Diving Into Different Pools

How have you managed to be creative, be curious, be all these things without falling prey to that silo effect that so many companies have? What advice do you give about how to do that?

At Siemens, this may be the number one challenge we have because the way we’re organized globally is around product expertise. So experts in smart infrastructure and within that, experts in building controls in the electric grid and so on and so forth. And so this kind of, hey, I’m in a market and everything I need to know is right here in this market, is a common trap that we can all fall into.
So, one of the exercises that I enjoy is actually putting together teams from across groups to tackle something like the US Agenda 2030. If I were to say to a group of employees only in buildings, “Hey, imagine the year 2030, what are buildings…? What’s going to be different? How are they going to be used, etc, etc?”
And I’d get a set of answers. Well, now take that same exercise, but this time invite in people from the rail business and from the factory automation business. The first time we did this, we had people put together into teams and those who were in an unfamiliar area asked, “Why did you put me here? This is not where I can best contribute.”
When we got to the end of the exercise weeks later, it was the employees who had been put in their own stove pipe who said, “Oh, I wish I would have had an opportunity to go work on something else.” So, I actually think what we can do as leaders in companies like ours—and by the way, this doesn’t need to stop inside our company walls. We’ve been encouraging employees to be part of industry networks, “Get out there, represent Siemens as part of a board in your community or as part of a professional network where you’ll hear from others.” And I’m finding over and over again, just diving into a different pool, inspires all kinds of creativity.