The call to arms to 'break down silos' is one of knowledge management's favourite phrases, and has been so, pretty much since KM's inception. In fact, over the years, it's probably been KM's most aggressive strapline, sitting uncomfortably amongst our collaborative/caring/sharing/learning/appreciative vocabulary...

Have we been too hard on silos? As KM professionals, we have made them public enemy number one – we demolish silos, tear silos down, break silos up, eradicate silo working... and so on.

I regularly hear clients in all sectors describing their workplace as being siloed.
Sometimes people mean that their organisation is structured in silos. Sometimes they mean that their information is managed in silos.
Sometimes they mean both.

A wise leader once challenged me with a simple question. 20 years ago, in a corporate role, I was being evangelical about knowledge management, sharing and networking and painting a picture of how the company could be different if it was restructured with knowledge in mind - which included the removal of silos. His thoughtful response was: “That sounds really good Chris, but can you also tell me what we would lose?”

It’s easy to slip in to a mindset whereby we view our organisations as completely dysfunctional, and 'only radical KM surgery can save them'. Of course that’s never true – and raises the dangerous prospect that in our quest to find knowledge-enabled improvement, we fail to consider the unintended consequences of our actions