How prevalent are communication silos in your organization?

Our reader poll today asks: How prevalent are communication silos in your organization?

• They’re everywhere. Everyone operates in a silo: 56.7%
• We have a few big silos but not an excessive number: 26.7%
• We don’t have many silos: 10.7%
• We don’t have silos and communicate very well: 2.3%
• I’m a farmer. I’m supposed to have silos: 3.6%

Let’s break down the walls. Operating in silos is clearly a pandemic sweeping across the organizational landscape. A full 57% of you state that they’re everywhere. Typically a desire to exert control over one’s area or an unwillingness to put in the effort to communicate with other groups is the root cause of these silo issues. The problem is more and more of us operate in a matrixed environment. The key to breaking down the silos is demanding people take a broader view of their work and involve stakeholders more proactively. Unless you hold your team to that standard of communication, they’ll continue plugging away in their individual silos, oblivious to the impact of their work on the rest of the organization.

 Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

Did you enjoy this post?  If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog.  It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!).  SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

These results were originally a SmartPulse poll in SmartBrief on Leadership which tracks feedback from more than 210,000 business leaders. Get smarter on leadership and sign up for the SmartBrief on Leadership e-newsletter.