Bust up some silos in 2021

Competition for resources, fatigue, revenue or budget uncertainty, market shifts, and perhaps even a global pandemic. All contribute to mental clutter that challenge us in making right decisions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A common response? We can cheerfully build mental and organizational silos to protect budget, assets, resources, even one’s state of mind. Building an organizational silo can have a few good temporary benefits–like strategically focusing assets on a singular goal – like developing a true customer focus–but left unchecked, silos can seriously undermine a company, product, or service.

Responding to adversity

A few years ago, when MEK was leading efforts to help a Canadian medical sterilization company establish and expand a U.S. market presence, MEK arranged several multi-state meetings and briefings. These strategically and quickly advanced our medical device-related service client.

When senior executives of major medical device manufacturing agreed to take a meeting, we were pumped. This had all the makings of a client home run.

How did it go? One SVP from the manufacturing company – who was not on the list of people we were to meet with – took a seat right next to me. The division president nodded to him to start the meeting.

While we were all prepared to discuss a pre-set agenda, the SVP train wrecked everything we came for. Unexpectedly, he announced to our client that his purpose in agreeing to this meeting was to secure a 25-30% immediate reduction in service costs. That would drop their revenue below breakeven, much less profit.

Nobody saw that coming on our side of fence. We were shocked. The manufacturing SVP addressed his comments to me, as I was the one who arranged the meeting. Uncharacteristically, I was speechless. We were looking to expand market share for our client, not slash revenue. This had all the makings of a disaster.

Setting directly across from me, our client CEO could have reacted badly and siloed in panic, batting down the hatches.

Instead, he was unperturbed and calmly began asking questions about what the SVP hoped to achieve. As the meeting progressed, it became clear that the apparent “demand” for an immediate major reduction in costs was merely an opening salvo in an expected negotiation process. A new deal, one that benefited all parties, subsequently was worked out.

The experience offered a number of change management considerations, particularly regarding the temptation to silo.

How to avoid potential brand-killing silos

A focus on honesty and leadership humility can stop silos before they start.

• When faced with unusual circumstances (including when major decisions are being made and/or assumptions are being challenged), don’t overreact or panic. Instead, ask probing questions that help clarify needs, expectations, and scope of preferred outcomes.
• When asking questions or conducting additional research, try to avoid a focus that seeks to justify a pre-determined data point that drives a preferred decision. Instead, be willing to break down a potential emerging silo by honestly considering the development of actionable strategy/tactics based on what the data shows.
• When addressing existing issues (or planning for future strategy and tactics), work to include a root cause analysis when trying to determine current states. This helps avoid the “identify-first possible cause-then-declare-victory analysis” (and subsequent sub-optimized solutions).

Frame of mindset

A POV (point of view) is called that for a reason. A point of view represents a collection of perceptions, facts, assumptions, and bias. What is based on objective reality, and what is colored by “not-invented-here” bias, resentment, or other subjective elements that can sub-optimize a decision or action?

Counter-productive subjective viewpoints can also appear as brand, design, or strategy snobbery – “We came up with it and they (other management, customers, prospects, professional services agency – fill in the blank) obviously don’t get it.”

Real innovation

What happens if you find your company (or yourself) imprisoned in a cultural silo?

Consider this famous example: a few years ago, Apple pivoted from being a straight-up personal computer company to becoming a ubiquitous technology entity that could carve out a market almost anywhere. When Steve Jobs returned to Apple as its “iCEO,” he found a near-runaway product matrix — Apple had numerous products, many disconnected. Jobs wanted to get back to basics, including producing the product roadmap that allowed Apple to focus on key elements – Jobs wanted to dominate in a just a few categories with world-class products.

So, he brought back Chiat-Day and commissioned the ad agency to create and tell a story.

The basics are chronicled in a famous gritty YouTube video (a mere 14 minutes in duration).  There Jobs, freshly back as CEO, paints a new vision. He explains to to an internal  group of his new agile focus that would break down the silo that Apple had become imprisoned in: “Let the customer tell us what they want and respond superfast,” he emphasized.

Here’s the key point. To succeed, Jobs noted that “Marketing is about values. This is a very complicated world. This is a very noisy world…we’re not going to get a chance to get people to remember much about us.” Jobs set the stage for change. “Our customers want to know who is Apple and what is it that we stand for.”

“What we’re about isn’t making boxes [stand-alone personal computers] to get their jobs done…Apple at the core, its core value is that we believe that people with passion can change the world for the better.”

The solution? A new brand aura came from the line “Think different,” where Apple itself stood in the positive brand aura of famous achievers, encouraging that aura to rub off on Apple. Taking a page from NIKE in its focus to honor great athletes, Apple choose in its new brand campaign to drop any direct product positioning, to instead celebrate those who had changed the world in some recognizable fashion (e.g., Albert Einstein, Amelia Earhart, Ansel Adams, etc.). The then re-emerging Apple would effectively stand in the brand aura of other major achievers, claiming that the company shared similar key world-changing values.

The highly successful campaign helped re-position Apple away from a personal computer company (Apple and Jobs officially dropped the word “computer” in 2007).

This busting up of the computer brand silo repositioned Apple as a company that changed virtually everything it touched – from portable music players (and free capacity to store and access music, then movies and more), to tablets and ultimately to the development of the truly world-changing iPhone. 

Breaking down silos

With that as a backdrop, what silos may be holding you or your organization back? Consider these thoughts:

Do you know what your customers buy (you may be surprised)? Is it different from why your customers buy from you?

What are your repelling roadblocks? Everyone has some, some more than others. What trusted source can tell you the truth?

As Jobs said years, ago, the world is a complicated, noisy place.

All management is change management. Blow up harmful silos.

And, in 2021, think different.

 

By Michael Snyder (Want to talk about effective change management? Contact us)