The current issue of the McKinsey Quarterly has an article by Vijay D’Silva and Osman Nalbantoglu, “Connecting employees to create value in investment banks.” It nicely describes the problem of silos in large investment banks and the resulting missed opportunities from the exchange of ideas across product lines. It appears that banks have tried addressing this problem by introducing “dotted line” reporting structures onto the existing organization chart, but these are often not well defined in terms of roles and only create confusion around issues about “who is subordinate to whom.”

The authors’ research points out some of the ways that these companies, traditionally “hero-based,” are looking to developing better networks across boundaries to solve the problems of silos. Without going into detail, they summarize the ways that network analysis coupled with “deep-dive” interviews can provide insight into areas to target for improvement.

The conclude with prescriptions for stimulating and supporting informal networks: creating alignment of purpose among the senior team, knowledge management, and the establishment of (as they say) “cross-cutting themes” bring together people from across different organizations. This is, of course, the way to spur innovation — by creating the diversity necessary for cross-cutting ideas to emerge.