Letter from the Editor

There’s a term that I’ve become familiar with in the last ten years, and that word is “organizational silos.”

Organizational silos in business occur when a company has groups of experts separated by department, specialization, or location — a very common approach. These teams of experts are able to tackle problems in their specific departments with ease. Specialized departments eventually even create their own unique work cultures and will have their own unique team dynamics.

However, problems begin to manifest when employees aren’t just separated physically, but when their own department-specific goals begin to take priority over the goals of the company.

This term is most often used in business between divisions and teams, but I think it applies equally to communities. When we have different groups of people, separated both physically and by organization, those organizations begin to separate themselves and tend to pursue their own goals, instead of the goals of the community.

Organizational silos are a natually-occuring phenomenon. People naturally tend to seek out others who share the same belief systems. It’s important to become self-aware of this behavior, and to enact systems that help us to break down these silo walls, and to force ourselves and our organizations to see the world from outside viewpoints.

There are several things you can do to become aware of these silos and work to overcome them:

1. Ask people outside your business/organization for honest feedback

2. Be open to change based on that feedback

3. Bring new people into your organziation with vastly different viewpoints or backgrounds

4. Meet with other businesses/organizations regularly to collaborate and share ideas

5. Shift mindsets by engaging in cross-training or by taking part in new experiences editor@poncacitymonthly.com

6. Have an “Abundance Mindset”. Remember that in order to become better, your business/orgnization should focus on collaboration, not competition. We truly are all in this together.

I see this magazine as a means of breaking down organizational silos. I’ve heard dozens of stories from people who read an article in Ponca City Monthly that gave them an idea on a new way to collaborate. Because in the end, everyone in the community wants the same things – we all want to make our community better. We can accomplish so much more when we all work towards the same goals.