Rebecca Costa

There is a natural tendency in the human brain to try and reduce complexity into discrete, manageable components. This phenomenon manifests itself in many forms: impenetrable corporate divisions, government departments, academic disciplines, and religious sects. Generalists are replaced by "specialists" in increasingly narrow fields, and strategic objectives are sliced into bite-sized targets that can be measured and tracked and for which individuals can be held accountable. If the sum is greater than the parts, then why not just start with the sum and break it down into smaller parts to begin with? Sounds like a reasonable approach.

But is it?

Silo thinking is compartmentalized thinking and behaviors that prohibit the collaboration needed to address highly complex problems.

Instead of encouraging cooperation between individuals and groups that share a common objective, silo thinking causes undermining, competition, and divisiveness. As silos prevent sharing and coordination across organizational boundaries, information that is already difficult to acquire becomes even more inaccessible.

Carol Kinsey Goman describes the effect of silo thinking in her article "Tearing Down Business 'Silos'":

I've seen firsthand what silos can do to an enterprise: the organization disintegrates into a group of isolated camps, with little incentive to collaborate, share information, or team up to pursue critical outcomes. Various groups develop impervious boundaries, neutralizing the effectiveness of people who have to interact across them. Local leaders focus on serving their individual agendas— often at the expense of the goals of the rest of the organization. The resulting internal battles over authority, finances, and resources destroy productivity, and jeopardize the achievement of corporate objectives.

Today silos exist everywhere. The CIA doesn't speak to the FBI and the physics department doesn't set foot in the economic building. Environmentalists don't talk to oil executives, defendants don't talk to prosecutors, Republicans don't talk to Democrats, doctors don't talk to insurance companies, and Al Qaeda doesn't talk to anyone.

And we wonder why society is gridlocked and broad, complex, systemic problems continue to worsen.