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Commentary - McKinsey Quarterly
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Now that you’ve
read the Five …
You already know silos are the enemy of healthy organizations and strong economic performance.
Silo effect
Fed up with turf wars, silos, and other company dysfunctions? Energize the “brokers,” who knit together your organization’s formal and informal networks.
Call your broker
In this edition:
How GE is becoming a truly global network
Commentary - McKinsey Quarterly
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How GE is becoming a truly global network
How silos damage customer experience
How silos damage customer experience
Matchboard
Dive deeper
A quick briefing in five—
or a fifty-minute deeper dive
The role of networks in organizational change
The role of networks in organizational change
Article - McKinsey Quarterly
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Balkanized
Go further by tackling the fragmentation in your company’s organizational networks, which comes about when employees neglect relationships with colleagues outside their regular work flow.
Discover more Five Fifties
How silos damage customer experience
How silos damage customer experience
Matchboard
The role of networks in organizational change
The role of networks in organizational change
Article - McKinsey Quarterly
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How GE is becoming a truly global network
How GE is becoming a truly global network
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Busted?
Overcoming silos requires end-to-end operating models and a strong dose of transparency, accountability, and coordination. But are these crucial moves enough?
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Spanners
Then bridge the gaps by identifying “brokers,” people who boost information flow and collaboration between functions, departments, divisions, hierarchical and tenure levels, and physical locations.
The role of networks in organizational change
The role of networks in organizational change
Article - McKinsey Quarterly
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Mapping the value of employee collaboration
Mapping the value of employee collaboration
Article - McKinsey Quarterly
John G. Rice, former vice chairman of General Electric
Without a radical shift in everyday working behavior—in employees’ relationships with the company and with one another—silos will remain, and the sort of cross-industry and horizontal collaboration that companies like GE need to foster for growth is not going to happen.”
“
silos are the enemy
83%
of executives said that silos exist in their companies
97%
of executives think silos have a negative effect
end-to-end operating
models
of transparency,
accountability, and coordination
Information sharing
Mentoring
Social interaction
Information sharing
You have slightly fewer ties than average for your peer group
Mentoring
Fewer people have identified you as a mentor than is average for your peer group
Social interaction
You have more ties than average for your peer group
Jane Smith
Peer group (other SVPs)
Entire office
Disguised example: connectivity report for Jane Smith, senior vice president (SVP),
number of ties within the company
Brokers are people who connect different subgroups in a network
Densified
A broker strengthens ties between employees
beyond their primary departments and functions—
leading to more robust organizational networks.
The role of networks in organizational change
The role of networks in organizational change
Article - McKinsey Quarterly
Dive deeper
After:
Before:
Bridging
Along the way, by using the network lens, you’ll learn what, where, and how to invest to bridge the gaps that contribute to your organization’s siloed behavior.
Mapping the value of employee collaboration
Mapping the value of employee collaboration
Article - McKinsey Quarterly
Dive deeper
Gather
Clarify clusters of functional expertise dispersed in your company’s different regions and businesses, then collect them into
agile “chapters.”
Measure
Learn the value created by people you
have yet to recognize as central contributors, then rethink performance metrics and
financial incentives.
Coach
Compare colleagues who are effective communicators to find the outliers who are
less effective, then focus personalized coaching on the collaborative issues that are unique to each underperformer.
Hire
Evaluate collaborative skills for “hard skill” jobs such as data architects and scientists to improve project execution and customer satisfaction.
Gather
Clarify clusters of functional expertise dispersed in your company’s different
regions and businesses, then collect them
into agile “chapters.”
Measure
Learn the value created by people you have yet to recognize as central contributors, then rethink performance metrics and financial incentives.
Coach
Compare colleagues who are effective communicators to find the outliers who are less effective, then focus personalized coaching on the collaborative issues that are unique to each underperformer.
Hire
Evaluate collaborative skills for “hard skill” jobs like data architects and scientists to improve project execution and
customer satisfaction.