What Happens When Poor Communication Threatens Digital Innovation
Whether you’ve worked in an organization operating in silos or just heard of them, you probably know that silos can have detrimental effects on organizational culture, operational efficiencies, and decision-making.
What you may not know is how operating in silos can hinder an organization’s ability to innovate with new technology.
Digital innovation is critical to an organizations’ success, but problems with communication can threaten even the most simple technology upgrade. Problems start when leaders lose sight of the big picture and start focusing on the small issues in front of them.
Change is not always easy, nor is it comfortable. In order for organizations to keep up with technology advancements and remain relevant, the entire organization must be aligned on where it’s headed.
Businesses and public institutions alike often bring in technology consultants or hire fresh, new minds to shake up the status quo and find momentum.
Some organizations think that by hiring IT leaders with impressive resumes, innovation will just happen.
According to MIT Sloan Management Review, sometimes new IT leaders will speed ahead for the sake of technological progress and ignore long-standing culture and process issues along the way.
Sometimes CEOs inadvertently encourage this siloed methodology because they are so driven by the end result. In MIT’s example, the CEO, who is uneducated in IT matters, put blind trust in his IT leader and never questioned their internal process or reasons for delays in delivery.
Essentially, IT leaders block out the problems occurring outside the walls of their department with the good-faith belief that technology will be the ultimate solution - without understanding the problems' true depth.
When IT engineers and analysts have their heads down and earbuds in, they’re oblivious to the problems and frustrations of non-tech departments, which are, ironically, the very clients they are striving to help.
Failing to listen and communicate with the entire organization is an all too common example of how IT departments inadvertently create silos and hinder innovation.
But there are several other reasons why organizations operate in silos that can impact how an organization is able to grow and change.
Here are a few reasons why organizations operate in silos:
Organizational culture breeds distrust and lack of collaboration between departments. Sometimes leaders are vying for power or leverage and choose to keep their cards close. This aggressive and negative culture trickles down to managers and supervisors, and over time can create inefficiencies, morale issues, a mountain of unaddressed problems, or personnel drama.
Organizational culture supports the status quo. Employees are simply comfortable in their lane and aren’t encouraged by management to question processes, update SOPs, conduct analysis, or measure performance. The mission and vision of the organization is not shared by all leaders, so there is no roadmap for career development or organizational improvements.
Organizational structure prevents teamwork and communication between departments. Lack of team meetings, retreats, or opportunities to share concerns with leadership prevents decision-makers from knowing the problem, identifying solutions, and developing plans for improvement.
Other times the issues with structure are more apparent. Departments are physically separated or working remotely. If organizations don’t have a plan in place to encourage collaboration and strategic conversations while working remotely, problems will fester and not be addressed.
One of the most critical characteristics of siloed organizations are sequestered IT departments.
Imagine your organizations’ talented IT engineers working furiously on what is believed to be a fantastic solution that will solve a specific department’s problem and create operational efficiencies across the entire organization. The engineers are putting in long hours and are reporting only positive progress to leadership.
Three months later, it becomes apparent that several other, seemingly unrelated, issues have arisen that significantly impact the IT project. A department manager who was unaware of the projects’ status didn’t think to communicate the seemingly unrelated issue to IT.
Unfortunately, an incredible amount of time, morale, and resources are now lost, and IT must start over to address the new found problem. Had IT and the department been communicating regularly, this issue could have been identified and mitigated much earlier.
Siloed IT departments can also cause issues with redundant purchasing, which leads to wasted resources, operational inefficiencies, and missed opportunities to innovate.
Without routine internal dialogue, organizations run the risk of purchasing redundant technology. Maintaining multiple contracts for similar services is costly and burdensome.
Not to mention how inefficient it is to have redundant technology that doesn’t speak to one another. When departments operate in silos, technology is often disjointed and organizations inherently become sluggish and inefficient.
Siloed IT departments influence whether an organization can effectively engage with vendors offering new, innovative technologies that could potentially improve an organizations’ performance dramatically and move the organization forward.
The secret to an organization’s digital innovation lies in communication.
Yes, it’s that simple.
If an organization is internally aligned on its mission, goals and strategy, efficient operations and decision-making will follow. This internal alignment and collaboration will open the door to innovative ideas and solutions, allowing the organization to grow and better serve its customers.
Take for example the state of Michigan. Its ultimate goal was to create an improved and cohesive online user experience on all state websites. In order to accomplish this big task, teams of technology experts, working on different website initiatives spanning multiple departments, came together and developed a single plan. Their collaborative and unified work now allows citizens to use a single username and password on all state websites.
New York City’s Sanitation Department solved one of its biggest operational challenges with the help of an innovative technology solution that replaced its antiqued paper system. Users claim that the new technology has contributed to a reduction in human errors, an ability to easily share data with decision-makers, and an elimination of various communication silos. Attributed to the successful development and continued improvements to the system is continuous collaboration and feedback from users and citizens.
There are countless other examples of organizations that are successfully collaborating on innovative solutions and advancing their digital footprint. What unifies these successful organizations is their use of collaborative communication.
In order for organizations to innovate, it takes leaders to identify where silos exist and may form in the future. Leaders should also understand the value of open dialogue and listen carefully to all levels of their organization. One digital solution may work well for one agency, but create problems for another.
Change is hard for any organization, especially when it challenges ingrained cultures that fuel the status quo. Leaders who innovate are confident in their future vision enough to take big risks with technology.
The bottom line is that for an organization to successfully innovate, communication must become a priority at all levels, but especially for IT departments. As you’ve read, there are significant consequences an organization can face when communication falls to the wayside and silos start forming.
The easiest way to tear silos down is to start talking.
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