“Silo” is a word often heard in many companies around the world. Departments seem to be so “siloed” from one another, operating in their own capacities without and interdepartmental connectors. The Hub and Spoke Method is one way a company can bring together these varied departments to operate as a cohesive unit.
What is the best way to achieve this free flowing communication and cooperation? Digital analytics can be a great way to bridge the gap between your disjointed departments. Lets assume you are part of a marketing team looking to create a new marketing campaign for a new company your product is introducing to market. The first step would be to figure out what is at the core of the company. What is the one underlying department that all other departments require to function? Lets say that for this example, leadership is at the center, or “hub”, of your company. This leadership team is the team that identifies the want/need for a new product that sets the wheels in motion for all other departments.
Now that the hub has been identified, lets think about which department’s would comprise the “spokes”. This would be the remaining departments of the company who are working on the project. This could be the product development team, marketing team, advertising team, customer service team. How do all these “spoke” departments effectively communicate and share information? After all, the success of this new product depends on these teams being on the same page.
The initial idea (or in this case product) was created by leadership. Through the use of digital analytics, this information can be successfully funneled from the hub department to the spoke departments. Say an issue should arise in product development, is this an issue that all other departments need to be aware of? For the successful launch of a product, yes! All departments that are part of the process need to be aware of the accomplishments and road blocks of the other departments. An example of how digital analytics could be helpful in this communication, could be through the creation of a “project hub”. My current employer uses one such hub. This is a sort of forum of open communication where each department is able to post their progress, as well as their barriers, in real time so that all other departments can track progress. The tracking of this progress can help inform different teams of what their next steps in the project are.
Overall, the hub and spoke method is a highly effective form of cross-departmental communication, that can help increase information sharing and lead to a more effective and productive company as a whole.
The Mindful Marketer 