Overcoming Knowledge Silos in Government

While the term might evoke imagery of a barnyard grain container (at least in my mind), a “knowledge silo” is a situation wherein a group of people has information or skills that aren’t shared across the broader organization. When I worked in academia, this term was tossed around a lot, usually used to critique insular university departments that tend to operate as their own entities and fail to share knowledge across disciplines. My name is Vivian Harbers, and I joined the Impact Canada team in January 2022. As a Challenge Prize Fellow, I’m thrilled to be working at Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) on the $10 Million Oil Spill Response Challenge.

Like most academics, I witnessed this “knowledge silo” (sometimes called an “information silo”) phenomenon firsthand as both a student and later as a research project manager, but I assumed that it was, to some degree, insurmountable. I often thought about these system-level inefficiencies, and the duplication of effort that occurs when, for instance, graduate students in completely different disciplines simultaneously undertake extremely similar research projects without ever realizing the overlap. While I think it’s important that the same research questions are investigated by different professional disciplines (in both academic and government contexts), a more collaborative approach could allow researchers to benefit from overlapping resources, findings, and sometimes even funding.

I certainly wasn’t the only person who saw the pitfalls of knowledge silos, and over the course of my time in “The Ivory Tower” I saw a notable (and much needed) trend toward knowledge mobilization and the promotion of multidisciplinary projects and programs to counter this effect. Aided in part by the shift toward an Open Science approach, I noticed more and more interdepartmental projects cropping up, research studies with principal investigators from different faculties or institutions, and publications that listed authors from different areas of expertise.

I welcomed this shift with open arms, and in fact actively sought it out throughout my time in academia, by undertaking interdisciplinary coursework, research, and academic collaboration. I enjoyed working at the intersection of multiple different disciplines, and I was worried that might end when I transitioned to a career in the government.

Given that the federal public service workforce is comprised of folks from a whole host of different backgrounds, scattered across our entire country and working under very different and distinct mandates (i.e., health, natural resources, or defence), it seemed likely that the “knowledge silo” effect might rear its ugly head in my first position as a public servant. And while I have certainly seen the phenomenon cropping up in some areas of my work, I have also witnessed tremendous efforts to mitigate it. Here are some of the effective “anti-silo” approaches I’ve noticed firsthand in the federal government:

Intentionally recruiting public servants with diverse skillsets and professional backgrounds

At a recent divisional meeting, my NRCan Director went around the virtual room listing my colleagues’ various credentials and fields of professional training. While our team works cohesively on a day-to-day basis, the paths that led us to NRCan vary in all sorts of weird and wonderful ways. Our team of about 15 people includes professional competencies in Chemistry, Psychology, Environmental Sciences, Engineering, Biomedical and Neurosciences, Geology, Molecular Biology, and more! It’s a similar story over on the small but mighty Impact Canada Challenge team. We have welcomed Fellows from very different professional backgrounds, including economics, health, business, education and even genetic counselling.

Being surrounded by colleagues with diverse skillsets and professional backgrounds reduces the knowledge silo effect by drawing information from — and contributing information back to — multiple different professional networks. This tremendously increases opportunities for knowledge mobilization and information sharing across and beyond government departments or agencies. Since my time as Challenge Fellow is shared between both the Privy Council Office (PCO) and NRCan, my exposure to and involvement with these different networks feels even broader than what I might experience at only one department. It also provides more opportunities for me to act as a liaison and prevent the “knowledge silo” effect by sharing information between both departments. On more than one occasion, I’ve circulated relevant PCO resources with NRCan colleagues or vice versa, and it always feels fulfilling to bring my two “work worlds” together.

Identification of “share worthy” knowledge

Another key component to reducing the knowledge silo effect is knowing what information we should be sharing beyond our working groups. Don’t get me wrong, I could chat the ears off of collaborators ad nauseam, but they probably aren’t interested in every single piece of information I’ve collected working on the Oil Spill Response Challenge. Instead, my teams (both at NRCan and PCO) act as sounding boards and help me to identify what information might be beneficial to our colleagues in other departments. Equally as often, my teams offer up suggestions of people to contact who might have answers to my questions or solutions to my problems, and I’m grateful that this “anti-silo” approach works both ways! Impact Canada’s broader Fellow program (including both Challenge Prize and Behavioral Science Fellows) has also started to approach “anti-siloing” on an international scale, by convening a Fellowship International Cohort Exchange group in collaboration with alumni from the U.S.A’s Presidential Innovation Cohort and U.K. Innovation Fellows. Virtual quarterly meetings allow us to identify and discuss the kind of “share worthy” information we have that could benefit our international counterparts, and vice versa.

Making information readily accessible

I mentioned earlier the shift toward open science in academia, and I’ve seen similar principles applied in the Public Service. Transparency between the government and public is deeply valued both at NRCan and PCO, and I believe this culture of making information readily accessible to anyone who might benefit from it starts from within. Making information accessible can refer to the actual IT infrastructure used to store documents between colleagues, the amount of jargon or government acronyms used in a product, or the language in which a product is written. Impact Canada prioritizes accessibility and transparency through the use of our digital platforms, which act as the central repository for much of the information we collect. The process of each Impact Canada Challenge is posted on the relevant Challenge homepage, and applicants can access Challenge Guides and FAQs before applying through one of our online portals. Our Impact websites prioritize the rapid dissemination of research results, and recipients of Challenge prize funding are showcased to increase visibility and transparency in each competition. Impact websites really do serve as a one-stop-shop for applicants, policy makers, and everyday Canadians who want to keep abreast with Impact Canada’s programs.

Providing avenues that Foster Knowledge Sharing

In my opinion, the most important action our management teams are taking to reduce knowledge silos in government is intentionally building opportunities for knowledge sharing. In my short time as a Fellow, I’ve come to realize that this is something my Division at NRCan and the IIU each do particularly well. Bi-weekly all-staff meetings with a rotating schedule of presenters ensures that each and every one of us has the opportunity to share learnings and key takeaways from our work. More often than not, this leads to a lively question and answer period, and almost without fail someone on the call will end up following up with a colleague to learn more about some product, process, or resource that was shared with the group. Providing a dedicated time period and venue (albeit virtual) to share knowledge is so crucial to keeping our teams connected and preventing the silo effect.

I’ve noticed that this has been one of the “silver linings” of the COVID pandemic and its’ implications on remote and hybrid working in the government; knowledge sharing has transcended geographic boundaries, and special attention has been paid to ensure that new recruits are properly integrated into their working teams regardless of their proximity to the office. As a result, I’ve found that our teams have been able to attract top talent with greater geographic diversity, which has improved our quality of work and expanded our perspectives on certain issues. While some public servants might miss “water-cooler talks”, I’ve grown to love my team’s virtual “coffee chats”, which serve as an opportunity to connect with fellow colleagues in a more informal setting, and brainstorm the files we’re working on or issues we’re grappling with at any given moment. Regardless of the medium, avenues that foster knowledge sharing are crucial to reducing the silo effect in government.

Closing remarks

As a Challenge Prize Fellow, I feel fortunate to work in a role that not only allows for, but prioritizes, reaching across the perceived boundaries of government divisions and departments. When we design an Impact Canada Challenge, it’s crucial for us to get a fulsome picture of the problem at hand, current approaches and why they aren’t getting the results we are looking for. Doing so always requires reaching out to colleagues within and across departments in order to not duplicate efforts but to learn from successes and failures, and build those into challenge research and design considerations. While “knowledge silos” do exists in government, there is growing evidence of an intentional shift toward the sharing of valuable insights across teams and departments. I don’t mean to count my chickens before they hatch, but I’m quite hopeful that by implementing the aforementioned strategies, the public service will continue to resist the knowledge silo phenomenon.