BUSINESS

Is Yours a "Company in Crisis"?

Apr. 19, 2006

Patrick Lencioni is the author of five business books: The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive, Death by Meeting, and The Five Temptations of a CEO. His latest, Silos, Politics and Turf Wars, was released in March, 2006. Here, he joins Kelsey Howarth, Senior Writer for Cognos, an IBM company to discuss his new book and his Keynote address at Cognos Forum 2006.

Silos, politics, and turf wars

KH: In your new book you tackle the disruptive issue of silos, politics, and turf wars. Just how prevalent are silos in the modern workplace?

PL: This is a long-standing and deeply rooted problem for most organizations. I think the silo problem – departments within the same company working against one another – has existed since the beginning of organizational life. However, in a world where there is more competition than ever, for customers and employees alike, the need for eliminating frustration and waste is heightened.

And because competitive advantages in intellectual property and strategy are harder and harder to maintain, cultural differentiation has become even more powerful. The organization that can break down internal barriers will create a clear advantage over their more political and dysfunctional rivals.

Clear and subtle cues

KH: What are the symptoms of a company with a problem with silos, politics, and turf wars? How can a company self-assess if this is a major issue?

PL: In order to understand the impact of silos the leadership in a company must look at both the clear and subtle cues. In order to assess whether this is an issue a company can look at statistics such as attrition, but they also need to get on the ground level and look at the frustration and roadblocks their people are experiencing on a daily basis. Being on a strong team and working toward a shared purpose keeps the best people in an organization. What drives them away is having to spend too much of their time fighting with colleagues and working against internal challenges.

KH: Why are these silos not being properly addressed?

PL: Executives are often buffered from what I term as the bloody unwinnable battles that are waged throughout the organization. These battles can be around budgets, strategies, office equipment, or even the smallest of matters – but these battles stem from internal infighting for resources that has gone unchecked – turning coworkers into competitors. They need to get on the ground level in order to understand the impact of these silos, and they need to acknowledge their own role in creating them.

KH: How can a company eliminate silos?

PL: Like so many other aspects of life, the answer to this question is remarkably simple yet difficult to master on an ongoing basis. The key to eliminating silos is simply to provide a compelling context for colleagues to understand that they should be rowing in the same direction. While leaders have been focusing on punishing negative behaviors that lead to internal conflict, they have often failed to give people a clear understanding of what they have in common. The leaders need to provide the context and content for rallying people around a common goal, and then get out of the way. Ironically, by doing so, they drastically decrease the need for them to over-manage their people behaviorally.

Clarity and urgency

KH: In your book Silos, Politics and Turf Wars, you recommend that companies take on a more "company in crisis" mindset. Can you explain this?

PL: Yes, companies in crisis – companies that are fighting for existence – have a certain clarity and urgency in short-term mission that all companies should strive for. They have a very strong intolerance for self-serving actions in their staff and are better able to prioritize objectives. I also use the example of an emergency room – rarely would you ever see a turf war in the emergency room because all employees are single-mindedly focused on saving the patient. They know what's important and their role in doing what simply must be done.

KH: How can a company take steps to creating this same single-mindedness in their organization?

PL: In Silos, Politics and Turf Wars I set out a three-step approach. It involves setting a thematic goal, deciding on defining objectives, and acknowledging standard operating objectives.

In the first step I ask companies to set a thematic goal, which is a single, temporary, and qualitative rallying cry shared by all members of the executive team. This is not a mission statement, nor is it what Jim Collins and Jerry Porras in their book Built to Last would term as a big hairy audacious goal. It is a qualitative focus point that is time-bound and understood company-wide.

From there, companies can begin setting defining objectives around the three or four things necessary to accomplish these goals. Finally, they need to acknowledge certain operating objectives, which may not have to do with thematic goals but are essential for the organization to function, such as maintaining standard revenues. Only through a shared understanding of all of these factors can employees understand and embrace their role in helping the company succeed and feel empowered in their role.

The role of technology

KH: As a business intelligence company, Cognos, an IBM company, helps companies eliminate data silos and turn information into actionable and interactive reports, scorecards, plans, budgets, analysis, and more. What role do you see enabling technology like this playing in your method?

PL: Once qualitative measures are set, the operationalization of data is essential. Quantifiable measurement is critical to success. Software that brings together data from across the organization and provides people with metrics for their success transforms that data into to the highest level of content. Once a company has made their objectives meaningful, the data that measures it is the next step in the process.

Looking ahead to Cognos Forum

KH: At Cognos Forum you will be a Keynote Speaker on the "Four Disciplines of a Healthy Organization." Can you give us a sneak peek into what you will cover?

PL: Organizational health is one of the last competitive advantages for sustainable success. At Cognos Forum I will be providing actionable advice on how to begin the process of building a healthy organization from creating cohesive teams at the top and instilling institutional clarity, to constantly over-communicating what matters and building the human systems that support profitability.

KH: What do you hope people will take away from this session?

PL: I hope they take away the right insight on how to minimize confusion and politics and create an atmosphere of maximum clarity, where employee productivity can flourish. People want to work together. They hate infighting and politics, even more than the leaders do. By providing the context for working together, and holding people accountable for doing so, leaders have an opportunity like no other. Happier employees. Happier customers. Higher profits. Lower turnover. It's a powerful concept, requiring less intellectual and technical ability, and more courage and persistence than anything else.

About the Author:

Patrick Lencioni is the founder and president of The Table Group, Inc., a specialized management-consulting firm that helps organizations such as Microsoft, Visa, Charles Schwab, New York Life, AT&T, and Amazon.com maximize their organizational health.