Had something happen to me on Friday night. My kids wanted me to go to a Harry Potter night in town. At night the main roads were closed and the town turned into Hogwarts. I was pleasantly surprised at how wonderfully planned the event was, considering I was under the impression that this was an add hock event. I think my town is similar to many places these days, a dying downtown due to the 4-lane highway that seems to be sprouting up fast food locations, big box stores and a flagship Wal-Mart. With a few thousand people showing up, it just seemed to have a feel of community.
Arriving at the train station that has been declared an historical site and honestly been on the chopping block for the last 30 years depending on town funding. We were handed a nice 3-fold brochure with 15 destinations to find clues in a scavenger hunt. I walked into these 15 stores, offered a free hot chocolate, read our clue and stamped our card, thumbed through books, waited outside other stores talking to friends and recognizable faces really just shooting the proverbial cooler talk, as my wife and kids looked over rack after rack of clothing. I walked into these stores recognized many faces, shook many hands and really got a chance to see what these “faces” are do for a living and no doubt what keeps them up at night. One of the stops was a candy store, the store was packed the owner actually had to ask her 70 year old father to do crowd control, letting people in as people left the store… to avoid being sardines. I made my way to the cash and I said you are having a good week today and she replied with a huge smile. I am having a GREAT month today and I really needed it things have been really slow lately.
So… for the people that have managed to still be reading this, you are probably asking. What the heck does this have to do with Human Resources. I think what happened to me was a great example on how to break down the silo’s. What I was introduced to stores and services in my town. I see them as really no different than departments in a large company. Both the stores (or departments) have roles to do in order to make the town (or company) work better. Idealistically they share the share many of the same goals. They want to be respected, do something really well…. And perhaps make a decent buck for their efforts. I had a chance to see these store keepers (department heads) show what they do best. HR talks about having a high performance workplace, sharing goals, aligning efforts for to help the company bottom line. (or a strong town) But it wasn’t until I entered these stores (departments) that I appreciated what they do and how they are good for the town. In my prior job I would often have to sit with the Accounts Receivable manager to discuss plans for a delinquent accounts it wasn’t until I understood that what that department goes through to run a 43 day AR. Or a visit to purchasing to blast them for having an A product on back order only to find that the supplier has the widget on backorder and purchasing has sourced an alternative product and the problem stemmed from a hurricane offering a poor yield months ago. Over time I got to know most of the departments (ironically hr was the only department I never visited on my weekly visits to the office). It wasn’t until I had the time to learn what the “goal” was that make me understand the passion. It wasn’t long before I would start to think about how each department in a company interweaves with the other department. Yet very few organizations take the time to understand what those departments do on a daily basis and how they help us reach our business goals.
So my idea to break down the silos would be to have each department head to create a 10-15 minute overview of what duties and responsibilities of that department…. Maybe a few metrics they track and 5 minutes on the metrics that might directly relate to that department. I can think of all the times I walked from department to department with a list of my concerns. Wouldn’t it have been great to be able to say. Cathy back from holidays, hope that you didn’t lose to many days on that 43 day AR. Or Lisa how many inventory turns last month… it seemed busy. Is it possible that in the right organizations a few minutes tacked on to a meeting might be the fundamental step towards conversation and breaking down some silos.
What have you done to help breakdown those silos…. Send them to me… or better yet post them yourself.
David Whitmarsh
dwhitmarsh@hr.com
