What is the common between the rapidly-grow company? It’s all about the management – no-silo rule.
Several years ago, Elon Musk wrote to Tesla employees in an email describing ways in which the company could differentiate itself from the competition. “Obviously, we cannot compete with the big car companies in size,” Musk wrote, “so we have to do it smartly and dexterously.”
Source: Özge Işık
Part of "intelligence and flexibility," Musk insisted, is resisting the tendency to create divisions within Tesla, a problem that often plagues companies as they grow.
Musk explained:
Managers should work hard to ensure that they are not creating silos within the company that create an us vs. them mentality or impede communication in any way. This is unfortunately a natural tendency and needs to be actively fought. How can it possibly help Tesla for depts to erect barriers between themselves or see their success as relative within the company instead of collective? We are all in the same boat. Always view yourself as working for the good of the company and never your dept.
Interestingly, Steve Jobs encouraged a similar philosophy at Apple many years previous.
Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, when the company was on the verge of bankruptcy. Soon after, Apple began to develop a new device, which Jobs subtly described as "a thousand songs in your pocket." Of course, that device is the iPod.
The iPod is called the "The Walkman killer", which is a reference to the former king of portable music player market share, the Sony Walkman. But how did Apple surpass Sony, a big company that dominates the market, owns its own music company, and comes up with its own Walkman?
Because Jobs accepted the "no silo rule."
In his biography of Jobs, Walter Isaacson explained:
“Why did Sony fail? Partly because it was a company, like AOL Time Warner, that was organized into divisions (that word itself was ominous) with their own bottom lines; the goal of achieving synergy in such companies by prodding the divisions to work together was usually elusive.
Source: Quartz
Jobs did not organize Apple into semiautonomous divisions; he closely controlled all of his teams and pushed them to work as one cohesive and flexible company, with one profit-and-loss bottom line.”
Isaacson goes on to explain how Sony, like many companies, was worried about cannibalization. Building new music players and services that encourage people to share digital songs can hurt the company's record department. But Jobs famously preached that businesses should not be afraid to cannibalize themselves.
"If you don't cannibalize yourself, someone else will," said Jobs.
As these two stories show, the silo-less rules were inseparably woven into the company's doctrine that led to the success of Apple and Tesla. It is a rule based on the principle of emotional intelligence, the ability to work emotions for you rather than against you.
And it also helps your organization.
Why the no-silo rule should be embraced?
As the company grows, the possibility of splitting behaviour increases. Whether consciously or unconsciously, teams often compete with each other, sometimes against each other's best interests, trying to make a good impression on the boss.
How do you counter this tendency?
By accepting the no silo rule.
Source: Adobe Stock
Source: Richard Perry and Jeff Schreifels
Encourage company leaders to look at the overall situation and work hard for the company's overall interests. You can do this with your message, just like Musk. But, just like Jobs, you should do this through the way you organize your team and the example you set yourself.
For example, when setting up a team to carry out a project, assign members from different departments to work together. If it is a marketing project, please include at least one member from the product, design, finance, and operations departments, and vice versa.
Efforts to increase the breadth of the roles of individual team members, or cross-train personnel from different departments. Create feedback loops to help individuals understand how their team’s work affects the work of other teams. This helps individuals think more critically, understand how companies work together, and develop ways to use resources in one area to solve problems in another area.
Source: Gayatri D Kalyanaraman
Finally, if you work in a team and you or your colleagues encounter problems, please share it. Request for help. Ask specifically those who work outside of your department to help you go beyond your limited vision and promote innovative thinking.
Of course, the no silo rule only works if everyone in your organization agrees. Therefore, make sure you and your company leaders set the right example. Reward not only those who perform well, but also those who help others improve their performance.
Repeat that the only real revenue that matters is the revenue of the company.
Source: Sjoerd Kessels
If you do this right, you can use silo-free rules to promote true collaboration within your company and make your emotions work for you rather than against you.