When silos work
Kaye Vivian takes a new spin on knowledge silos that highlights an important aspect of how and why they arise in business. Perhaps Knowledge Silos Are Useful?
For the past couple of months I have been re-engaging in the business world, in a large organization that prides itself on its knowledge and Knowledge Management expertise. It has given me a new appreciation of knowledge silos, and I want to suggest a different point of view on why they are beneficial and why many organizations have difficulty when they want to break them down.
This idea is something I've stumbled upon recently myself. Traditionally, as Kaye discusses, "silos" are considered a bad thing. They get in the way of effective work practices, not only for knowledge management. Information silos prevent people sharing the same business information needs from seeing one another because they happen to reside in different parts of the business. In projects, silos create all sorts of barriers to effective execution, such as a separation in the language used between silos. Politics and territorialism play big roles here.
Kaye talks about another direction here. She's in an organization where the old walls have been torn down, and information is available everywhere. In fact, it is too much information to consume. So, she has had to put herself in a silo, so that she doesn't become overwhelmed with all the useful material out there.
I’ve found myself reacting in an unexpected way: I’m putting on blinders! I am reaching out to the people I know share my interests, and just ignoring the rest! Isn’t that a silo? I think so…but it’s one based upon self-protection from drowning in information (and emails), not an organizational structure or imperative. It’s PKM (personal knowledge management).
The key between these types of silos is that one is imposed by rigid structures and politics, and the other is imposed by demands of personal work styles and needs. Most importantly, if these "silos" are built at the individual level, it is much easier to decide to rearrange them.
There is no great structural upheaval if I decide that all project reports should now be grouped together, rather than in separate buckets associated with the projects. Of course, I have to be aware enough of my operating environment, that I see when it might be worthwhile to make those changes.
The other aspect of these personal silos is that I have my antennae out for related people and materials. I am not just wrapping silo walls around the stuff that already exists. Even if I don't need to rearrange my silos, I am continually adding and removing sources that will be the inspiration for future changes.
7 Comment(s)
Jack, great thought. i would like to expand on it and say that while we are now able to tab into the 'indexed' knowledge of the world, and we are getting overwhelmed at times, we still need to make sure we don't miss anything relevant. One way to do that is to apply filter mechanisms. These obviously may differ by person/role/interest, but IMHO need to be individually dynamic and adjustable. If i am interested in KM2.0 today, it will be performance patterns of professional networks tomorrow.
Cheers,
Stefan
"Kaye talks about another direction here. She's in an organization where the old walls have been torn down, and information is available everywhere"
So context has changed and silo equates with concentration of expertise but without impermeable walls. Tis true info overload means we may congregate around areas of common interest rather than becoming bloated by overconsumption.....the latter is a big issue unless we allow for choice and search engines make pre-determined choices....how many people grasp this is another matter.
David
"Kaye talks about another direction here. She's in an organization where the old walls have been torn down, and information is available everywhere"
So context has changed and silo equates with concentration of expertise but without impermeable walls. Tis true info overload means we may congregate around areas of common interest rather than becoming bloated by overconsumption.....the latter is a big issue unless we allow for choice and search engines make pre-determined choices....how many people grasp this is another matter.
David
"Kaye talks about another direction here. She's in an organization where the old walls have been torn down, and information is available everywhere"
So context has changed and silo equates with concentration of expertise but without impermeable walls. Tis true info overload means we may congregate around areas of common interest rather than becoming bloated by overconsumption.....the latter is a big issue unless we allow for choice and search engines make pre-determined choices....how many people grasp this is another matter.
But as Stefan pointed out it's about whether a silo functions as a store but is isolated from a distribution network which is the key.
Siberia has shedloads of oil but it won't help anyone unless we can get it out and distribute it.
David
said:
Nice point, Dave. The walls of the new silos we create must be glass or plastic or something transparent and flexible. But they really can't be silos at all because we need to be able to realize when the "silo" doesn't have what we need and start looking at the people in other "silos" for that stuff.
The term that I used to hear in the business world a great deal was "Lone Ranger..." now we have "silos"
While the rest of the world pushes past us in technology and in their respective economies, both the business and educational world has created cliche after cliche in order to let unsuccessful employees try to gain ground when they cannot keep up.
I am a producer and i communicate with my own team. However, i am not being "collaborative" when I do not share my information with others outside of our division. I apologize. i apologize that i do not sit at my desk, that i do not eat two meals at my desk or take work off at the drop of a dime.
If you want to know what someone is doing -ask.
Stop whining and using cliches when you are not good enough or do not workhard enough. People work in silos for a number of reasons-thay are not all negative.
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Silos (I think) generally relate to how they are used in farming. A function of storage, rather than distribution.
The same can be said about knowledge silos. It is a function of storage not distribution.
When a storage silo is broken open what happens to the corn inside? It falls out and spills all over the place. Covering everything in its path. The same is true of knowledge silos, break them open and we get too much information.
Distribution systems resolve these problem in corn and in knowledge. Preorders for corn, just in time delivery systems, rail, truck and other systems get the corn to the place it is needed. Corn still rots, people still go hungry, these are distribution problems (in many cases).
Again the same is true with knowledge. Good distribution systems resolve the (too much/too little) problem. Instead of sending knowledge to everyone (a "push" system), people should be able to pre-order or request it (a knowledge "pull" system). Efficient transporation systems need to be built.