Problem

Team members or sub-groups work in isolation, failing to coordinate or integrate their efforts.

Workshop Title

"Breaking Silos: Creating a Unified Team"

Objectives

• Identify the impact of silos on team performance.
• Foster cross-functional understanding and collaboration.
• Develop strategies to encourage teamwork and shared goals.

Materials Needed

• Flipchart or whiteboard.
• Sticky notes and markers.
• Materials for the bridge-building exercise (e.g., paper, tape, string, scissors).

Process

1. Welcome and Icebreaker (10 minutes)

Activity: Common Goals Challenge
↳ Divide the team into small groups. Each group identifies 5 goals or values they believe the entire team shares.
↳ Discuss the commonalities across groups.

2. Understanding Silos (15 minutes)

Activity: Mapping the Silos
↳ On a flipchart or whiteboard, invite the team to draw a large diagram representing the team’s roles or functions.
↳ Ask participants to identify areas where silos or disconnects exist (e.g., "We rarely share updates with X team").
↳ Discuss how these silos impact collaboration and performance.

3. Building Cross-Functional Awareness (20 minutes)

Activity: Role Swap
↳ Pair participants from different roles or departments. Each person explains their role, key responsibilities, and challenges.
↳ Pairs then brainstorm how their roles intersect and ways to support each other better.

4. Collaboration Challenge (20 minutes)

Activity: The Bridge-Building Exercise
↳ Split the team into groups. Each group is tasked with building a “bridge” using limited materials (e.g., paper, tape, string).
↳ The catch: each group has part of the required materials and must collaborate with other groups to succeed.

5. Creating a Collaboration Plan (15 minutes)

Activity: Unified Action Plan
↳ As a team, brainstorm strategies to reduce silos and improve cross-functional collaboration. Examples:
    - Regular cross-department check-ins.
    - Shared project management tools.
    - Clear communication of goals and progress.
↳ Consolidate these ideas into a simple action plan.

6. Closing and Reflection (10 minutes)

Activity: One Thing I’ll Do
↳ Each participant shares one personal action they’ll take to break down silos (e.g., "I’ll start sharing weekly updates with X team").

Facilitator Notes

• Welcome and Icebreaker (10 minutes): Purpose is to highlight shared purpose and alignment.
• Understanding Silos (15 minutes): Encourage open and constructive dialogue without assigning blame.
• Building Cross-Functional Awareness (20 minutes): Debrief by sharing key insights with the group to build understanding of interdependencies.
• Collaboration Challenge (20 minutes): Debrief by discussing how the exercise mirrors real-life collaboration and the importance of sharing resources and information.
• Creating a Collaboration Plan (15 minutes): Output is a clear, actionable plan to foster collaboration.
• Closing and Reflection (10 minutes): Reinforce that small, consistent actions can make a big difference.

Follow-up

Schedule a check-in after one month to review progress on the collaboration plan and adjust as needed.