How 4 Companies Are Crushing Team Silos

Who hasn't experienced the challenges that come with company silos? As organizations grow, leaders need to keep teams communicating and pursuing common milestones. The process requires planned experimentation from almost every team member—creative, technical, and otherwise.

This level of coordination doesn't just happen. It comes from careful planning, combined with the right tools and infrastructure for cross-functional communication. If you're a leader looking for tips to bring back to your own organization, check out the following four examples of success.

1. Slack uses an open collaboration and communication platform.
Thanks to mobile, organizations and teams are in constant connection. Yet, teams still fall into miscommunication traps and struggle to share information internally. It's a paradox in which innovation is driving the same data that is causing an organizational bottleneck. At the same time, people are moving their attention spans to News Feed consumption models that make it possible to consume a vast and diverse pipeline of information—a process that results in constant, low-touch connectivity and awareness.

If you're seeking an example to follow, look no further than Slack Technologies, the creators of Slack, the project management and collaboration software that 500,000 people are using. Slack uses a mix of automated and human-powered messages to keep teams in the loop, with a steady stream of information. Conversations happen across devices and integrate with multiple tools. Slack histories can also be repurposed into employee handbooks so knowledge never goes to waste. The software is also customizable to unique team workflows; no two implementations are the same.

"The company's own Slack setup transmitted 30,000 messages, spread among around 200 channels as well as private sessions," wrote Harry McCracken for FastCompany. "9,000 of those messages were sent by 97 Slack employees; the rest were automated alerts delivered through integrations with other tools, such as the company's bug tracker."

As Slack continues to grow, so will the complexities around how people use the platform to collaborate. Pay attention to the many creative ways that people are using the tool.

2. Adobe democratizes its experimentation process.
In 2014, Adobe Systems encouraged collaboration within its organization by funding more than 1,000 business experiments. Recognizing a need to surface new ideas and give them a level playing field, the software giant launched an internal program called Kickbox to give employees the resources necessary to chase their own ideas. These resources come in the form of kits, with pre-approved credit cards for every employee.

Kickbox eliminates the red tape by allowing employees to pursue business directions that they find interesting, without the pressure of accountability. To ensure the program's effectiveness, Adobe put Kickbox through a rigorous testing process within its own organization. This process involved deployment in small groups, measurement of experimentation levels, and continuous testing early on. From there, Adobe made adjustments as the company began the process of deploying the program in full.

Today, Kickbox exists as a standalone system that has been standardized to meet the needs of any organization or individual team. You can try it yourself as the program has been available to the public through an open source license since 2014.

3. Dubai Airports redefines internal approaches to leadership.
While many organizational leaders prioritize collaboration, few are clear about the path that moves them from theory to execution. Dubai Airports, which owns and manages the operation and development of both the Dubai International (DXB) and Al Maktoum International (DWC) airports, is tackling this challenge by focusing on its leadership first.

This process as not been easy as Rebecca Newton, Professor at the London School of Economics, points out. The objective to unite 43,000 employees around common objectives and metrics, and customer empathy is one that requires extreme resource investment. Newton further explains that Dubai Airports is investing in four key areas of focus:

a. Prioritizing interests above positions. Dubai Airports is taking steps to ensure that all individual goals align with organization-wide priorities and interests. That way, teams can focus on their own objectives while ensuring that company-wide initiatives move forward.

b. Creating a leadership culture that embraces learning. Dubai Airports is encouraging leaders to not only lead but to open themselves up as targets of others' influence. In addition to sharing insight and establishing direction, leaders are encouraged to learn.

c. Defining roles. Behind every brilliant business initiative is an even smarter process. To that end, Dubai Airports is encouraging leaders to define roles and responsibilities upfront so that all team members can easily see the road ahead.

d. Sharing and acknowledging credit. It's hard for employees to feel like they're part of a team when their work isn't being acknowledged. That's why Dubai Airports encourages leaders to share credit and to position initiatives as driven by teams rather than individuals.

Leaders need to invest time in building teams, workflows, operational dynamics, and incentives that help team members work closer together. This level of collaboration requires a clearly defined vision that begins at the executive level.

4. The U.S. government hires entrepreneurial people—for real.
Imagine you've joined a 233-year old organization as a Product Lead or CTO. A few weeks in, your boss asks you to oversee a complex initiative that touches the lives of everyone in the United States. Your deadline is three months and you have zero opportunity to push back because you're building the federal health insurance exchange. How do you move forward?

If you followed the health insurance marketplace launch, you know that this scenario was real. Teams were lost, at odds with one another, and chasing concurrent directions. The end result was a website that didn't work.

The U.S. government knows that there is room to improve and understands that healthy processes start with smart people. That's why the Obama administration is actively hiring entrepreneurial people, individuals who aren't afraid to take risks, ask tough questions, and step on organizational toes. The new hires tend to come from the start-up world and have little to no government experience. But their expertise and tenacity is exactly what the government needs.

The U.S. government's "stealth start-up" is a story that is still developing. Keep watch to see how the initiative unfolds.

Final thoughts
Collaboration doesn't just happen; it's a process that requires careful planning at all organizational levels. It's going to be hard, you're going to hit roadblocks, and you're going to need to walk your talk. No matter your own job function, rely on inspiration from other teams and companies who are exactly where you are now, to help guide you.