Silo-Busting by Organizational Restructuring

Recently, two executives made headlines by announcing organizational restructuring to rid their companies of silos. For me, it was great timing. I was preparing for a keynote speech at the Prepaid Card Expo in Orlando, and my topic was “tearing down silos to drive success.”

I gave that speech yesterday and used these examples as part of my talk.

Two years ago, Sir Howard Stringer, Sony’s CEO, was interviewed on PBS and said one of the first jobs he had to do at Sony was reach out and get people to collaborate with each other, and to break up the vertical silos. Stringer is now putting those words into action. Starting April 1, Sony will have two new silo-busting groups: Networked Products and Services and Consumer Products Group. Stringer, who adds the title of President to his existing CEO and Chairman roles, recently announced, “This reorganization is designed to transform Sony into a more innovative, integrated and agile global company.”

The day before the Sony story hit the papers, Yahoo’s new CEO, Carol Bartz, announced their new management structure. She created a global Customer Advocacy Group and destroyed the division line between technology and products by making one development group call Products. Bartz said of this restructuring: “Everything gets simpler. We will be able to make speedier decisions. The notorious silos are gone and we have a renewed focus on the customer.”

I’ve seen the high price that is paid for “silo mentality” and I know the power of collaboration. So I was delighted to be able to cite these recent examples.

I also thought it interesting that the breakout sessions at the Expo where I was speaking had been restructured from vertical tracks to lifecycle tracks.