Sean Glaze suggests a simple way to break down silos: have employees schedule monthly 30-minute conversations with two people in other departments to learn what they actually do and what they struggle with.
How do you as an effective leader improve collaboration between different departments in your organization? Well, that is one of the main issues that I hear about in coaching and talking to leaders across different industries, is the lack of communication and effective collaboration between departments. And all collaboration is going to be something that occurs on the foundation of an established relationship. We're more comfortable reaching out and asking for sharing information if we've got a relationship ahead of time. So your job is to is to help your people build connections with people in other departments so they get to know them as people and they get to understand what their responsibilities and challenges are. The easiest way to do this is to make sure that your people reach out to 2 individuals from different departments at the beginning of each month. Have them invite that other individual for a 30-minute conversation. They'll find a time that works for their schedules, and in that 30 minutes, they'll be able to get to know somebody from a different department, and they'll also get to know a little bit more about what that department does and what their challenges and needs are so they can interact more positively. I'm Sean Glaze. That's what effective leaders do.
