How to break silos across government

Updated: Oct 29

Why is cross agency alignment so important for governments and what are the barriers to achieving it? What can governments do to build the right architecture for integration?

Introduction

Cross-agency integration within governments is essential for tackling complex, multifaceted challenges. However, it remains one of the most persistent issues in public administration due to structural, cultural, and technological barriers. Governments are often organised in vertical silos that focus narrowly on department-specific goals, leading to inefficiencies when addressing problems that require cooperation across multiple sectors.

In this article we unpack the key barriers that hinder effective cross-agency integration, focusing on governance, people, and data. These categories encapsulate the fundamental challenges that governments must address to foster more collaborative and efficient public administration.

Breaking governance barriers

One of the most significant barriers to cross-agency integration is the traditional governance structure of governments, which emphasize vertical accountability and department-specific authority. This governance model creates a fragmented environment where each department is focused on its own objectives, often to the exclusion of broader government-wide goals.

Vertical responsibility: In public sector organisations, accountability is typically structured in a way that promotes responsibility within specific departments or agencies. This vertical structure makes it difficult to align departmental priorities with whole-of-government objectives, as departments are incentivised to focus on their narrowly defined mandates. When cross-agency projects arise, departments are often reluctant to share resources or responsibilities, particularly if the costs are concentrated in one department while the benefits are diffused across multiple departments. This creates a situation where collaboration becomes a low priority, as it conflicts with the internal priorities of each department.
Budget and resource control: Cross-agency initiatives often require shared budgets and resources, which poses a significant challenge within siloed government structures. Even when departments agree to collaborate, issues arise in determining which department holds financial responsibility. If one department takes the lead on a project and controls the budget, other departments may feel dis-incentivised to fully commit to the project, knowing they have less control over resources. On the other hand, dividing the budget among departments often leads to fragmented efforts, where each department continues to work within its own silo despite nominal collaboration.
Leadership and political commitment: Effective cross-agency integration requires strong political and leadership commitment. Without clear political direction that prioritises cross-departmental collaboration, departments are likely to default to their siloed operations. Political leaders and senior public officials must champion horizontal collaboration, setting clear expectations for departments to work together on shared goals. However, in many cases, leaders themselves are embedded in the siloed structure, making it difficult to promote cross-agency work unless there is a substantial shift in governance priorities.

Breaking cultural and people-related barriers

Beyond governance structures, the culture within public sector organisations also plays a significant role in hindering cross-agency integration. These Public servants often operate within narrowly defined professional domains, and the incentive structures within government departments tend to reward vertical achievements rather than cross-departmental collaboration.

Incentive structures: Professional incentives in the public sector are often misaligned with the goal of horizontal collaboration. Performance assessments and promotions tend to focus on department-specific achievements rather than contributions to cross-agency work. As a result, public servants have little motivation to engage in collaborative efforts that span multiple departments, especially if the benefits of such work are not recognised in their career advancement. This lack of recognition for horizontal work creates a culture where collaboration is seen as an additional burden rather than a valuable part of public service.
Skill gaps: Cross-agency integration requires a specific set of skills, including flexibility, creativity, and the ability to communicate and collaborate across organisational boundaries. However, many public sector employees have been trained and promoted within their own departments, leading to a workforce that is well-equipped to handle vertical tasks but lacks the skills needed for horizontal collaboration. Developing the necessary skills for cross-departmental work, such as systems thinking and stakeholder engagement, is essential for overcoming this barrier.
Institutional culture: The culture within government departments can be deeply entrenched, with long-standing practices and values that reinforce siloed behaviour. Departments often have their own internal processes, languages, and norms, which can create significant barriers to collaboration with other departments. The institutional culture of "tunnel vision" – where departments focus exclusively on their own mandates – can be difficult to overcome, particularly if there is resistance to change from within.

Breaking data and technological barriers

Data sharing and technological infrastructure are critical components of cross-agency integration, but they often present significant challenges. Many governments are hampered by outdated technology, incompatible data systems, and privacy concerns that make it difficult to share information across departments.

Data silos: One of the most persistent barriers to cross-agency integration is the existence of data silos, where each department maintains its own databases and information systems. These systems are often incompatible with one another, making it difficult to share data in real time or to develop a unified approach to problem-solving. Departments may be reluctant to share data due to concerns about ownership, privacy, or security, leading to duplication of efforts and inefficiencies.
Privacy and legal restrictions: Privacy concerns are another significant barrier to data sharing between government departments. Many potential solutions to cross-agency collaboration rely on the ability to share personal or sensitive data across departments, but strict privacy regulations and legal frameworks can make this difficult. Even when data-sharing agreements are in place, concerns about data security and misuse can hinder the flow of information between departments, slowing down or blocking collaborative efforts.
Legacy systems and technological limitations: Many government departments operate with legacy IT systems that are outdated and not designed for modern, collaborative workflows. These systems are often not interoperable with the technologies used by other departments, creating significant barriers to data integration. Moreover, the cost and complexity of upgrading these systems can be prohibitive, especially when budgets are already stretched thin. As a result, technological limitations often prevent departments from working together effectively, even when there is a desire to collaborate.

Conclusion - how to break agency silos

Cross-agency integration is essential for addressing complex challenges that span multiple sectors of government, but it remains difficult to achieve due to a range of structural, cultural, and technological barriers. Vertical accountability, misaligned incentive structures, data silos, and outdated technology all contribute to the persistence of siloed government operations.

To overcome these barriers, governments need to focus on reforms that encourage horizontal collaboration, such as developing governance frameworks that promote shared accountability, creating incentive structures that reward cross-agency work, and investing in the technological infrastructure needed to support data sharing. Without addressing these fundamental barriers, efforts to promote cross-agency integration will continue to face significant challenges.