Dismantling Information Silos
Priti Manik- Operations Manager
Information Silos come in all shapes and sizes, when a department or members of the team don't have the opportunity or resources to share information properly, which results in them owning all useful information about the current activities and leaving others to duplicate work or make unnecessary errors. For key members of staff, the downtime taken to deal with poor knowledge sharing can become a vicious cycle that ends up bringing entire workflows to a grinding halt.
The hidden cost of information silos
Workplace information silos can seriously disrupt a company's ability to manage processes effectively. There are many ways a silo can pop up, from different departments duplicating work, because they're too focused to check in with other teams across the business, to office based managers thinking 'I'm far too busy to keep my mobile workers updated with every job or workflow change', which in turn makes them into a solo silo.
Successful sites encourage a free flow of information, but you might be in danger of becoming a solo silo if you don't realise when you're:
- so busy, you don’t recognise the value of the information you hold to others
- reluctant to share information because it opens you up to time-consuming questioning
- so overstretched with the tasks at hand, that you keep forgetting about the bigger picture and the part you have to play
If these issues are resulting in people in your company inadvertently hoarding their information, then you need some job management software
Dismantling information silos
Advancements in business systems have created huge efficiencies in information management, but the first step in getting this right is the companies cultural approach to information sharing. No matter how good a software solution might be, information stops flowing freely when there is a workplace culture that doesn’t promote the value of sharing or doesn’t have clear communication guidelines in place. So here are three top ways to end information silos:
- Slow down to speed up
It’s so easy to get pulled into firefighting mode, but if you’re strict about taking some time at the start of each workflow to input all the information you want to share, operatives will be able to find all their job sheet information in their workflow app, leaving you to get on with your own tasks more quickly. - Change the perspective on questions
A proactive attitude to information sharing starts with management and trickles down to individual employees, where asking questions becomes a healthy part of business process management. Being badgered isn't productive, but creating a space to invite questions and constructive opinions from the outset will save time and mistakes in the long run. - Have clearly defined goals for the day
Every project has multiple goals at any one time, but being unable to share the focus on all of them means eventually everything starts to suffer. If you can share your goals with your mobile workers using workflow management software, they can understand better how to make a valuable contribution and why it’s important to the overall task. Even if your day goes sideways, if you’ve shared your priorities, you’re not alone in completing your key goals when others have the opportunity to pick up the slack.
Let your information free-flow, with Re-flow.
With the information silo ended, it's time to burst Priti's bubble!
