John Dyer’s most recent installment of his change management articles, titled “Why Do Silos Form and How Can We Knock Them Down,” begins with a basketball team analogy that is right on point.
“Imagine a basketball team whose players never pass, never set screens so a teammate can get open and focus purely on shooting the ball to run up their own stats. The chance that this team will win is extremely low and the players will grow to resent and despise each other. One might say that these players are in “silos” and have no interest in anything but their own success.”
Carl the machinist is also back in this installment. Carl is looking forward to his retirement, and has a conversation with one of his co-workers:
“I was just invited to a three-day meeting they called a Keezen, or was it Kaazen… some Japanese word that probably means ‘let’s find a reason to fire Carl!’”
Read more about Carl the machinist, and the impact silos have on a company on IndustryWeek, a companion site to FoundryMag.com, and part of the Penton Manufacturing & Supply Chain Group.