Tearing down the Silos

by Glenn Reynolds

            Every football team is composed of three different teams: the offense, the defense, and the special teams units. To win a championship, all of the teams must work well separately and together. 

            I once watched a game where a special teams member did not fight for extra yardage on a punt return, but ran out of bounds to avoid a hit.  A few plays later, the quarterback was shellacked trying to eke out a few more yards on a third down to get the team into field goal range.  The color commentator mentioned how often that happens, a special teams player doesn’t value how difficult it is for the offense to move the ball even a few yards under certain game conditions.  In no uncertain terms, the commentator (a former offensive lineman) complained about how the special teams unit put the win in jeopardy with that one play.

            A football team may be made up of three separate units, but it has to function as one team to win championships.

            The same is true of a baseball team, though the parts are different.  In baseball, the offense and defense are made up of the same players.  The other components of the team are the starting pitchers and the relief pitchers.

            Going a step further, the team can be expanded from the players on the field to the coaches who call the plays and even to the front office that negotiates salaries, makes draft picks, hires and fires coaches, and builds the roster.

            How many times have we watched and seen a team implode to the point where players’ only meetings are called, managers aren’t talking to general managers, and quarterbacks refuse to comment on the play calling of the coaches?

            Either as a result or as the causal agent, teams can compartmentalize into their own subgroups, further hindering the ability of the team to win.  Instead of fighting for the team, the offense is bickering with the defense, the front office is fighting the coaching staff, and the parts of the team are looking out for themselves, instead of for the team as a whole.

            It doesn’t just happen to sports teams—it happens all too often in the academic and business world, as well.  The faculty can be at odds with the administration.  The advancement team is working against the maintenance team.  Marketing is pushing the supply chain to the end of their limits.  And, management is distrustful of the people on the line.

            What gets created are a whole lot of silos.  A silo is used by a farmer to store some type of grain.  The silo, usually above ground and cylindrical in shape, keeps the grain in and the elements out.  In the military, armies store missiles in a below ground silo.  The principle is the same.  The missile stays in and everything else stays out.

            In the church, silos are created very easily.  Men’s ministry, women’s ministry, youth ministry, and children’s ministry can function all in their own silos.  There can be an incredible amount of activity and even accomplishment in the silo, but there is no coordination between the ministries.

            The same can be true of the board and the staff—each can operate in their own silo, not respecting or understanding the work of the other. 

            There can be silos even in the worship service.  How many times has a pastor had to referee between the audio team who wants to get the house balanced just right and the singers who constantly need more of their voice in the monitor.  This one is fraught with trouble because audio volunteers tend to be engineers and musicians tend toward the creative side—making communication even more difficult.

            The result of all of these silos is an “us against them” mentality on your team.  The team winds up fighting each other for space in the worship folder, time from the lead pastor, and money in the budget.

            So, as the leader, how do you tear down the silos and get the team to work together, as well as separately.

Develop a Common Vision

            A common vision is a single focus that is shared by the entire leadership team of the organization.  When a silo-mentality pervades the team, there is a need to develop an overarching and common vision that brings everyone on the leadership team together around a common purpose or a common vision.

            Many resources are available to help the leader and the team develops a common vision for the future of the church.  Two of the bests are Masterplanning by Bobb Biehl and Advanced Strategic Planning Aubrey Malphurs.  The key is for the entire leadership team to have input and buy in to the process of developing the common vision for the organization.

            That vision answers the why question.  Why is it important for ushers and greeters to be well trained?  Why does the media team need to better connect with the worship team?  Why do the pastoral staff and the deacon board need to understand their roles and purposes?  The answer is that we are all working toward a common vision, rather than a vision of each department working independently toward their own goals and vision.

Establish Clear Objectives

            The vision determines the direction for the team to travel, but clear objectives describe the way forward toward that destination.  Clear objectives or goals give the team the context of action.  These are the building blocks that clarify exactly how to move forward toward the vision.

            These objectives should be both qualitative and shared by the team.  For example, at Bethel part of our vision is to reshape the future by passing the baton of faith to a new generation.  In order to do that, we had to establish several clear objectives that the entire team understands and can be measured.

            Some of those goals included renovating our children’s center, launching a new Wednesday night children’ program, and recruit 25% more workers for children’s ministry.

            If the vision answers the question of why then the objectives answers the question of what.  What are we going to do to move forward?  What are our next steps as a team?

Cultivate Respect for Different Roles

            When a silo mentality is in place, the members of the team usually lack respect for the roles and responsibilities of other team members.  Because of that decisions are made that create conflict among the team.  One church I worked with lacked a respect for the roles of different departments.  As a result, the adult ministries department would schedule events and lengthen services with no regard to the consequences to the children’s ministry.

            Insisting the team develop and review event planning guides together, creating opportunities for team members to share experiences at retreats and other out of office events, as well as developing cross-departmental teams within the team allows the team to cultivate respect for each others role.  It answers the question of who we are and what we need from each other.

Demand Constant Communication

            As the team leader, you must demand constant communication among team members.  While all of us bemoan the endless meeting that produces little in results, meetings, memorandums, event planning guides, and digital applications like Dropbox can help the team communicate with each other in an ongoing fashion.

Speak a Shared Language

            If you can give it language you can steward it.  Even beginning to describe the silos in your ministry allows you to begin to talk about the issues with a common language.  The language of the vision enables the team to mentor and monitor each other.  For example, one of the things we talk about at Bethel is reaching people under 40, while keeping people over 60.  That common language helps us make decisions as we plan our services and our ministries. 

            Too often each department has a language of its own.  To bring the team together the leader has to teach the team a common language.

Make Symbolic Moves

            The offices of Bethel College were located on the same property as Bethel Temple, but in a different building from the church.  That separation symbolized a silo mentality that had infiltrated our organization.  To combat the silos, we moved the offices of the college back into the main church office building.  That move symbolized the idea that we are all part of one organization.

            It takes time and energy, but when the leader enables the team to tear down silos and begin to work together for a common vision, the church moves from an incredible amount of disparate activity to a common thrust forward in mission and purpose.