Common purpose antidote to cliques

Is your workplace suffering from silos? Typical symptoms include poor communication between groups, a reluctance to share knowledge and ideas, and a failure to work cohesively together towards a common goal.

There may be a strong sense of team within these work groups individually, however as soon as they start mixing it, the problems start.

Sound familiar? According to JRA general manager Heather King, the incidence of silos is widespread, and one of the things that separates some of New Zealand's best workplaces from the rest.

"When we look at that the biggest differences between our finalist and non-finalist organisations each year, the quality of between-team communication and co-operation really stands out," says King.

"For example, on the question 'teams in this organisation work well together' we found our finalists last year were reporting scores on average around 45 per cent higher than our non-finalists, with a similar margin also apparent in perceptions around the 'sense of common purpose' existing within the organisation."

Given the link between collective effort and organisation performance, how have these best workplaces broken down silos and aligned the interests and efforts of their people?

"Like most things, it starts from the top," says King. "Collective effort likes something to aim for, and one of the characteristics we see in all great workplaces is real clarity around what the organisation as a whole stands for - its vision, the strategies that will help to achieve this, and the values that will dictate the behaviours of those working towards this common goal.

"The CEO, and in particular individual members of the senior management team, set the scene with the latter in particular emphasising organisation goals to their own teams, clarifying the team's contribution to these, and ensuring team members have a clear 'line of sight' between what they do and the success of the organisation."

King says big picture thinking needs to be embraced by everyone, and team leaders become critical players in conveying this perspective.

Don't miss out! The 2009 JRA Best Workplaces Survey in association with the New Zealand Herald and sponsored by HainesAttract and the Auckland Chamber of Commerce is available until August 31.