Editorial
Departmental silos are one of the most common — and oldest — problems organizations face.
People have come up with multiple ways to solve it over the years. They've tried shared objectives, cross-functional teams for projects, use of comm channels such as Teams or Slack, knowledge sharing, leadership support, technology integration and cultural shifts.
Yet, aside from some hygiene factors such as technology integration, the other approaches depend on how individuals choose to work together in a more collaborative way and don't provide a long-term, sustainable fix.
Cross-departmental collaboration happens in two scenarios: in operational activities and within projects.
Let’s investigate each scenario in more detail to see what changes are needed to achieve sustainable results.
Collaboration in Operational Activities
When employees interact with specific departments, they typically are trying to accomplish something that that department is responsible for. Examples include proof of employment or time-off for HR, supplier invoice payments or expense reimbursements for Finance, HVAC or floor cleaning for Facilities.
Each topic has an owner, and the topic is a service the department offers to some or all the employees within the company.
In these cases, you don’t need to break down the departmental silos, you just need to precisely drill some holes and turn these holes into service desks, one for each service provided by the department.
Each of these “service desks” needs to be virtually manned by the service owner.
The first step is to fix the issue in the digital workplace, as it will prove that all the service description and resources are properly organized.
Each such service has to have a section on the intranet describing the practical aspects of the service.
- Purpose and value
- Scope and boundaries
- Access and request process
- Delivery and timeline
- Roles and responsibilities
- Performance and quality
- Cost and resource impact
- Support, escalation and feedback
Why don’t managers think in terms of services? I think this is a natural bias, as most people focus on their daily work and not so much on the way the rest of the organization consumes their work.
When managers start thinking in terms of providing an internal service and having internal customers, it changes the focus of employee activities. Instead of just doing ‘work,’ employees now have a clearer objective for their work, an obvious recipient of their work and a clearer relationship with that recipient.
Having good internal collaboration is also about culture, but culture plays a secondary role to how we define and deliver services to employees. In fact, I think you can have employees very willing to collaborate with each other, but without a clear framework of how to efficiently interact between departments, this willingness will soon wear out.
The ROI of organizations that adopt such an approach is quickly seen, often measured in months, as it saves time and money both for internal service providers and their internal customers.
Top management will also love it as the company will adjust faster as all changes within the company happen along the lines of internal services.
Collaboration in Project Activities
When I was a project manager I experienced times when various departments would be slow to respond to requests or planned activities or would have ideas of their own.
After I received the PMP (Project Management Professional) certification I saw how an established framework helps you deal with these problems in a more effective manner.
Let’s take an example when you are designing a new product and people from Engineering, Marketing, Sales and Support each have their own ideas on how the product should look like and work in isolation. This is when good project management, backed by executive support, is needed to continuously align these business functions around a shared goal.
Choosing a practical project management framework is one of the first steps in avoiding and managing inter-departmental projects.
Having an internal service provider mindset helps in this case as well, as managers and employees will typically stop building walls and start building bridges to and for their customers.
Clearing the Way for Stronger Collaboration
Breaking down departmental silos isn’t just about encouraging collaboration: it’s about creating clear, structured ways for teams to interact.
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By defining internal services with transparent processes and adopting proven project management frameworks, organizations can turn friction into flow.
Start small: document your services, set up digital service desks and align project teams with practical project management frameworks.
These steps deliver measurable results fast — saving time, reducing frustration and making collaboration natural.
Editor's Note: Read more tips on improving internal collaboration:
- Designing a New Rhythm of Collaboration for the Modern Workplace — Today’s teams need new choreography in order to dance their best.
- What Employees Really Want From Their Collaboration Tools — Collaboration comes in many shapes and sizes. But a few basic needs must be met if you expect collaboration tool adoption.
- 3 Barriers to Overcome When Addressing the Experience of Work — Employee experience leaders may hesitate to address day to day work issues, but should know that solving them provides clear business benefits and improves EX.
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