Johnny C. Taylor Jr. answers workplace questions every week on USA TODAY. Taylor is president and CEO of SHRM, the world’s largest human resources professional organization, and author of Reset: A Leader’s Guide to Work in an Age of Upheaval.
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Question: Departments in my organization are becoming more competitive by highlighting each other’s shortcomings, and the mindset is shifting from “us” to “me.” This is impacting trust, collaboration, and overall performance. How can we reverse this trend, rebuild a culture of shared ownership and teamwork, and move people from silos back to a “one team” mindset? – Ashrafuzzaman
answer: Siled behavior is one of the fastest ways to undermine a healthy organization. Even with the right strategy, strong talent, and abundant resources, when teams are at odds with each other, performance suffers. every time.
Let’s be clear: an organization that doesn’t work as one team won’t reach its full potential. Internal competition that turns into criticism is not a healthy tension. It’s dysfunctional.
So how do we reverse it? It starts at the top. Culture is determined by what leaders model and tolerate. When senior leaders defend their turf, compete for credit, or blame failures instead of sharing responsibility, their behavior reverberates throughout the organization. Leadership must visibly reinforce a “one team” mindset through common goals, cross-functional priorities, and a consistent message that success is collective, not individual.
At the same time, it is no excuse for poor individual performance. The idea of “one team” does not mean that shared responsibility becomes a hiding place. High-performing organizations expect people to both collaborate across boundaries and perform independently. High performance and strong collaboration are expected at the same time. Neither side makes excuses for the other’s absence.
And expectations alone cannot maintain that balance; they must be strengthened. This is where incentives come into play. When departments are evaluated and rewarded individually, you inadvertently foster silos. Align performance metrics to company outcomes. When leaders are held accountable for shared outcomes, collaboration becomes more than just a suggestion, it becomes a requirement.
It is also important to deal with the environment you have created. In low trust cultures, people protect themselves. They record, deflect, and condemn. In a high-trust culture, people take responsibility even when things go wrong. It doesn’t happen by chance. It requires leaders who create clarity, encourage responsible risk-taking, and hold people accountable without assigning blame.
You can also get ahead of this through recruiting and onboarding. Be clear about your expectations. Hire people who value collaboration and are motivated by team success, not just individual recognition. And reinforce that expectation early and often.
Finally, all of this needs to be tied to revenue. Business results should be the centripetal force. Leadership and HR must make that connection unmistakable and help employees understand how shared success leads to individual success. When teams work as one, performance improves, opportunities expand, and the entire organization moves forward together.
The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of USA TODAY.
