{"id":5511,"date":"2021-08-17T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-17T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onehub.com\/blog\/?p=5511"},"modified":"2022-06-23T10:12:33","modified_gmt":"2022-06-23T17:12:33","slug":"break-down-information-silos-with-cloud-storage-and-file-sharing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onehub.com\/blog\/2021\/08\/17\/break-down-information-silos-with-cloud-storage-and-file-sharing\/","title":{"rendered":"Break Down Information Silos With Cloud Storage and File Sharing"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
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What are workplace silos, and how are they hurting your business?<\/h2>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

You may not have heard the terms \u201cworkplace silo\u201d or \u201cinformation silo,\u201d but you\u2019ve likely experienced them. A workplace silo separates different types of employees, often by department or management level, that prevents workers from sharing information and collaborating freely.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Simply having departments within your organization doesn\u2019t constitute a silo. It\u2019s normal to group people by specialty for efficiency\u2019s sake, but a silo forms when those departments become cliquish. Their loyalty is to their department colleagues. All others are seen as outsiders despite everyone working for the same company, and presumably, the same goals.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

This mindset has significant negative effects on a company. It inhibits creativity, collaboration, innovation, and camaraderie. Departments compete for resources and become resentful of each other. It creates an unhealthy work environment where ideas and information are hoarded instead of being freely shared so they can be explored, improved, and implemented.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

How can you break down silos?<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Address the problem directly and promote common goals<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The first step to recovery is admitting there\u2019s a problem. Address this head-on with your staff. Educate them on the issues that information silos are causing within your organization, and lay out the steps you plan to take to heal these divisions by increasing communication and cooperation.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Take time to outline common company goals with your team. Identify where each department fits into the picture and ways they can support each other to achieve their objectives. Hold<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

regular staff meetings to keep employees updated on their progress toward these goals and highlight positive examples of teams working together to make this happen.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Another important step in breaking down silos is to have your leadership team exemplify the behaviors you want to see throughout your organization. It should become commonplace for managers to engage with all employees, no matter their level or department. Employees model their attitudes and actions on the example set by upper management, and seeing this new behavioral standard will make workers feel more comfortable reaching outside their departments.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Provide collaborative tools and resources<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Major culture shifts are always accompanied by a period of growing pains. It\u2019s difficult for employees to change the way they work, so it\u2019s important to support this growth with smart tools and resources.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Online storage and file sharing<\/a><\/h4>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

If your company isn\u2019t already using online file storage, now is the perfect time to start. Online storage<\/a> platforms provide secure cloud servers that keep your data safe while making it more accessible to employees. Your staff can access files on-site or remotely using any device.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Switching to online file storage will greatly improve your employees\u2019 general access to files, but it\u2019s important to keep in mind that information silos often extend to a company\u2019s file organization. If your teams have been divergent for a long time, they\u2019ve likely developed their own file organization systems. This makes it difficult to share information across company boundaries.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Renaming all these files under a cohesive system may not be practical, but you can have each department create a brief guide to explain their systems. A helpful guide will include:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n