Every leader says they want more collaboration.

But if you zoom in on the day-to-day reality inside most organisations, you’ll find something different: good people working in their silos, doing smart work that doesn’t quite connect with their colleagues in another function

These silos form when collaboration across functions breaks down. Teams compete instead of connecting. And leaders often underestimate just how costly that misalignment really is—lost time, missed opportunities, inconsistent customer experiences, and frustrated talent.

It’s not because they don’t care. It’s because the system makes it hard to care together.

The cost? Missed opportunities. Confused customers. Slower decisions. Talent attrition. And a strategy that looks good on paper but gets stuck in execution.

Let’s be clear: collaboration doesn’t fail because people aren’t trying. It fails because leaders haven’t made it easier to succeed together than apart.

So, what’s going wrong—and more importantly, how can senior leaders fix it?

Silos Aren’t the Enemy. They’re the Evidence.

Silos are often framed as the enemy. But they’re really a symptom of deeper issues: misaligned goals, structural incentives, and leadership behaviours that unintentionally reinforce a “stay in your lane” mindset. In other words, silos are what happens when teams are set up to optimise for their own goals—with no shared stake in anyone else’s success.

Teams don’t wake up one day and decide to isolate themselves. They’re shaped by the systems around them—how they’re measured, resourced, and rewarded.

If functional leaders are chasing separate KPIs with no shared stake in success, collaboration becomes optional. And often, optional means absent.

If Marketing is rewarded for brand awareness, and Sales for closing fast, and Operations for minimising cost—then who owns the customer experience?

The answer: everyone and no one. And that’s the problem.

Misalignment Isn’t Just Process. It’s Perspective.

Teams don’t just have different goals. They have different worldviews.

One team sees speed as success. Another sees risk. One loves big ideas. Another demands certainty. And unless those assumptions are surfaced and bridged, collaboration turns into conflict—or worse, disengagement.

Yes, handovers and processes matter. But underneath the missed deadlines and fuzzy roles is often a deeper issue: teams speaking different languages.

What Sales sees as urgent, Operations might view as reckless. What Product values as “customer-first,” Marketing might see as slow to market. These aren’t just workflow issues—they’re value clashes.

Without a shared understanding of what “good” looks like, cross-functional work turns into a game of translation—or worse, silent conflict.

You’re not just solving for alignment. You’re solving for empathy – for understanding others.

No Trust? No Collaboration.

We talk a lot these days about psychological safety within teams—but what about between them?

Psychological safety isn’t a soft skill—it’s the foundation for honest feedback, shared ownership, and creative tension.

But when teams don’t trust each other—or worse, don’t know each other—they withhold. Information gets hoarded and problems get hidden. Honest feedback disappears. Innovation stalls before it starts. Teams default to defensiveness and retreat to their corners.

Collaboration requires more than communication—it requires trust. A space where it’s okay to ask questions, admit uncertainty, and challenge each other without fear of blame.

Remember: nothing great gets built from a defensive posture.

Leadership Sets the Tone—For Better or Worse

Leaders shape the system. And when executives don’t collaborate with each other—when they defend turf, chase disconnected metrics, or speak different strategic languages—that behaviour ripples down through the organisation.

When senior leaders operate in silos, the organisation follows suit.

But when they model openness, co-ownership, and curiosity across boundaries—it becomes contagious.

When leaders co-own goals, share credit and model open dialogue, they create permission for their teams to do the same.

You can’t delegate collaboration. It has to start at the top.

Structure Drives Behaviour. Always.

One of the biggest traps organisations fall into is trying to improve collaboration without changing the structures that govern it.

Basically, you can’t coach your way out of a misaligned system.

If KPIs, reporting lines, and resource allocation are designed for competition—not collaboration—then dysfunction becomes the norm. If teams are measured by individual performance but expected to act collectively, you’re setting them up to fail.

Collaboration isn’t just a behaviour—it’s a design question. Want better collaboration? Change the design:

• Shared goals across functions
• Clear handovers at every intersection
• Cross-functional teams with joint accountability
• Incentives that reward partnership, not heroics

The Hidden Cost of Getting This Wrong

It’s easy to dismiss inter-team tension as a “soft” issue. But the consequences are real—and measurable.

You won’t always see it on the surface. But you’ll feel it:

• Slower decision-making
• Conflicting messaging to customers
• Duplicated work and wasted resources
• Employee burnout and disengagement
• Missed innovation windows

How many times have your high performers walked away because “it’s just too hard to get things done here.” One Slack survey found 43% of employees said they feel disconnected from teams outside their own.

That disconnection shows up in your bottom line, demonstrating it’s a people problem that has led to an organisational performance problem.

What Senior Leaders Can Do Long-Term

Fixing inter-team dynamics takes more than a few workshops or away days. It takes intentional design—and visible leadership.

Here’s what works:

• Align goals across functions. Joint accountability drives joint behaviour.
• Clarify what good handovers look like. Define shared definitions of “done” between teams.
• Understand working styles. Tools like DiSC or Belbin can build appreciation of how others communicate and operate.
• Celebrate cross-functional wins. What leaders reward, teams repeat.
• Redesign structures. Don’t ask for collaboration if your KPIs, org chart, or budgets don’t support it.
• Invest in facilitation. Sometimes, a neutral third party is what’s needed to name tensions and reset relationships.

What to Do Tomorrow: The Three Moves That Matter

1. Rewire how success is defined. Start at the top. Make outcomes shared, not siloed.
2. Design for cross-functional ownership. Embed collaboration into structures—not just offsites.
3. Model it relentlessly. The behaviours you reward (or tolerate) shape the culture more than any value statement.

Final Words: Collaboration Is a System embedded in the Culture, Not a Slogan

Everyone wants better collaboration. But intent isn’t impact.

If your teams aren’t working together, don’t just ask them to collaborate harder.
Fix the system that makes it hard to do so. Build a new culture.

Because when you get this right—when cross-functional becomes the default, not the exception—you unlock something powerful:
Alignment. Innovation. Growth. Morale. … And an organisation that can actually deliver on its strategy.

With the right leadership sponsorship and structural design, cross-functional collaboration doesn’t just work—it accelerates creativity, improves execution, and supports a culture where people want to stay and do their best work.

Because when your teams work across functional boundaries——that’s when the real magic happens.

Ready to Break Down Silos for Good?

The Inter-Team Dynamics Programme at IMI is built for senior leaders who want to move beyond talk—and drive real cross-functional alignment.

Through immersive workshops, leadership labs, and expert coaching, we help you:

• Diagnose the root causes of inter-team friction
• Build trust and psychological safety across functions
• Redesign structures for shared accountability
• Embed behaviours that drive high-performance collaboration

Because better collaboration doesn’t happen by chance. It happens by design.

Learn more about the Enhancing Inter Team Dynamics or talk to our team today.