Breaking Down Organizational Silos: 11 Tactics for Nonprofits

The following article is from Forbes

Nonprofits function best when all of the departments are working seamlessly with one another to achieve the organization’s goals. Unfortunately, any organization, no matter its size, has to deal with poor communication, inevitably leading to organizational silos and isolated departments or teams.

This isolation of departments could be disastrous for a nonprofit, leading to difficulty in internal and external messaging and preventing the organization from achieving its goals. Ideally, a nonprofit should remove these barriers between departments to allow for a more open flow of information and communication. To help, 11 professionals from Forbes Nonprofit Council look at the most effective tactics for breaking down these organizational silos and increasing communication.

1. Practice What You Preach

It is easy to work in silos and manage down, but the nature of nonprofit is the humanitarian aspect of the role. It is crucial that we also practice what we preach. My team created a WhatsApp group for us to champion each other's causes, celebrate milestones together and announce breakthroughs. It brought us closer as a team and further reduced the barriers to gaining my attention. - Dr. Lilian Ajayi-Ore, Global Connections for Women Foundation

2. Ask The Right Questions

The most simplistic way to encourage more effective communication in smaller teams is to ask the right questions. During meetings, our team reports on their project progress each week. I ask team members to tie their project work back to our organizational goals and list aloud which other team members are involved. Connecting the dots on daily work and strategic goals can be a game-changer. - Christina Allrich, Beta Gamma Sigma

3. Focus On Building Trust

Being able to trust leaders and employees can be effective and it is a must in breaking down silos and opening communication. Allowing autonomy and being receptive of thoughts and ideas can lead to more creativity. It can also give your staff confidence by letting them know they are valued and not restricted to a silo way of thinking no matter how hard they work or what type of service they provide. - Thomas Milana, Man Cave Health

4. Develop A Shared Culture

Develop a shared culture of vision, transparency, responsibility and accountability. A clear vision provides direction for the target mission. Transparency builds everyone's confidence that there are no "hidden agendas." Responsibility and accountability allow everyone to work at a level of individual success and team accountability. Improving organizational culture improves communication. - Aaron Alejandro, Texas FFA Foundation

5. Lead With Empathy And Transparency

Communication without any true sense of empathy creates an environment of insecurity. People need guidance to make things work but they also need managers who can understand their needs and fears. The best approach to break down organizational silos is acting with transparency and defining incentives to empower brilliant minds that can truly bring real progress to your activities. - Dr. Lobna Karoui, AI Exponential Thinker

6. Host Regular Cross-Department Meetings

Leaders should host regularly scheduled cross-department meetings to encourage collaboration and communication across the organization. At One Hope United, we have regularly scheduled executive meetings for our C-suite, along with monthly operations and leadership meetings across the organization. - Charles A. Archer, One Hope United

7. Involve Your Team More

Involving your team in helping to create, edit and review strategic documents and reports takes more time, but four important things happen. First, documents get stronger. Second, we break down information silos. Third, people are encouraged to see the good work others are doing. And finally, we reconnect everyone with the core, big-picture mission we're all committed to. - Kent Annan, Humanitarian Disaster Institute

8. Create A Council

One of the most effective strategies to get teams working in a diverse cross-functional way is to create an advisory/culture council that has representation across the organization. This gives nonprofit leaders a group of staff members with various perspectives to engage with in organization-wide problem solving through shared context and vision, providing champions across the organization for results. - Kim Jefferies, Brighton Center

9. Communicate And Connect Consistently

Physical separation has raised the necessity for consistent communication—a key tenet to ensuring employees feel connected. New, virtual avenues allow us to stay connected, including employee network groups focused on topics of interest such as racial equity, volunteering and wellness opportunities, and listening sessions to share perspectives on the issues impacting our world. - Jeremy Wheaton, ECMC Group

10. Clearly Define Roles And Responsibilities

Having a clear definition of roles and responsibilities is key to ensuring accountability and the execution of key initiatives. We have multiple leaders, but each leader is accountable for the end-to-end success of their initiatives. The accountable party can resolve conflict as the top decision maker, thus ensuring all cross-functional groups meet deliverables. - Deboshree Dutta, RoomPlays

11. Cultivate Formal And Informal Strategies

To increase organizational communication, I highly recommend that nonprofit leaders cultivate both formal and informal communication strategies. Examples of more formal approaches might be using a collaborative platform like Slack or Asana to help foster interaction and transparency. Also, prioritize ways your team can also organically connect with each other. - Jamie Aten, Humanitarian Disaster Institute