One of the major pitfalls of managerial design is the hinging of an entire organization upon a single individual or small group of individuals. Almost every company has a highly skilled employee that is able to oversee and manage large portions of the business and effectively keep the team moving forward. Obviously these individuals need to be celebrated, appreciated and adequately compensated for their stellar performance, however it's important that they do not become the sole pillar that keeps the entire team upright.
The best ways to prevent a knowledge silo is to create some healthy redundancy and make some small adjustments to job responsibilities:
Redundancy isn’t always a bad thing, there are plenty of systems that are created and put in place solely to act as a backup in the event a primary system fails!
It is important that multiple individuals are trained on each job task. Therefore, if something were to happen to the primary performer of a task, then someone else can pick up the slack!
It is imperative that a job/task rotation is in place. This will ensure that all members of the team are able to keep their skills sharpened and fresh!
A reorganization of job responsibilities to prevent silos can lead to many benefits!
This post probably doesn’t need to go into the details as to what dangers a knowledge silo can lead to. Frankly, it is just common knowledge that we fail to apply to business on occasion. Instead, let's discuss some of the inherent benefits of creating more robust training programs. By training multiple individuals on being able to perform a certain task, you are ultimately facilitating the growth of the team. Rather than having a single skilled employee leading a group of individuals only able to perform menial tasks, you can develop a team of high performers that will keep your business running in tip-top shape. Furthermore, when you have teams of individuals that are highly skilled working together, you will see massive amounts of creativity and feedback being passed around, as well as company improvements.
Michael Chiovitti, Chief Talent Strategist
Eden Resources, LLC