change de siège" program was launched. For one week, an employee moves to another department to observe, understand and ask questions. This short immersion helped to break down cultural silos: barriers fall more quickly when a workspace is shared, even temporarily. The effects were tangible: less tension, more shared ideas, better decisions on cross-functional projects.
The bottom line: a more open corporate culture is built by experience, not just by intention.
In a nutshell
Working in silos is not inevitable. But it won't disappear on its own. Concrete levers need to be put in place:
At NUMA, we help organizations to move away from compartmentalized thinking and build a more efficient, collaborative and humane way of working. Our formats combine training, experimentation, coaching and collective support:
Would you like to break down silos and strengthen collaboration within your organization? Find out more about our courses at www.numa.co/parcours
Working in silos is a well-known hindrance to organizations, but its real effects are often underestimated. It prevents the sharing of information, slows down decision-making, fuels tensions between teams and makes it difficult to achieve common goals. Each department operates autonomously, according to its own priorities, tools and indicators... and the collective takes a back seat to business logic.
Breaking down silos doesn't happen overnight. It requires action on several levels: strategy, organization, management and culture. Here are 5 concrete levers to trigger this change and develop smoother, more sustainable collaborative working.
Silos often form in the absence of a clear collective direction. Each entity optimizes its own scope, without understanding how it fits in with the others. The result: tensions over priorities, duplication of effort, and efforts that cancel each other out.
At Leroy Merlin, as part of the launch of its omnichannel services, the store, digital and supply chain teams took part in a joint seminar. The aim was to set up an alignment framework and define the roles and impact of each on the customer experience. As a result of this exercise, arbitrations were accelerated and decisions became more coherent, as they were based on a shared understanding.
Key point: a well-structured alignment period is often the first step in breaking out of a silo approach.
When exchanges between trades are rare or informal, misunderstandings set in. It's not a lack of will, but often a lack of space. And without regular knowledge sharing, decisions become longer, riskier and more frustrating.
A major French bank found that its digital projects were falling behind schedule due to recurring friction between product, marketing and compliance. Rather than rethink everything, it set up an inter-team ritual: 30 minutes a week, with a review of shared indicators, an arbitration point, and follow-up on decisions. This format has helped to streamline interactions, avoid misunderstandings and reduce internal back-and-forth.
Key point: structuring short, regular, well-prepared moments can be enough to break down silos and boost cooperation.
As long as managers are judged solely on their team's results, they have no reason to concern themselves with the overall operation. Collaborative management implies a change of framework : you don't just manage a team, you contribute to the smooth running of the whole.
A food manufacturer reviewed its performance indicators to encourage co-responsibility. Production and sales, often at odds with each other, were given a shared customer objective in terms of lead times. This encouraged them to exchange more, to set up regular inter-team meetings, and to make decisions together. As a result, the atmosphere has improved and performance has stabilized.
Key point: to achieve more ambitious goals, managers need to move away from a "defensive" approach and play as a team.
Working in silos is reinforced when evaluation is based solely on individual criteria. Cooperative efforts then take a back seat, in the absence of explicit recognition. Participative management also means changing the signals sent by HR systems.
A technology startup has decided to integrate cross-functional collaboration criteria into its appraisal interviews. Each month, time is also set aside to identify cross-functional contributions, which are presented as a team. Sharing information in this way enhances the visibility of collaborative gestures and anchors new standards in the internal culture.
The important thing to remember is that valuing collaboration isn't about making speeches. It's about integrating it into concrete recognition systems.
Working in silos is not just organizational. It is also based on mental habits: fixed representations, preconceived ideas between professions, internal narratives ("they don't understand our constraints"). The solution lies in initiatives that encourage people to meet and understand each other.
In a major industrial group, a "Change de siège" program was launched. For one week, an employee moves to another department to observe, understand and ask questions. This short immersion helped to break down cultural silos: barriers fall more quickly when a workspace is shared, even temporarily. The effects were tangible: less tension, more shared ideas, better decisions on cross-functional projects.
The bottom line: a more open corporate culture is built by experience, not just by intention.
In a nutshell
Working in silos is not inevitable. But it won't disappear on its own. Concrete levers need to be put in place:
At NUMA, we help organizations to move away from compartmentalized thinking and build a more efficient, collaborative and humane way of working. Our formats combine training, experimentation, coaching and collective support:
Would you like to break down silos and strengthen collaboration within your organization? Find out more about our courses at www.numa.co/parcours
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