As a CISO or an executive responsible for the Information Security organization at your company, one thing that you ought to keep in real focus is the Silo Effect. Be conscious of it, work against it, and prevent it from derailing your vision and longevity!
So what is the Silo Effect? It’s when departments do not wish to share information with others in the same company. Of course, all of us understand why this may be the case and all of us also understand the effects of this stand.
But I would like to stretch the usual definition a bit further. I would like to include when lack of resources, time, and transparency forces us to operate in such a way – yes, a conscious decision or an unconscious decision or both!
How do you know if you’re operating in a silo? Here are some situations to consider:
- Are projects, meetings, etc. run top-down so that there is limited free exchange of ideas and information?
- Are there different cultures in conflict reaching common goals? Think mergers and acquisitions for one.
- Are your customers, partners, stakeholders, staff, senior management seem demanding or intolerant?
How can you reduce the Silo Effect? Though there are more, I am limiting this initial discussion to just 10 ways. I chose the following 10 to start with. Feel free to keep adding to the list as you muster the courage and organizational prowess to add more!
1. I don’t meet with my staff, partners, stakeholders, and senior management on a regular basis.
How to reduce the Silo Effect: Maybe you don’t like meetings or too many meetings. I don’t want to say that perhaps you’re in the wrong business or suggest that you are at the wrong level but a well-crafted meeting session is one interactive medium that can do wonders for your relationships, your vision, and yes, your longevity. How often do you meet with the business, IT, Legal, Compliance, Privacy, and Audit colleagues, and your critical vendors? You don’t need to schedule an hour, not even a half-hour. You can do 15-minute sessions to get the most bang for your buck. Be sure to meet with everyone who works for you at one time or another.
2. I don’t encourage feedback routinely.
How to reduce the Silo Effect: Ever heard of the “Suggestion” box? That’s for starters. It can be anonymous and take the form of a real physical box and/or to a monitored mailbox. Make sure that this is a routine line for you in meetings as well – ask for comments, positive or negative. Write it down – and please do follow up!
3. I don’t normally encourage participation in new projects and new approaches.
How to reduce the Silo Effect: You’ve got talent all over. But what you may not know is exactly what talent you have and where – plus, what talent you may be able to leverage for that tough project with a tight deadline. You need an inventory of such talent, skills if you will. Then you need to make sure your projects are not only just known to you and your direct managers but visible throughout your responsibility zone. Call on the human spirit and they will respond in kind. Such transparency brings immense rewards to you, your people, and the organization as a whole.
4. I don’t normally share best practices with staff, partners, stakeholders, and senior management.
How to reduce the Silo Effect: Maybe you don’t have enough best practices to share, simple. If you don’t, no problem, just pen it as a top priority on your to do list, and draw on your talent base to get it done. Your partners and stakeholders within your organization can see how efficient, how transparent, and how well you run your team. And, of course, the auditors will for once love you. And maybe the regulators too! Get it up on a SharePoint site if that is just for starters and then onto your intranet site.
5. I have not had the time to create and share my vision.
How to reduce the Silo Effect: This is one component that can lead to being a great leader. Should I say more? Every politician is expected to do so. Are you any different?
6. I find myself not motivating others or providing incentives.
How to reduce the Silo Effect: Motivating others, even by providing incentives, is one of the biggest ways of tapping the unknown potential in each one of us. This is also one way to get 150% out of everyone without them cursing you out or overworking them to tears. Yes, motivation is a whole different topic and training class all by itself, understood!
7. I don’t encourage collaboration as I really should.
How to reduce the Silo Effect: You have the skill set inventory, you got your project list with ongoing status published, now you just need to get collaboration going efficiently within your organization – for those under your responsibility as well as those throughout the organization who need to be your partner or a stakeholder. Collaboration is also another different topic altogether and a whole 3-day class! Think teamwork, conflicts, project management, etc.
8. It would be nice to share my team’s performance metrics with others, but…
How to reduce the Silo Effect: Okay, I am supposing that you produce all kinds of metrics on a routine basis. But if you are doing so just to appease your management, I’m afraid you’ve got some work ahead of you. You see, sharing metrics with your staff, your partners, your stakeholders, the business – will surely help you develop stronger relationships, lower your blood pressure, score higher on company surveys, and the like. Folks will see how busy you are, how much more staff you need, and demand less of you. No need to hide under your metrics anymore. It’s like milk, it will do the body good!
9. I don’t communicate enough to my staff and others.
How to reduce the Silo Effect: Communication skills – oral and written. We are all judged by that at least once a year by our manager. Why shouldn’t you be judged too? As such a critical position as a CISO is to ensure that communication is of a high caliber. As busy as you are, the easiest way to reach out into your organization from New York to California to Florida and across the globe is by well-crafted communication. Think of the different cultures, the different audience you’re addressing. Highlight your requested action items. Highlight your main points. Emails are a skill yet to be mastered by many. Work on it.
10. I can’t say me and my team work towards a common goal.
How to reduce the Silo Effect: How do you know if you and your team are working towards a common goal? What is that goal? If you can’t answer that (easily), then you may not have developed and shared that vision (see above). It’s that vision that gets translated via metrics into the results and compensation you’re desperately looking for. Think football, think baseball.
I bet after you’ve read the above 10 pointers, you are going to say to yourself, “I knew that.” I agree – I know you know, otherwise you would not be in the position you are. But sometimes, we get hardened, we get distracted, our own agenda gets derailed for one reason or another, or simply put, we lose focus. This is meant as a reminder, as a checklist, to guide you towards your original agenda, your passion, why you occupy the seat you’re in. Keep that seat warm, don’t let it go cold! Good luck!