There is a theoretical number called Dunbar´s number, that roughly states that the ideal number for an organization is about 150 people. Beyond that number, the ability for members of a group to maintain stable relationships with each other goes down quickly. In essence, what this is saying is that in organizations beyond a certain number, we need to start putting an infrastructure in place to make sure that we are able to move forward with delivering against objectives in an efficient and effective manner. Typically, this happens in the form of silos, or in other words, separating parts of production processes (or service delivery units) into distinct elements with their own sets of objectives that ideally link up to an overarching organizational goal. Well, in theory at least.
This is where the trouble begins. Silos have a tendency to become insular, which means that over time, at operational levels they speak less and less to each other and work starts to get duplicated as silos begin to fill in the gaps created by interdependencies in production or service delivery. This means that when it comes time to bring the pieces together as part of a unified whole we end up with mismatches in the interfaces between the different components brought forward by the different silos. It’s a classic case of the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing, and in some cases, it’s about the left not knowing that there is a right hand.
We often hear the battle cry of “we need to break down the silos” to address this, but let’s think about that for a minute. If you break down the underlying infrastructure of an organization, you are setting yourself up for failure because the ability to self-govern beyond a certain number does not scale.
The problem isn’t necessarily that we have the silos. The problem is that they often prevent concepts, ideas, and thinking to travel across the organization freely. A better way to address this is to leave the administrative infrastructure intact, but find ways to make the walls of the silos more permeable to allow for the flow of information across them.
If applied in the correct way, permeable silos can benefit from these advantages while benefiting from administrative support:
- Increased diversity in thinking and ideation;
- Reduction of duplication of work across the organization;
- Increase in the cohesion within the organization; and
- Ability to leverage resources across the organization in a more transparent manner.
While this is by no means an exhaustive list, you get the idea. However, in order to ensure that you are providing the right conditions for success.
As a start, provide some kind of platform and/or infrastructure to share ideas effectively across the organization. This isn’t email. Think, wikis, searchable pattern libraries, regular sharing events, internal hackathons, etc. Find ways to allow people to share the great work they are doing across the organization, lessons learned, and best practices. Leverage your investments in people and time so that you are not paying to get the same information multiple times.
Also, ensure everyone has a clear line of sight to strategic goals and intent so they can clearly see how their work is aligning with them. This will allow teams and individuals to see the relevance of their work in the big picture, and help them feel more engaged as they participate in leading the organization towards success.
The future is permeable.
