Breaking Silos Through a Shared Vision

This year at #RSA, I found some kindred spirits—passionate AppSec people who are doing amazing things with their security program. We had a bunch of long and energetic talks that really got me thinking. Let’s start by talking about security/developer relationships. When it comes to security and developer relationships, two big—and arguably connected—talking points emerged: communication issues and silo issues. When I asked if any developers were working on the security team, most of the security people I spoke with said no. I got the same response when asking whether critical findings were reviewed by the AppSec team before talking with developers. I then followed up with, “Do general security personnel understand the application security tool findings?”. Most said (and I’m paraphrasing here), “kind of, but not really.” The common theme is clear. For a program to be successful, you need to break down those silos with increased cross-functional sharing. That also means increasing communication and understanding within the security team itself. Security executives need to understand that application security is a specific area of expertise that can’t be staffed with a network security resource. A few ideas to get you on the right path: 1.Shared goals. Application security is about building trust, not roadblocks. Work with the development team to build actionable goals that will improve your security posture while enabling developers to work through their backlog.  2. Communication. Work with the development team to find a dev who can review application security tool scan or penetration test findings/results? results and share actionable items with the development team. 3. Build knowledge bridges. Breaking down silos starts with building goals based on cross-functional knowledge. For instance, I once created an API coding and security best practice document based on feedback from both devs and the AppSec team. I worked with software architects to outline coding best practices and to incorporate security best practices. This built a relationship between both teams that is still active today.  4. Integrate application security education into development processes. Without this, you can’t improve your security posture. Put a plan together that starts at onboarding and continues bi-yearly. There are great programs out there that help teach what vulnerable code looks like and the proper coding resolution to resolve them.  5. Hire passionate people. They will drive your program to success.  6. Know you can’t hit 100% coverage or remediation. It’s an impossible goal. Plan for the worst, aim for the best, and hope to hit 90%.  7. Build a security champion program. I’ll get into this in more detail in my next post, but it’s worth mentioning here as a great way to energize your program. Please share your thoughts in the comments below, I would like to hear what you’re doing that could help others be successful. As always, stay secure my friends.

In today's fast-paced business world, the key to unlocking your team's potential lies not just in their skills or in your leadership, but in the deep-seated connection between their personal aspirations and the overarching goals of your organization. Imagine the unstoppable force your team can become when their personal dreams and your company's mission resonate in harmony. This alignment is not just a strategy; it's a transformative journey that turns ordinary employees into passionate advocates of your vision. The Most Effective Way to Inspire Your Team: Finding the Common Theme Discover Individual Passions: Initiate one-on-one conversations with your team members to understand their personal goals and passions. Learning about their aspirations helps in aligning their roles with what ignites their enthusiasm. Shared Vision Creation: Involve your team in the process of creating or revising the company's vision and mission. This inclusion fosters a sense of ownership and aligns personal goals with organizational objectives. Goal Synchronization: Develop a system where individual goals and company goals are reviewed together. This practice ensures that each team member sees how their contributions impact the larger picture. Personal Growth Opportunities: Offer tailored training and development programs that help employees grow in areas they are passionate about, which also benefit the company. Recognition of Individual Contributions: Regularly acknowledge and celebrate how each team member’s work contributes to the company's success. This recognition reinforces the connection between personal effort and organizational achievements. Empowerment through Autonomy: Grant autonomy in how team members achieve their goals. This trust not only boosts morale but also encourages creativity and innovation, aligning with the company’s forward-thinking vision. Transparent Communication: Maintain open lines of communication about company health, challenges, and successes. Transparency builds trust and helps employees understand how their roles play into the bigger picture. Work-Life Harmony: Respect and support the balance between work and personal life. Employees who feel their personal time is valued are more likely to bring their best selves to work. Leadership by Example: Lead with passion and purpose. Your enthusiasm and commitment to both the company’s and employees' goals set the tone for the entire organization. By aligning your team's personal ambitions with the mission of your company, you create a powerful synergy. This alignment not only drives your business forward but also cultivates a workplace where every individual feels genuinely invested and fulfilled. Remember, when your team's passions and your company's purpose intersect, the potential for extraordinary success knows no bounds.

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

A Chief Medical Director and the Nursing Director reached out to me for help to improve the relationships between their physicians and nurses. They were dealing with a lot of interprofessional and interpersonal conflicts which were impacting the teams’ morale (they had a lot of turnover), performance, and the delivery of patient care. Because this is our specialty, they reached out to discuss how we could help them with this problem. When I asked about how they engage in conversations about these issues, the nursing director shared that she and her nurses meet regularly, discuss issues, incorporate skill development, etc. The medical director shared how she and her physicians and providers meet regularly, discuss issues, incorporate skill development, etc. And then I asked, do you ever meet together to discuss these issues? ....... They paused, looking like a deer in headlights. They said no. How are they supposed to improve interprofessional communication, relationships, retention, morale, etc. if they aren’t even talking with each other as a collaborative team? I’m sure you’ve heard the example, if you want to create an all-star basketball team, you wouldn’t send your center to center school, your forward to forward school, and your guard to guard school and then expect them to play well in the championship game. But that’s exactly what we do in healthcare. We send physicians to med school, nurses to nursing school, therapists to therapy school, etc. Yet, we wonder then why we aren’t able to “win” the game. Instead, we need to bring the entire team together to learn the interpersonal skills they need to become a strong, high-performing, respectful team. Check out the newest article from the Healthy Workforce Institute to learn a key strategy to breaking silos in healthcare. https://lnkd.in/gdhRnm-C #breakingsilos #healthyteams #healthcareteams #culturechange #nurselife

✨✨The Value of Building Genuine Partnerships Among Executives ➡ The value of fostering authentic partnerships among executives cannot be overstated. It's a narrative I've encountered frequently through my clients and personally witnessed during my tenure as an Exec in various companies. A narrative of organizations ensnared in silos or micro-silos, grappling with the struggle to break free from cycles of blame, individual survival instincts, and confusion regarding work approaches. The outcome? ⭕ Inertia ⭕ Overlooked opportunities ⭕ A prevailing sense of frustration among executives ⭕ Confusion among respective teams. In such contexts, the idea of genuine partnership among executives often feels more like an elusive ideal than a tangible reality. Instead of collaborating towards common objectives with shared principles and strategies, departments operate in isolation, each prioritizing its own survival over the collective success of the organization. ✴ Executive partnership entails cultivating authentic connections grounded in trust, mutual respect, a shared vision, agreed-upon behavioral norms, and a coherent strategy for execution. True partnership entails supporting each other, particularly during challenging times, and approaching work with integrity, Care, empathy, and dedication to both the organization and fellow executives. It entails recognizing that the collective strength surpasses individual wants and achievements. ✳ Embracing this collaborative approach requires a fundamental shift in mindset—a departure from siloed thinking towards a culture of collaboration and shared responsibility. It calls for acknowledging that genuine partnership is pivotal to organizational growth, capability, and success. Dismantling silos is no easy feat. It demands leadership clarity, transparent communication, and a readiness to challenge the status quo (potentially leading to conflict). It involves tearing down barriers, fostering trust, and establishing a culture where collaboration isn't just encouraged but expected. Failure to demonstrate this commitment jeopardizes one's effectiveness as an executive , and therefore is not tolerated or embraced. 🔆 Curious about how to foster such partnership? Feel free to reach out for a quick call. #partnership # executives #silo #leadership #coaching #developingleadershipcapability

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!

Want to know one of the top blockers to your Customer Success team's success? Acting in a silo. You can't unlock true growth for customers as a CS team in a silo. Because, contrary to popular belief, Customer Success teams do not own the customer. The whole organization is invested in the success of its customers, so when CS acts in a silo true growth is impossible because of: -Duplicative efforts between different teams (CS, Customer Marketing, Sales, etc) -Gaps in the service the customer receives because of assumptions made about what others are doing -CS teams miss bringing to bear the full value of what their whole organization can offer for customers -Confusion among customers about what the company's goals are due to competing messages from multiple stakeholders who aren't communicating with each other -Lots of "square peg, round hole" of trying to make the CS team accomplish everything for customers when other teams might be far better equipped for this If you want to stop running into roadblocks like this, start communicating with other leaders in your organization. Breaking down silos is necessary, as Customer Success teams are not the heroes. This process takes work, as there's a reason we drift away from alignment. It's easier to just operate in a silo and do our own thing. But like most things in life, what's easiest isn't what's best. So if you want to unlock growth for your customers and better outcomes for your teams, it's time to roll up our sleeves and start communicating with other teams. Invest the necessary time to understand what other teams are doing and create true alignment. Your customers will appreciate it, and so will your boards. I'm grateful to work at an org like monday.com with cross functional partners who are too many to name, who are committed to ensuring alignment and breaking down silos for stronger customer outcomes. #CustomerSuccess #Leadership #Silos #SaaS

With a staggering 70% of transformations ending in failure and global spending on these initiatives expected to surpass $3.4 trillion, it's clear that conventional approaches are falling short and a new radically different approach is needed. I firmly believe that the key to success lies in getting your organization into alignment.   In alignment, every element of your business should work cohesively to fulfill the organization's purpose.     There are two critical dimensions to alignment.  - Vertical alignment: harmonizing strategies, goals, knowledge, and activities from the C-suite down to individual contributors. This involves defining everyone's role precisely so it's clear how they contribute to the organization's purpose.  - Horizontal Alignment: emphasizing effective collaboration and coordination. Across various business and functional areas. This means breaking down silos and fostering synergies. So that units work effectively to achieve common goals and objectives.   To achieve alignment, and I mean in A. Real. Tangible. Way, a common languages needed.    This language creates a shared understanding across diverse perspectives. Enabling clear communication by removing ambiguity and confusion. It fosters collaboration in delivering on a complex transformational agenda.   For a common language to be effective. It must satisfy three criteria.  - It has to be should be business oriented, which is critical for driving change through the lens of how the organization creates and delivers value.  - It must facilitate cross-functional connectivity linking concepts from different teams through that common language to tear down organizational silos and promote stronger communication and collaboration.  - It must represent different levels of granularity being useful for both senior leadership and lower-level staff at the same time.   I've considered this question extensively. My conclusion is that the only candidate that satisfied these criteria is process.    This requires organizations to invest in building a process capability to create and maintain an inventory of all processes.  This new and holistic method is the antidote to transformation failures and is the key to your organization succeeding into the digital age! This approach will save time, money, and be significantly more effective in delivering on the business vision for the transformation.

Critical knowledge isn't flowing freely. That’s decreasing decision effectiveness. And causing businesses to miss opportunities. Emerging insights lose their potency to propagate once they are two or three people removed from their source. Why? For new ideas to shift attitudes and behaviors, recipients need to come into direct contact with people who have already embraced them. Once those direct sources of social proof and reinforcement are removed, people might become aware of the idea but are far less likely to integrate it into their work. New ideas don’t bounce across networks.  They cascade through them. Companies that are highly effective at sharing and embracing critical new insights focus on creating densely clustered relationships within and between teams - breaking down silos. Organizational Network Analysis is incredibly powerful for revealing where ideas are getting stuck and guiding strategic interventions to increase their transmission and adoption. #creativity #collaboration #socialnetworks #peopleanalytics #knowledgesharing #silos #workplacestrategy #distributedteams