In this episode, we talk about a commonly used phrase, “We have to tear down the silos,” and I challenge you to give it some thought before you use the phrase. Give this episode a listen. Let me know what you think.
Transcription
I’m starting to document some topics for my podcast, and one of the ones that gets me the most irked—if that’s a word I can use—is the phrase “We have to tear down the silos.” Nothing drives me up the bend faster than hearing that statement. And you know what? I subscribed to it for a lot of years, especially while working in the corporate world.
In many organizations, especially those with multiple locations or departments and matrix-style reporting structures, that phrase would come up all the time. “We have to tear down the silos.” What people really meant, though, was that they wanted more collaboration. Everyone was working in their own space, focused on their own area, and the goal was to find ways for them to work together.
Now, you may not see me when I talk with my hands, but imagine what a silo looks like. Those tall vertical tubes on farms—usually made of galvanized steel—are designed for a purpose. There are also bunker silos, which are long and low, but either way, they exist for a reason: to maintain the integrity of the contents inside.
Once I started thinking about that, I realized tearing them down might not be such a great idea. I’ve actually been on a farm where one fell down while full of material—it was a complete mess. So, let’s think about this differently.
If you’ve never been around a farm, picture your kitchen pantry. Open the cupboard where you keep your food staples. What do you see? Canned goods, boxed goods, bags of flour or cereal—all of those are miniature silos. They each contain and preserve the integrity of a single product.
Now, imagine tearing down those “silos.” How would you store everything? If you dumped all your soup, cereal, and flour together on the shelf, it would be a complete disaster. Silos, whether in your pantry or on a farm, keep contents pure and usable.
So when people say “tear down the silos,” I think what they’re really getting at is that they want better collaboration across departments. In your own home, when you make a meal, you are the one who knows the recipe—you know what ingredients to mix, and in what proportions. A farmer does the same when mixing feed for different animals: today’s mix might be for milk production, while tomorrow’s might be for young cattle. Each mix has a purpose, and the ingredients vary accordingly.
Silos also serve another important role: keeping certain things separate for safety. Think about the cleaning products under your sink. You know not to mix bleach with ammonia, because that combination creates a toxic gas. The containers—those “silos”—exist for a reason. Similarly, in business, some departments must keep their contents separate. HR, for instance, has confidential information that shouldn’t be freely mixed with everything else, even though they still collaborate with other departments on hiring, training, or professional development.
So, the next time you hear that phrase at work—“We need to tear down the silos”—go home and look in your cupboard. Think about what would happen if you literally did that. Without a clear plan for how to blend everything together, all you’ve got is a mess.
There’s another reason silos are valuable: they allow for more efficient use of space. Think of sand or gravel. When you pile it without walls, the base spreads wider and wider, taking up more ground. But with containment—walls—it can go higher, storing more in the same footprint. That’s also how high-rise apartment buildings work. They’re vertical silos for people and things, allowing us to fit more into less horizontal space. We wouldn’t want to tear those down either.
So, here’s the point: instead of focusing on “tearing down silos,” focus on knowing the recipe. Your real job as a manager or leader is to understand the contents of each silo—what each department or function does—and to know how and when to mix them together. Collaboration isn’t about demolition; it’s about coordination.
You need to be the baker who knows which ingredients make a great cake. You need to be the chemist who understands how to safely mix compounds. You need to be the kind of manager who understands what each team contributes and how to combine their strengths effectively.
I hope that gives you a new way to think about silos—and maybe next time you hear that phrase, you’ll pause before reaching for the wrecking ball.
Until next time, be oz-some!
