Organizational Swim Lanes and Silos

Leaders in organizations are constantly striving to achieve the right balance between structure and flow.  Too much structure impedes progress, stymies communication, and demotivates employees.  Conversely too little structure creates a free-for-all environment that lacks accountability and hurts productivity.  In a recent interview with a client executive, he described this balance very eloquently by explaining how too much structure can turn organizational swim lanes into silos.

In reflecting on that conversation and beginning to piece this article together, I turned to ChatGPT to provide some AI generated context.  I asked ChatGPT, the following prompt: What is the difference between a swim lane and a silo in an organization.  Below is the verbatim response:

A swim lane is a visual representation of how work flows through an organization, particularly in a cross-functional team. Each lane represents a specific role or department, and the swim lanes show how work moves between these roles or departments. This approach can help identify bottlenecks, handoffs, and areas for improvement in the workflow.

On the other hand, a silo in an organization refers to a situation where departments or teams work independently of one another, often with little communication or collaboration. Silos can occur when departments prioritize their own goals over the organization's overall objectives, which can lead to inefficiencies, missed opportunities, and decreased innovation.

So, the main difference between a swim lane and a silo is that a swim lane is a tool for visualizing and improving workflow, while a silo is a structural issue that can impede communication and collaboration within an organization.

The description above clearly denotes the advantages of swim lanes over silos.  An additional way that I would describe the advantage of swim lanes over silos relates to visibility.  While swim lanes differentiate the work of various functions or departments, they provide visibility across lanes and are not impenetrable.  It is possible and even advantageous to change lanes, whereas silos block visibility and shield employees from crossing lines.

As a business leader embracing the concept of swim lanes makes sense, but it requires that everyone keeps the lanes fluid and does not allow them to harden into silos.  Encouraging and facilitating cross functional communication is a key to making this work.  This starts by involving the right people regardless of level, function, title or position in the organization in projects based on their ability to contribute meaningfully. 

There is an exercise that I have leveraged with teams to highlight the advantages and disadvantages of imposing structure.  The exercise is called “Build me a structure”.  Participants are broken into two teams in separate rooms.  Each team is given the following materials:

·         30 3x5 index cards

·         20 flexible drinking straws

·         A roll of clear tape

·         A pair of scissors

They are given the assignment to build a structure using only the supplies provided and a time limit of 15 minutes.  For one of the teams there is an additional set of instructions.  Each person in that team is given a card with a job title and told they must operate within the title.  Titles include architect, supply chain manager, builder, quality control, president, sales, marketing.  There can be multiple people with the same title. 

The other team is given no titles and no further instructions.

At the end of the 15 minutes each team must present their structure, explain what it is and their design process.  The results are always quite fascinating.  In almost every running of this exercise the team with titles builds either a house or a building which is symmetrical and has square corners.  The team with no titles is often much more creative in what they build.  I have seen sculptures that are described as modern art, animals, flowers, soccer balls, vehicles and random shapes.

This begs the question, why such different results?  Titles and structure tend to create predictable results.  Titles constrain people to act and even think in a certain way.  Watching the team with titles operate highlights this.  The architects begin designing, the supply chain people take charge of the materials, the president tries to oversee the process and the builders work with the materials to carry out the architects designs. 

In the other group a more chaotic, creative approach ensues where everyone has a hand in the design, usually the outcome is not predetermined before the building commences and the process is much more iterative.

This activity highlights the pros and cons of imposing structure within organizations.  The defined roles create swim lanes or even silos whereas the lack of them allows for more creativity.  For a leader in an organization, the important lesson is to be clear upfront about what you desire.  If you want innovation and creativity, then don’t impose structure.  If you want a predictable result, then structure will help drive towards that.  The right amount of structure is the key.  Keep it fluid and rely on swim lanes.  At the first sign that swim lanes are becoming silos, it is up to the leader to call timeout and to make the appropriate adjustments. 

A simple reminder, silos are for grains not organizations.