How Unwritten Rules In Workplace Teams Create Silos

Organizations don’t work just because a bunch of people are doing a lot of things. They work because teams of people are doing coordinated things. That’s the design. And for that design to actually work, those teams have to talk to each other, work with each other, and yes, team up. Sometimes that means collaborating directly. Most of the time, it means sharing what you know, what you’re doing, and how it connects to the bigger picture. Otherwise, you don’t have an organization—you just have a collection of silos pretending to be one.

Teams make sense. Whether they form around a function, a responsibility, or a particular expertise, teams help organize the chaos. They give structure to the work, shape how we operate, and offer clarity about who does what. When a team gels, there’s a rhythm to it—a sense of alignment, flow, and shared purpose. That kind of cohesion can be powerful. It’s energizing. It builds momentum.

So it makes sense that we build our organizations this way. But we don’t always see what happens next. Slowly, the edges of that team harden. Communication narrows. Curiosity fades. Before we know it, the very cohesion that made the team effective has become a boundary that keeps others out. In fact, siloism often feels like a good thing—until it’s not.

an isolated grouping, department, etc., that functions apart from others especially in a way seen as hindering communication and cooperation (Merriam-Webster)

Silos form when people with shared responsibilities, experiences, or expertise group together for efficiency, familiarity, or support. In professional settings, we call it specialization. We organize departments by function. We build teams around a skillset. We seek out others who “get it.”

That’s not inherently bad. Specialization can sharpen focus and deepen knowledge. A silo can feel like a tribe—offering safety, understanding, even pride in a shared identity or mission. But there’s a slippery slope. Because as silos grow more insular, something else creeps in: groupthink.

The Unwritten Rules of Silo Culture

As silos evolve, subcultures develop. Subcultures, on their own, are natural. They are even beneficial when they reinforce, validate or ___ the organizational culture. However, one of the hallmarks of a silo is its unwritten rules. I describe unwritten rules as the things you need to do to be successful that no one tells you about. Some are obvious: what language we use, what behaviors are rewarded, who gets included. Others are more subtle: who gets the benefit of the doubt, whose ideas carry weight, what questions are "off limits."

These patterns often emerge organically and unintentionally. But once they're in place, they become self-reinforcing. Most of the time, the people inside the silo don’t even realize they’re following a script. It just feels normal. It feels like culture. It's (dare I say it) "just" the way we do things.

That’s the tricky part: when you're in it, it's invisible. It feels like “how we do things.” And because it works for the people inside, there’s rarely a reason to question it. Until someone new walks in and does things differently. Maybe they challenge a norm, use unfamiliar language, or raise a question no one else would ask.

That’s when friction shows up—not because they’re wrong, but because they’ve unknowingly disrupted a set of rules they couldn’t see. Some silos are visible—departments, teams, divisions. Others are harder to name. Think about “the old boys’ network.” Or the whisper network. Or the unspoken code of how things really get done. These hidden silos are even more dangerous because you don’t know what you’re not part of until something doesn’t make sense, and no one can (or will) explain it. These are the kinds of unwritten rules in workplace teams that shape culture more than any policy ever could.

If culture is how things work when no one is looking, siloism is what happens when no one questions it.

When Silos Start to Hurt

Silos aren’t inherently harmful. In fact, they often emerge naturally. Humans are wired to group up. We seek safety in the familiar. But what starts as comfort can calcify into exclusion.

Silos become harmful when:

• Communication slows down or stops across groups

• People stop being curious about perspectives outside their own

• Leaders unintentionally reinforce “us vs. them” dynamics

• Decision-making benefits insiders while others are left out

• Innovation stalls because disagreement feels disloyal

Left unchecked, siloism stifles belonging, weakens trust, and fractures culture. It becomes a quiet enemy of collaboration.

Shifting from Silo to Back to Team

It’s not enough to say “work together” or “break down silos.” That’s the goal – but not the method.

To move from silo to team, organizations need more than cross-functional meetings. They need intentional practices that create shared language, mutual accountability, and psychological safety. That starts with:

• Shared purpose: Clarify what unites us beyond our roles or functions.

• Cross-pollination: Create regular opportunities for people to learn with and from others outside their silo.

• Rewarding collaboration: Shift recognition from individual contribution to collective success.

• Surfacing assumptions: Make the invisible visible—talk about the unwritten rules, name the silos, and invite inquiry.

The goal isn’t necessarily to eliminate every silo. In practice, some degree of grouping is inevitable—and even useful. What we do need to eliminate is the lack of awareness. When we ignore unwritten rules and subcultures, what we call "teams" can start to function very differently in practice than they do in principle. That’s where the harm begins—not in the team itself, but in the shadow it casts when left unexamined.

So the point is to name it. To surface what’s invisible. To notice when the very structures that help us function begin to quietly fragment us. Because when we can see it, we can start to repair it. And yes—build bridges between teams, across departments, and through the hidden boundaries that form when no one is paying attention.

Because everything is great… until it isn’t. Siloism doesn’t break culture overnight. It erodes it quietly. The work is noticing when the line blurs—and having the courage to reconnect.