For a business to be successful, it’s important for employees to share ideas and work well together. Organizational silos can affect how employees interact with one another. As a manager, understanding the pros and cons of organizational silos can enable you to communicate effectively with every member of your team. In this article, we discuss the definition of organizational silos and how you can dismantle them.
Inside Outside
When it comes to sharing information Germans work from their core team outwards. With each outer organisational concentric circle they become more careful, at times even wary, of sharing valuable internal information.
Information as Power
Germans believe that the mere possession of information can provide almost the same value as the conversion of that information into action. In Germany knowing can be just as advantageous as doing. The German term is Herrschaftswissen.
Role in Teamwork
Germans see knowledge as the team’s primary capital. They are keen to protect and expand their knowledge base. As individual colleagues. As individual teams. Germans are particularly sensitive to how and with whom that capital is shared.
Get vs. Give
Holschuld: Hol from holen, to get + Schuld meaning debt. Holschuld means get-debt or get-obligation. In Germany if a colleague has information important to your work, you are obligated to request that information.
Thirty Years War
The Thirty Years’ War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battle, famine, and disease, while some areas of what is now modern Germany experienced population declines of over 50%.
Germans foughts against Germans.