Silos in Content Strategy – Why They Exist and How to Work Around Them

The term “silo” refers to the way teams, departments or content creators operate in isolation. Each of the people involved is focused on their own goals, workflows and priorities. While this structure can promote specialization and accountability, it also introduces various communication challenges. 

Why do silos form? #

According to Bailie, silos are not inherently negative. In fact, their existence is often a result of natural organizational tendencies. Some of the main drivers include:

• A desire for order and hierarchy
• Control over expertise or domains
• Not engaging beyond one’s immediate role
• Differences in functions and objectives
• Incentive structures that reward individual over collective achievement

Bailie emphasized that tools and software meant to streamline workflows can reinforce these boundaries when they’re not integrated across teams.

The effects of siloed content production #

When content-related functions like marketing, product development, training, support, or technical writing are siloed, several risks can come to light:

• Redundant or conflicting information
• Delays and inefficiencies
• Fractured user experiences
• Missed opportunities to align messaging across touchpoints

Despite these issues, Bailie stressed that silos can also provide space for expertise to flourish. The real issue isn’t their existence, but the lack of connection between them.

Ventilating silos #

Rather than advocating for the elimination of silos, Bailie introduced the idea of “ventilating” them. This concept promotes interaction across silos, rather than trying to eliminate them entirely. To support this shift, four key strategies were outlined:

• Coordination: Aligning tasks and content strategies across departments through structured processes and shared goals.
• Cooperation: Creating a culture that encourages collaboration, supported by incentives and power structures that reward cross-functional success.
• Capability Development: Building the skills necessary for customer-focused communication and defining clear career paths within content roles.

Connection: Strengthen relationships among stakeholders across the content ecosystem, so that they can co-create solutions that are more coherent and cost-effective.

Metrics and motivation #

Bailie closed the session by discussing the deeper systems at play, specifically incentives and metrics. Many organizations, rely on performance measures that don’t reward collaboration or customer-centric thinking. Changing a culture of silos requires not just softer initiatives like training and meetings, but a realignment of what success looks like and how it's measured. Power structures are difficult to change, but without rethinking what teams are rewarded for, true collaboration will remain difficult to achieve. 

Where to go from here #

The knowledge base offers several articles about governance and workflow in complex organizational environments:

• Content for Complex Digital Environments: The Basics: Rahel Anne Bailie shares her expertise on how we can help companies to manage content effectively.
• Understanding the RACI matrix: identify the roles of team members in a particular context such as a project or program.
• Effective Governance and Change Management To Achieve Customer Satisfaction: Dave Carroll Experience: The article provides insight into how companies should approach bad customer experiences. 

References #

Bailie, R. A. & Urbina, N. (2013). Content Strategy: Connecting the dots between business, brand and benefits. XML Press