We worked at a company 5 years ago, where on the surface everything seemed fine. Staff were happy enough, leaders and owners got along, it all seemed to be going perfect. Then we dug into how the business operations were handled. The company was about 300 people strong with at least 15 departments. This was the breakdown, and they were silos.
Staff got along great, but production was terrible, and everyone just seemed to accept it, as the way it was. We were confused about the amount of money being left on the table as being OK. What was going on? When we dug deeper, the profits were good enough. However, some of the lower rung employees were upset, because everything was taking too long. The ah-hah moment!
Silos were bringing down the motivation of the less paid employees. Upper management was still getting their wages and usual profits, but what could have been potential profits, the less paid employees did not get.