Strategies to Break Silos for Faster Change

𝗦𝗵𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝗶𝗹𝗼𝘀: 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗔𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 In many organizations, marketing departments work in silos. This approach not only fragments efforts but also limits the impact of marketing tactics. Think about content creation: It's typically happening across divisions without a centralized system, unless you're lucky enough to have a Content Center of Excellence (CoE). Absent a CoE trying to manage the process, content development becomes highly decentralized. SEO typically lives in marketing (sometimes in IT - which is strange) and, in many cases, is FAR downstream of content creation. It's treated more like a 'check the box' exercise before content goes live. Sometimes #SEO doesn't even see #content until it underperforms and they're brought in to "optimize". This siloed approach significantly limits effectiveness. From my experience with numerous brands, I can attest that integrated strategies yield far better results. However, moving from siloes to a collaborative model requires concerted effort. Here are some actionable steps to bridge these gaps and make your marketing efforts more unified: 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵: Create a shared repository for SEO and content insights. Focus on sharing what content knows about the business and what SEO is seeing in the data to find topics that meet audience needs and business objectives. Let these insights drive content creation and optimization. 𝗖𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗔𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀: Use a common platform and shared metrics to review performance data. This helps identify trends and opportunities for optimization in content formats and distribution channels. Remember, though teams may define success differently (page views vs. overall traffic, etc.), the ultimate business goal is what matters most. 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝗧𝗼𝗼𝗹𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴y: Disconnected systems cause disjointed strategies. Integrating technologies like CMS, DAM, automation, and collaboration tools ensures equal access to shared information, leading to cohesive goals and stronger outcomes. 𝗘𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗮 𝗖𝗼𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗘𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿: A jointly developed editorial calendar promotes consistency and strategic alignment. Keep it updated as a central reference for what's happening and where in the org. 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀: Make it someone's job to facilitate cross-departmental communication and collaboration. These individuals are key in synchronizing efforts and spotting improvement areas. Transforming to a truly integrated marketing approach is a journey, but brands that have traveled this path have unlocked significant advantages. If you’re ready to move away from silos and leverage collaboration for better results, let's connect and explore how to make this transition happen for your organization.

Silos don’t always protect performance. They often strangle it and create an 𝘶𝘴 𝘷𝘴. 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 culture. You may hear… “That’s not our team’s job.” “We weren’t looped in.” “We didn’t even know that was happening.” Silo mindset isn’t always malicious, Most of the time, it's just people doing their best,  with limited visibility. 👀 Here’s how it usually shows up: 🚫 Guarded info 🚫 Duplicated work 🚫Disconnected goals Here are 5 ways leaders can break down unhealthy silos: 1️⃣𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 ↳ Make time to connect with employees across the org ↳ Acknowledge shared wins in real time ↳ Work on projects with other departments 2️⃣𝗔𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗮 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 ↳ Link team goals to company-wide ones  ↳ Show how success relies on all functions  ↳ Use one-page plans to clarify priorities 3️⃣𝗞𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻 ↳ Train managers to connect, not just manage ↳ Build casual chats and mentoring circles ↳ Hold town halls, AMAs, and updates often 4️⃣𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗮 𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 ↳ Be transparent in wins, risks, and change ↳ Deliver on what’s promised, big or small ↳ Focus on learning, not fault, when issues arise 5️⃣𝗖𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗯𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗺 ↳ Spotlight joint efforts in public forums ↳ Offer shared rewards, not just individual ones ↳ Tell stories of how teams worked together As a leader, your job isn’t to tear down walls.  It’s to build bridges. Start here:  ➡️ Sketch one workflow your team owns  ➡️ Spot where others should be informed or involved  ➡️ Make one invite today, before the gap widens —————— ♻️ Repost to support more cross-team collaboration 🔔 Follow Justin Hills for strategies that scale with your team Join the Free email course for ambitious leaders The Goal System - https://lnkd.in/gvfcqi_i

Crush Silos and Build Pods Take a good look at your organization. Now grab a hammer and start smashing silos.  Let me start over. Look at your organization and identify how many of your core business tasks are assigned to just one discipline (Product, Marketing, etc).  Now ask yourself - can I do better? It's essential to have teams that are experts in different disciplines. However, problems start when these experts try to solve business challenges using only the tools their discipline offers. Example? Sure: Consider a lifecycle marketing team trying to solve onboarding funnel drops using only triggered communications. Or perhaps a brand team trying to elevate the company's product perception, leaning primarily on TV ads. What do you think the impact of these isolated activities will be? I would guess, not good enough. Crash First 🔨 Does brand marketing, performance marketing, and product each use their own channel and tone of voice to communicate with users? Crash - we are all addressing the same user.  🔨 Is marketing making promises that the product can’t keep? Crash - again, it's the same user. 🔨 Are you a two-sided marketplace trying to grow supply separately from demand? Crash, crash - you are slowing yourself down. 🔨 Do core product and global marketing have two separate roadmaps? Crash - for the last time, we are all addressing the same user!  🔨 You got the point. Now, Go Pods  Had fun crashing 🔨 ? Now let's rebuild 👫 .  The best way to fully address a business challenge is to assign it to a cross-functional group or a pod. Has your growth slowed down? Bring in experts with diverse skills and thinking methods and ask them to put their heads together and devise a plan. Returning to the example above - do you have major onboarding funnel drops? Assign this issue to a cross-functional pod. The data team will partner with the research team to discover WHY these drops occur. The product team will propose onboarding steps that could be eliminated, and the marketers will design triggered communications to educate and engage the user during the process. Now, what do you think the impact will be? 💰 #pods #silos #growth

Silos are the enemy of growth. You should focus on preventing (or solving) them or it will measurably suppress revenue. The problem for most growth-stage startups: Awareness or Skills. How do you improve your awareness? – When was the last time you had a cross-functional meeting with stakeholders from sales, marketing, product, and customer success? – How often do you get customer data, research, insights, test results from other teams?  – Do you have common disagreements or misalignment on growth initiatives? There are many ways to spot it and it's pretty straightforward if you take the time to look around. That’s the easy part, but then you need the skills to break these silos down. There are 4 approaches to chip away at the problem. Approach #1: Modifying Workflows – Create a multi-step approvals process where you give visibility to other teams that have relevant insights or can add value (only on important initiatives) – Develop joint growth projects where different stakeholders are involved to get teams working together – Build collaboration into your growth plans/project timelines Approach #2: Communication – Use a shared slack channel to provide visibility and context, share insights – Host quarterly business review meetings where progress and high level insights are shared – Invite stakeholders to actionable meetings where they can provide guidance (i’m not trying to kill anyone with meetings, but sometimes this can avoid wasting lots of time and resources) Approach #3: Documentation – Share formal customer data, research, test results, and insights in an actionable format – Create a RACI chart that shows roles and responsibilities so there is no confusion – Build a “hub of insights” that is accessible for anyone in the startup to find valuable insights Approach #4: Technology – Use tools to blend qualitative and quantitative data – Data visualization can help non-data scientists understand what is happening in an easy format – Ensure everyone has access so data isn’t siloed These are some straightforward tactics, but they can have a profound impact over time. While I support the rise in popularity of GTM teams, there are still so many operational issues that exist. Shifting your mental model isn't enough. There needs to be tactical changes made that add up to an increased growth rate. It’s more important than ever that we utilize every lever available to find increment wins in growth. #gtm #startups #tripledigitgrowth

This Harvard Business Review post is near and dear to my heart, as it emphasizes the necessity of breaking down organizational silos to foster innovation and collaboration across different functions, offices, and organizations. This is key to realizing promising business opportunities that require interdisciplinary cooperation. The TL;DR Version and The Four Activities to Promote Horizontal Teamwork: 1️⃣ Developing Cultural Brokers: Identifying and nurturing employees who excel at connecting people across different divides within the organization. These individuals, known as cultural brokers, can either act as bridges or adhesives to facilitate collaboration 2️⃣ Encouraging Open-Ended Questions: Motivating employees to ask questions in an unbiased manner that explores others' thinking genuinely. This practice helps in understanding diverse perspectives and fosters a culture of curiosity and learning 3️⃣ Promoting Perspective-Taking: Encouraging employees to actively consider and understand others' viewpoints. This helps in overcoming misunderstandings and integrating diverse expertise for innovative solutions 4️⃣ Broadening Vision to Include Distant Networks: Expanding employees' awareness of networks beyond their immediate environment to include more distant connections. This broadened vision enables the identification and leveraging of external expertise and opportunities for collaboration 5️⃣ And lastly, another topic near and dear to my heart: Organizational Network Analysis (ONA). The above strategies are directly relevant to ONA, as they aim to enhance the connectivity and flow of information across different parts of an organization. ONA can provide insights into the existing networks within an organization, identify key brokers, and highlight areas where connectivity can be improved. By applying the strategies outlined in the post, leaders can effectively address the challenges identified through ONA, leading to a more cohesive, innovative, and collaborative organizational culture. Thank you Heather Whiteman, Ph.D., Alex Furman, 🌻Erin McCune, Rafael Uribe, Andrew Pitts and others for introducing me to this awesome and very relevant concept. 🙌🏼 Get smarter here 👉 https://lnkd.in/ggy4N7du #ONA #collaboration #Performica #Polinode

Surrounded by Silos? Thinking about challenges and opportunities in terms of business drivers can help! When you take a broader look at developing solutions or capitalizing on opportunities you benefit from the collective wisdom of the company and help employees realize that everything is connected and everyone has a role to play. Say you want to reduce the amount of employee turnover in the customer service division. In addition to the traditional areas to explore (leadership and culture for the department, training, accountability and expectations)... Look at the bigger picture: ✨ Are customer complaints being listened to and acted on by production/service delivery? (If not, customer service reps may be getting burned out.) ✨ Do customer service reps have the authority to take some level of action to assist customers? (If not, customer service reps could feel a lack of control and lose motivation to help.) ✨ Is the job description and ideal candidate profile in keeping with the realities of the job? (If not, the people hired might not be the right fit for the position.) ✨ Is the ideal client profile accurate and is it being used by sales? (If not, the customers acquired may not be the right fit for the product or service.) This is one of the Catipult strategies I use to help my clients breakdown silos, connect all work to KPIs that impact the value and strength of the company, and increase employee engagement/satisfaction. What strategies are you using? #SecondinCommand #COO #CEO #Entrepreneur #Catipult

You played musical chairs as a kid…should you do it now at work? At SABRE our VP got tired of hearing our operations director complain about sales and the sales director complain about operations. So, one day at staff meeting he said, “John you are no longer running sales you’re running ops. Jim you are switching from ops to sales.” The executives were stunned. But it had the intended effect. Both got busy eliminating many of the problems they’d been carping about, but also, they realized that some problems were more intractable than they thought and they needed their groups to work together to solve them. “Innovation happens at the margins, where one discipline rubs up against another”, says Tony Cosgrove CEO of the Cleveland Clinic. He’s right, but you may need a catalyst to make it happen. At Travelocity my VP of Marketing was constantly complaining about how the IT department managed our CRM system. “They are slow and don’t understand what Marketing really needs. I could do it better”, He said. I called his bluff and moved all the CRM programmers and analysts into Marketing. He could no longer complain that ‘those other guys’ weren’t listening, as they were now ‘his guys’. But also, he had to learn how to serve the rest of the organization better than IT as that had been his claim. Putting those folks together broke down the silos and produced markedly better results. Try musical chairs to change perspectives!

10 Customer Success Principles to Kill the Silo Mentality We've long known: "Culture eats strategy for breakfast" - Peter Drucker Soled and status quo thinking, and worse operating, are company killers. I've watched strong, first-mover, and legacy product and service companies die at the hands of organizational blindness. The first casualties are customers - they don't receive the full benefit and service of the complete vendor org - fiction points become blockers, and CX erodes at light speed. The quickest remedy is an empowered Customer Success function. Customer Success principles can help overcome the silo mentality while leading to low-cost initiatives with larger-than-expected impacts on both revenue and profits. Organizations can realize significant benefits of revenue and profit from other divisions not currently fully benefitting from cross-functional alignment and initiatives. 1 | Align Customer Success Goals Across Departments 2 | Foster Cross-Functional Collaboration & Break Silo Mentality 3 | Lean on Customer Success Managers as Liaisons 4 | Implement Shared Custom Success KPIs 5 | Conduct Joint Problem-Solving for the Best Customer Experience 6 | Integrate Customer Success Tools and Platforms 7 | Establish Unified Communication and Say Goodbye to Silos 8 | Teach and Train on Customer Success Principles 9 | Create a Customer-Centric Culture 10 | Incentivize Collaboration for a Heightened Customer Experience Make no mistake, the leadership for these efforts - no infuse the culture - must come from the C-suite and execs. More in the article via the link, below. 👇 #customersuccess #leadership #crossfunctional #revenuegrowth MarketSource Inc. JEFF HECKLER

My inbox has started to fill with Product Leaders sharing their story on how "saying no to new ideas didn't work, and they have been fired". Heart drops hearing these stories. It's a tough environment right now, and no one wants to get on the bad side of an executive during a firing spree. But after digging in, 100% of these examples have ended with a leader who prioritized ego over business growth. Rather than stepping back and saying it's okay to just do what the highest paid people are saying to do, I'm going to double down. As a product leader, it is your responsibility to make sure the work we are doing is growing the business. And I believe that 90% of the work coming in needs a ton of improvement before being worked on, or it will cost the business a lot of money. I told myself I would never preach the "ideal way" to do product management, because let's face it - that environment only exists at 1% of companies. So let's talk about how to solve this problem at the other 99% of companies - at your company. Step 1 - We're not rallying a revolt but guiding a thoughtful conversation on impact, questioning the essentials that any business should consider mandatory. Start the dialogue, ask questions - and when things get tense back off. - What problem are we solving for our customers? - Are they willing to pay more for this solution? - What's our go-to-market strategy for launch? These questions are fundamental, the kind no one can dispute as critical for business success. Step 2 - Keep it casual, but document everything. Track outcomes, weave a narrative showing that a bit of upfront planning can indeed steer us toward our goals more effectively. Step 3 - Okay, now you can overthrow the sales-led organization and take over as leader. Kidding, it's a long journey. The goal here is for you to step out of the product-silo and help executives step out of the strategy-silo, let's connect and start working on these opportunities together with a shared goal. Remember, as product leaders, we're not claiming to have all the answers. We're here to ensure we're asking the right questions. Let’s not shy away from those conversations. They are the first steps toward making our organizations more product-led.

I've had three conversations just this week with clients talking about how to break down silos and promote cross-department collaboration - with both fully remote and hybrid teams. Collaboration isn't a new concept, it's been around as long as humans (300,000 years?), but with the rise of remote work the conversations are constantly evolving. One of the ideas we discussed (and one that is being implemented at the next all hands) is a day in the life exchange. Have a members of different teams pair and share their day-to-day activities with one another. In office? This can be done via an in person tour. Completely virtual? Maybe a series of videos. At a conference? It's can simply be a conversation. There are so many times I hear "I don't even know what they do." A glimpse into someone else's world where you learn their responsibilities and challenges can completely change perspective and improve communication. What is your favorite way to break down walls and increase collaboration? I'd love to hear your thoughts!