Please Don’t Make Us Build Systems

I’ve always been a big fan of Silos

Silos are safe. They’re clear. Everyone knows where their lane is.

Fundraising? Development team’s job. Impact? Program staff. Strategy? Leadership’s role.

But silos are just the illusion of structure. They allow us as organizations to operate without too much friction… Until suddenly, it all grinds to a halt.

Donors feel like ATMS, mission feels disjointed, the left hand doesn’t know that there is a right hand, let alone what it’s doing.

Silos aren’t just organizational quirks – they are barriers to the impact we can make in our communities.

On the flip side, systems are messy… but they aren’t static.

They require deep coordination, robust communication, and shared senses of ownership.

Systems recognize that everything in our organizations is connected. Systems help see our organization as a whole, not simply the sum of disjointed parts. Impactful organizations lean into this messiness rather than resist it.

Moving from Silos to Systems doesn’t happen with a memo from the executive director.
It takes time.

What happens when we have turf wars over who owns what?

What about when teams have identity crises, when we find out our work is doing more (or less) than our title or job descriptions say?

Or when we get push back after trying to replace “that’s not my job” with “what can I do to help?”

Moving towards systems is hard. And you can’t purchase buy in (pun intended).

When I worked with TPF, I noticed an attempt to help in unique ways. TPF doesn’t just point to the TO (FROM → TO) and wish an organization luck. They walk toward a common goal.

Helping build new muscles.

Helping find common languages so teams are on the same page.

Helping leadership practice radical transparency, ruthless prioritization, and grace.

Moving from Silos to Systems can’t be simply wished into existence.

We must be vulnerable and break down walls and then build bridges in their place.

Systems are where our missions can thrive. But we have to be ok with the time it takes to build them.