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Tear Down Your Business Walls:
A 3-Step Cure for Workplace Silos

by Jacke Schroeder, MSW, LCSW

I travel a lot in my work with growing businesses and clients across the country, which gives me the frequent opportunity to read Southwest Airlines’ Spirit magazine business dictionary. An odd coincidence grabbed me recently--Entry No. 78 -  "siloing."  \si-lo-ing\.  My interest was further piqued by this powerful and ironic illustrating quote, "There's so much siloing among our divisions, we'll need to hire bodyguards for the company picnic."

Intrigued?  I was too!  My work of late has been calling my attention to the way workplaces trend to the creation of silos, and an observation of how they drain the energy out of a business and the people who work in it. "Siloing," or compartmentalizing and intra-organization competition, is poison to business productivity and health, especially in times of rapid change—times like now, this 21st century.

For more on this interesting perspective, back to Spirit Magazine:

“Siloing - 3: In business, non-communication between departments, incompatible goal-setting, intra-company snobbery, or outright hostility. 
USEAGE: the term refers to the sealed-off nature of silos rather than to their utility in storing tomorrow's breakfast cereal.  At its most extreme, "siloing" in the workplace leads to destructive competition among nominal allies while providing an opportunity to abuse agricultural metaphors."

I am a "cultural creative" who focuses on business health; I believe that now, as we step fully into the tumultuous change of our times, is the perfect time to seek soul-centered, transformative and sustainable workplace options--options that result in balanced productivity, greater collaboration and ingenuity, in environments where every executive and employee is valued and contributes in a meaningful way.

 The strong coincidence of my observations and Spirit Magazine’s definitions drew me to ask:  What is the antidote for siloing, this common cause of unhappiness, stress and loss of productivity? So I decided to ask my spirit allies for some answers.  As an intuitive and shamanistic executive and business coach and healer, I work to uncover extraordinary strategies for navigating your professional and personal life and for obtaining miraculous outcomes for you and your business.

"Making a journey" is one of several methods I use.  During a journey I connect with forces outside of our ordinary ways of thinking and perceiving.  I connect with sources and information from other realms; this information is often presented in metaphors.  Once the journey is complete my client and I process what we learned and decide how to integrate this "information" into analysis and action steps that are uniquely meaningful and relevant for the client, the business and the circumstances.  The process is like mining.  For the client, the results are like uncovering gold!

My journey began with my original question.  "What is the antidote for siloing in the workplace?"  My journey revealed a 3-Step cure, which I want to share with you.  I invite you now, while reading this, to allow your own perception to open for receiving literal and metaphoric meaning for you and your workplace.

As soon as the journey to find a cure for siloing began I heard these words singing in my mind:  "Fly me to the moon and let me play among the stars."  Instantly I met a Gorilla.  He showed me a view of an office from above, as if I was looking into an architectural model of a business location with separate offices and cubicles.  I perceived that the Gorilla wanted me to first understand what actually causes "siloing." 

The cause was surprising!   "Siloing" is primarily caused by people seeking privacy in the workplace and experiencing a need to create boundaries.  A second cause is people's attempt to prevent the wasting of or dissipation of their essential life force and essence in the form of their creative self-expression.  People protect their creativity, or individual self-expression (not the actual art or production) from feelings of uncertainty about whether they, as an individual, will continue to have a "place of value" within the organization.  Being unable to view themselves and their work as contributing meaningfully to the organization and its successes, people unconsciously focus on preserving and protecting their life force and their contributions. Unfortunately they do this by denigrating other people's creative expression.

A third critical factor, the Gorilla explained, is the “chaos makers” in employee communities.  Chaos does have a valuable function; it is an energetic force that creates necessary changes.  However, people forget that all life exists in an energetic exchange with our environment and that every individual has the power to influence their environment. Chaos, as an energetic entity, must be called in when needed, and then removed from the environment when its work is done.

Now that I understood why silos arise, I asked the question again:  "What is the cure for "siloing" in the workplace?" 

Here is the 3-Step cure: 

  1. Take turns being in the lead and engage everyone in focusing on the direction and benefit of the entire company.
  2. Call peoples’ attention to "siloing" behaviors with the intention of finding the key to redirecting people's energies toward mutually productive and rewarding actions.  In other words, don't act like it's not happening and don't continue blindly participating in and strengthening workplace silos.  Instead, face it directly and identify the contributing actions and behaviors--not for the purposes of "make wrong," rather for the purpose of bringing compassion and camaraderie to everyone.  Engage all levels of the company in this endeavor in a way that is more invigorating and rewarding than the silo-generated behaviors. 
  3. Create productive and humanistic competition within the company toward outcomes that are mutually beneficial to the organization as a whole as well as its parts or "silos."

Still with me?  Now let your mind wander.  Think about occasions where you might have encountered "siloing."  Muse about what you think may have been the causes.  Perhaps, like my student Beth, you think people create boundaries to stay clear of perceived dangers, of impending changes or in response to past experiences where their creativity remained unacknowledged.  In return they may have cut off other people's self-expression, setting a cycle of boundary creation resulting in silos.

As I’ve talked with others about the meaning of my "journey," I connected to an understanding of the I Ching symbol for "grace." I Ching, the Chinese Book of Changes, centers on the ideas of the dynamic balance of opposites, the evolution of events as a process, and the acceptance of the inevitability of change.  The I Ching symbol "grace" represents: "Inside, the strength of simplicity and self-knowledge. Outside, the beauty of acceptance and gentleness."

These messages from the I Ching provide a fuller understanding of "The 3-Cures for siloing."

  1. Good fortune is yours if you concentrate on bringing grace to your thoughts and actions.  The ego can encourage us to act with aggression, speak boldly, intimidate others, to "buffalo" our way through difficult situations. Genuine power and lasting progress come from a different kind of strength altogether.
  2. Inner strength comes from steadfast devotion to humility, simplicity, equanimity, and acceptance.
  3. There is a time to relinquish self-important maneuvering. Instead, return to stillness and contemplate the inherent wisdom of the principles of the Sage. Practice quiet strength within and gentle acceptance without... (to) acquire a grace THAT DISSOLVES ALL BARRIERS TO PROGRESS.

The I Ching’s message:  check our egos, remain humble and accept everyone, in order to dissolve barriers. All part of an important and needed paradigm shift from a focus on the individual to a focus on the benefit of all and the whole—the Cure that will eliminate "siloing!"

 

With over 30 years of business and therapeutic expertise, Jacke Schroeder serves as a powerful bridge between the two disciplines. As an evolutionary leader, transformational coach and speaker, educator and healer, she facilitates life-changing personal and professional paradigm shifts for individuals, business owners and organizational leaders. Contact Jacke Schroeder via email or call 503.777.1366.