Breaking Down Silos with Simple Questions

It seems every organization faces challenges with working in silos. I'd be suspicious of the ones that don't, in fact. Some very enlightened and forward thinking groups have difficulty thinking beyond their operating unit, division, department, expertise, or other ivory tower they have been placed in or tunnel they have dug out for themselves.

There are a number of approaches to have a group adopt a global perspective within a meeting. Presencing and Six Hats are a couple. One very basic tool to employ is the Socrates favourite, the question. Not just typical probing about the situation at hand - be it governance, communication patterns, or strategic planning - but broad, end-user questions.

So this approach requires that a moderator resist asking "where are opportunities to improve the way we communicate across teams?", and instead ask "who are our stakeholders?", and "how do we want to be viewed by our stakeholders?". From there, the way divisions interact should align with that purpose. Rejigging the current is probably necessary, but starting with it is

1. A narrow perspective, silo'd within operating instead of global to purpose (wouldn't be fitting to have a silo'd question in a meeting attempting to scatter silos, now would it?)
2. Not future focused
3. More typical and so less engaging