Small businesses have a really hard time thinking about how to scale. That’s hardly a secret.

Often one person is wearing multiple hats—some of which don’t fit them. Handling a broad range of unrelated tasks across several functions is not a recipe for success. When people get bogged down by things they don’t like doing and aren’t good at, they can’t fully use their key talents. So, the company isn’t maximizing their value.

Does this sound familiar? If you’re wondering how to structure a team to make it more effective, try a siloed approach. By departmentalizing your business, you can let each person play to their strengths, building highly productive teams. Let’s explore how this works in practice, along with key benefits and best practices for taking a siloed approach.

What Does Working in Silos Involve?

Basically, silos are small departments. They can even consist of just a single person; that’s pretty typical for smaller companies. As you grow, you can build them out.

So, by adopting a siloed structure, you’ll be departmentalizing your business. This means putting people in key roles that they’ll thrive in, boosting organizational efficiencies. In the process, you’ll be weeding out the tasks that don’t demand their skill set. You can then find someone else to handle those other tasks more efficiently.

Benefits of a Siloed Team

With a siloed approach, people can channel their efforts much more effectively. Instead of getting bogged down by things they aren’t good at, they’ll be focusing on their core contributions.

Siloed teams bring many other benefits as well:

• Team members are highly aligned on their purpose, streamlining their efforts.
• People build close-knit relationships as they advance toward goals together.
• They have a strong understanding of one another’s skills.
• They’ll develop clear norms and practices that help work to flow smoothly.

For these reasons, siloed teams tend to be agile and highly productive. They can leverage their strong relationships, shared goals, and workflow practices to adapt their approach in real time as needed. As you increase organizational efficiencies with this approach, you’ll move toward goals more quickly. Hence, a siloed approach is a very effective organizational structure.

Let’s delve into an example that illustrates how this works more clearly.

Case Study: Implementing a Siloed Structure at Reed Insurance

Five years ago, my agency, Reed Insurance, was getting a higher volume of business than our current staff could handle. We had a core group of three people: Pattie, Sue, and me. Pattie and Sue expertly managed client relationships and got leads to convert. But Pattie was quickly growing stressed out by the volume of work on her plate.

We need another Pattie or Sue, so we can divide up that work, I thought.

But then it hit me: They’d both be handling a lot of tasks they didn’t like doing. And that’s not an efficient way to operate. We needed someone to work behind the scenes, letting Pattie and Sue focus on their core strengths.

Then, someone suggested hiring a virtual assistant. But they wouldn’t have an insurance license, so they couldn’t explain the product or sell coverage, I thought.

But what could they do? I asked myself. Well, they could help manage the client retention process on the back end, handling communications. And they could do all the processing of documents. In short, they’d be doing all the tedious and time-consuming tasks that Pattie and Sue dreaded. That would free up Pattie and Sue to focus on the things they excelled in—which they also happened to love doing. These highly skilled, extroverted salespeople could focus on building client relationships while someone else played a support role.

So, we started a new department for client renewal. We then hired a virtual assistant named Hannah, who managed the commercial lines of renewal processes and handled most of the admin tasks. Essentially, she became a one-person client renewal department while Pattie and Sue focused on sales. And because Hannah was so talented and efficient, she took on this role for both personal and commercial lines while Pattie and Sue focused on personal lines. It felt like we’d gotten two new employees for the price of one.

All three grew so much more productive that they doubled their sales volume. Departmentalizing their functions let Pattie and Sue offload the cumbersome tasks that were holding them back, so they could play to their strengths.

That was actually the catalyst for launching IA Blueprint. Friends started asking for help with hiring virtual assistants, and then they talked me into starting the company.

Strategies for Working Effectively in Silos

When adopting a siloed structure, following a few best practices is crucial. Otherwise, teams can become disconnected and less effective. Through these strategies, you can grow a strong network of siloed teams that all support one another’s work.

Divide Up the Work Strategically

Match everyone with work that leverages their core strengths. That sounds simple, right? Yes, but you need to think critically about how to do this right.

For instance, one client with a small insurance business had two staff members: Helen and Mary. Helen was adept at making sales; Mary was proficient in data management. But Helen was quickly growing overtaxed. At first, the client wanted to hire another Helen. But as we spoke, they realized they didn’t need another Helen—they needed another Mary to take on the things that were keeping Helen from focusing on her core strengths. So, they hired another behind-the-scenes person to let Helen focus on sales and client relationships, which ramped up the volume of business they could successfully handle.

Begin departmentalizing by outlining your main business functions, like sales, renewal quoting, data management, application management, and customer relationship management. Create a department for each of them, even if it’s just one or two people. If you don’t have anyone who thrives on data processing, hire someone for this role and create a department around them.

Cultivate Alignment within Each Silo

Within each department, cultivate alignment, shared purpose, and an understanding of how to rely on one another’s skills. Talk about your mission and stepping stones toward it, developing team KPIs to strive for. Work with each person to set individual goals that will move the team’s efforts forward, making them known to the whole team. Then, share progress toward goals to keep everyone aligned and motivated to put forth their best effort.

Build Bridges Between Silos

Connecting silos is critical; otherwise, you can end up with unhealthy competition or poor communication between them. When people lose sight of the big picture, they might fail to work together or share resources, holding back the company’s success.

Let’s talk about a couple of best practices for bridging organizational siloes.

1. Create an organizational map that illustrates key people across different siloes. Highlight their roles, key responsibilities, and contact info, so everyone will know who to reach out to with specific requests. Connect each silo with “point people” from other departments, making introductions.
2. Bring everyone together periodically and remind them of your shared mission. Make time for them all to talk and get to know each other. They might discover areas of common interest that help them relate to one another better.

By building connections between siloes, you’ll grow a stronger organization.

Prioritize Team Agility

Empower teams to handle projects from start to finish on their own, whenever possible. Give them authority to make decisions they’re capable of making on their own. Supply them with tools and resources to get the job done. This will all boost agility by cutting out red tape, building highly productive teams.

If you’ve been contemplating how to boost efficiency at work, try a siloed approach. By more fully utilizing each person’s strengths, you’ll increase what your team is capable of achieving. And as you follow best practices like bridging connections between siloes and building alignment toward goals, you’ll get the most from each of your teams.

Thinking about hiring a virtual assistant? IA Blueprint makes the recruitment process effortless, pairing companies with highly skilled virtual team members who fit their needs exactly. Choosing the right VA will let you move existing staff into roles that leverage their core strengths, building out your team’s capabilities by filling key skills gaps. Let’s set up a call to discuss what you’re looking for in a virtual team member and how a skilled VA can enhance your succes