Silo busting makes good business sense

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to help these leaders position themselves for the new economy, to help them see what the author has seen. As the author’s clients emerged from the global economic turmoil that began in 2008, they indicated they had learned numerous lessons – the most important one: when leaders make good decisions, little else matters. When they refuse to make decisions, or show a pattern of making bad ones, nothing else matters. Helping these leaders position themselves for the new economy, the author could see what others did not.

Design/methodology/approach

Something was standing in their way – usually the unwillingness or inability to demand cohesion and teamwork. In many cases, they thought they needed more – more education, more experience, more time or more data. They did not realize they had enough of these, but they did lack the confidence, courage and optimism to make the changes that many would resist.

Findings

Through this work together, the most successful leaders realized they could no longer push growth. Instead, they had to remove barriers to success and usually these barriers were of their own making. They needed to understand how to leverage their strengths, remove their silo-building behaviors and replace them with silo-busting decisions.

Originality/value

These compelling stories and surprising research findings in this paper focus on real people, who actively sought professional improvement and personal development. Working together, the author and others mapped out their journeys, identified the key roadblocks they faced, recognized the wrong turns they had taken and unlocked their decision-making potential – all the while navigating an increasingly uncertain world and, in some cases, more than doubling the size of their companies.

Citation

Henman, L.D. (2020), "Silo busting makes good business sense", Strategic HR Review, Vol. 19 No. 4, pp. 151-156. https://doi.org/10.1108/SHR-03-2020-0022