Silo (business)

Etymology

From Spanish "silo," a pit or tower for storing grain, ultimately from Greek "siros" (a pit for keeping corn). The defining trait of a grain silo — a tall, sealed container that keeps its contents separate — became the metaphor for departments sealed off from one another. Cold-war missile silos reinforced the image of isolation.

noun · /SY-loh/
A team, department, or system that operates in isolation, hoarding information and not sharing with the rest of the organization.
What it names
A common organizational failure — walls between groups that should collaborate — so leaders can spot and break them.
Example
Sales and engineering worked in silos, each blaming the other for a problem neither could see whole.
Related idea
A silo is a horizontal wall between peers who should share; a hierarchy is the vertical chain of who reports to whom. Silos can form within a single layer of a hierarchy, which is why flattening the org chart doesn’t automatically end them.
noun · /SY-loh/
A tall tower or pit for storing grain, or an underground chamber housing a missile.
What it names
the literal storage structure.
Example
Corn poured from the farm’s silo; deep in the desert sat a missile silo.
Related idea
The sealed, isolated container behind the metaphor of a team that shares nothing.