Modern Business Magazine July 2016 | Page 10

MODERN MANAGEMENT 9 ways to break down the barriers undermining collaboration By Karen Gately H ow well do people across your business work together to achieve your collective goals? Do managers work with one another to identify priorities and coordinate their team’s efforts? Do team members think about the consequences of their actions on staff in other areas of your business, before they act? Where does your organisations culture sit on a spectrum between being collaborative and silo driven? 10 ModernBusiness July 2016 Any organisations ability to thrive depends greatly on people being willing and able to work well together. How well your team share knowledge, capabilities and resources unquestionably influences the performance of your business. Whether they learn together and move forward toward a common vision of the future is fundamental to your organisations ability to survive, let alone thrive. Among the most important things you can do to break down silos and better leverage the potential of your whole team are these: Start at the top 1 Influence ownership from the CEO The single most important influencer of success is ownership from the top. The simple truth is unless the CEO of your organisations