How to get siloed teams working together again

The same problem keeps bouncing between departments. One team says the other never tells them anything. Information gets passed on late, or not at all, and you find out about issues from a customer before you hear about them from your own people.

If you're wondering how to break down silos at work, you're not dealing with a lack of talent. Most siloed teams are full of capable, committed people. They've simply stopped seeing themselves as part of one whole. The good news is that silo mentality is learned, which means it can be unlearned.

How silos quietly form

Very few organisations set out to build silos. They grow gradually, often from perfectly sensible decisions.

• Teams are measured separately. When each department has its own targets, people naturally focus on hitting them, even when it costs another team.
• Growth adds distance. As organisations get bigger, people stop knowing colleagues outside their immediate area. It's harder to pick up the phone to a stranger.
• Change and pressure narrow focus. When people are stretched, they protect their own team's time and priorities.
• Hybrid and remote working reduce chance encounters. The corridor chat and the coffee queue used to do a lot of quiet connecting.
• Leaders model it. If senior people compete rather than collaborate, their teams will follow.

Over time, "us and them" language creeps in. Other departments become "they", and assumptions fill the gaps where conversations used to be.

What they cost you

Silos are rarely dramatic, which is why they're easy to tolerate. But the cost adds up.

Work gets duplicated because nobody knew another team was doing the same thing. Decisions take longer because they bounce between departments. Customers and service users repeat themselves and notice the handovers that don't work. Good ideas stay stuck in one corner of the organisation.

There's a human cost too. Teams not working together tend to blame each other, and blame is exhausting. People feel less connected to the purpose of their work, and that sense of isolation makes it harder to stay motivated.

If you're not sure how deep the problem runs, listen for these signs:

• people say "that's not our job" more than "how can we help?"
• the same issues come up in every meeting but nobody owns them
• new starters only ever get to know their own team
• information is shared on a need-to-know basis, even when there's no reason for secrecy
• people escalate problems upwards instead of talking to the colleague next door

Each of these on its own is small. Together, they tell you the organisation has started working as a set of separate groups rather than one team.

How to break down silos at work: six ways to reconnect teams

Improving collaboration between departments doesn't require a restructure. These six steps can start small and grow.

1. Start with a shared problem, not a team-building exercise. Bring people from different teams together around a real issue that affects all of them, such as a handover that keeps going wrong. Working on something that matters builds trust faster than icebreakers.

2. Map the handovers. Ask each team to describe what they need from the others, and what they think the others need from them. The gaps between those answers are usually where the friction lives.

3. Create reasons to meet across teams. Cross-team stand-ups, shared lunches, joint planning sessions or simply inviting a colleague from another department to your team meeting. Connection needs regular contact, not a one-off event.

4. Share goals as well as targets. Where you can, agree at least one goal that teams can only reach together. Shared success changes how people see each other.

5. Ask leaders to go first. Senior people can model cross-team collaboration by speaking well of other departments, sharing information openly and resolving disagreements with their peers in the open. People watch what leaders do far more closely than what they say.

6. Talk about the "us and them" language. Gently name it when you hear it. Ask, "What might be going on for them?" Curiosity is one of the simplest antidotes to blame.

Whichever steps you choose, keep going after the first burst of energy. Collaboration fades when the meetings stop and the shared problem is solved. Agree how teams will keep talking once the immediate issue is fixed, and check in on it regularly.

Why shared values beat new processes

When collaboration breaks down, the instinct is to add process: new forms, sign-offs, meetings and rules about who tells whom. Some structure helps. But process alone rarely fixes silo mentality, because the real issue is usually trust and a sense of shared purpose.

Shared values give people something to come back to when the process doesn't cover the situation. If teams genuinely agree on what matters, such as the people you serve, honesty and helping each other, they'll find ways to work together that no flowchart could design.

You can start this conversation yourself. Bring a mixed group together and ask three questions: What do we each care about most in our work? Who are we all here to serve? What gets in the way of us helping each other? You'll often find far more common ground than people expected.

That's why I spend time with teams exploring values, vision and mission together. When people from different departments discover they want the same things, the walls start to come down. It's often the moment cross-team collaboration stops being an instruction and becomes something people choose.

Silos sometimes deepen after big changes in how and where people work. If your organisation has recently asked people back to the office, you may find my article on why return-to-office mandates don't fix culture useful.

How I can help

I'm experienced at creating collaborative communities in siloed teams, and I organise and facilitate team-building events that bring people together around what matters. I've delivered courses including Collaboration Across Distance, Silos & Cultures, Leading Across Teams, Effective Communication and Exploring Values, Vision & Mission.

My approach blends positive psychology, storytelling, evidence-based coaching models and practical exercises, so teams leave with shared language and habits, not just a good day out. You can read more about my team building and leadership training.