September 5, 2025 Why Siloed Teams Fail on Mission-Critical Projects

Busting silos reduces execution risk and improves delivery. Real projects show shared ownership drives outcomes and mission success.

By Brandon Hansen, COO & CFO at Sealevel Systems, Inc.

Siloed teams don’t just slow down project delivery. They undermine ownership, stall decisions, and create execution risk when there’s no time to lose. In my experience, the difference between projects that deliver and projects that don’t often comes down to one thing: shared ownership.

Silos create drag. They delay decisions, generate rework, and make it harder to drive operational alignment. Mission-critical outcomes are impacted when departments operate on different timelines, priorities, and definitions of success.

Robust tools such as ERP systems can improve visibility and coordination, but only when teams are aligned on goals and empowered to act. At Sealevel Systems, Inc., we overhauled our ERP, and when it was rolled out, it worked because it was built on cross-functional input from the start, not because of the software alone.

However, while systems and tools matter, they can’t fix organizational barriers that keep teams from owning outcomes together. So why does this happen, and what can we do about it?

Why Siloed Teams Struggle Under Pressure

It’s not always a lack of talent or tools that breaks mission-critical projects. Often, it’s the operating model itself.

Many companies are structured around vertical accountability for engineering, operations, and finance, with each focused on performance within their domain. But mission-critical projects cross departmental lines. Those projects demand constant coordination, open visibility, and tight integration across functions. When teams don’t align early and often, you may get mismatched expectations, delayed responses, and less-than-perfect deliverables.

Even the most advanced ERP system won’t solve this alone. ERPs enable team achievement, but they must be accompanied by clear goals, distributed decision-making, and a culture of ownership. So, we shouldn’t credit the ERP system when the mission is accomplished. We should credit the employees who make it work.

What Actually Works: Shared Ownership and Empowered Teams

If you’re like me, you’ve seen how operational performance improves when clarity replaces control and ownership replaces oversight. Cross-functional friction rarely comes from bad intentions. More often, it’s the result of misaligned incentives. One team is optimizing for speed, another for margin, another for compliance. They all mean well, but they’re pulling in different directions. The solution isn’t the latest collaboration tool. It’s shared objectives.

When we approached the ERP project, the focus was never just on the software. It was an opportunity to unite stakeholders early, gather essential input, and build alignment. The same approach applies to any process or tool that spans multiple departments. When you bring the right people in from the beginning, you surface risks sooner, strengthen cooperation, and improve adoption.

Here are a few takeaways from the lessons we’ve learned that you can apply to any project management approach to help cross-functional teams cut friction, improve predictability, and deliver when it matters most:

Start with shared goals

Before execution begins, teams need a unified definition of success. That means engineering, operations, sales, and quality all agree on priorities, timelines, and constraints upfront.

When introducing a cross-functional project, keep two key factors in mind: engagement and execution. Bring everyone with an interest in the project in early and treat their input as essential, not merely advisory. You’ll gain a more complete view of downstream impacts, identify potential hurdles sooner, and increase buy-in at every level. That inclusive approach facilitates execution, promoting adoption and laying the groundwork for sustained cooperation.

Project success hinges on how well people are aligned around shared goals. Focusing on shared outcomes from the beginning initiates the shift from silos to collective ownership. That mindset enables teams to anticipate one another’s needs, reduce delays between handoffs, and stay focused on what ultimately matters, customer satisfaction.

Push decision-making closer to the work

Teams that constantly wait on leadership sign-off are slower to respond, less confident in their own decision-making, and more dependent on others to move forward. Reversing that approach shortens feedback loops and builds accountability.

If you’ve ever worked in an environment where decisions had to climb the chain of command, you know how time-consuming that model can be. Instead, rely on team leads as liaisons so decisions can be made closer to the work, where agility matters most. That move will push decision-making closer to the frontline of workers and empower your teams to act faster with greater group responsibility and control.

Encourage employees to be part of the solution by recommending ideas, improvements, and fixes. That norm reinforces trust and removes unnecessary handoffs. It’s a cultural shift, but it drives speed without sacrificing clarity.

Collaborate early, not just during execution

Delays often stem from assumptions made in isolation. When project team members only get involved at the execution stage, it’s too late to course-correct without cost. Empowering employees shifts ownership to the team level. It means people don’t have to run everything up the chain, which makes good business sense. It speeds things up, encourages collaboration, and ultimately makes the organization stronger.

One of the best habits to learn is early collaboration. When we launched a system for managing RMAs (returns and repairs), we didn’t just hand it off to IT. We brought in people from a variety of departments before a single line of configuration was finalized. Reverse-engineering the process from multiple angles like that, identifies what works, what’s broken, and what can be streamlined.

Because the people using the system help build it, the result isn’t just a better tool. It’s a faster, smoother rollout with higher adoption and fewer issues. The same principle applies to external projects. On mission-critical timelines, there’s no room for late-stage surprises. Bringing cross-functional teams into early planning reduces risk, speeds up decision-making, and avoids scope creep. If your teams aren’t aligned up front, you’ll spend twice as long aligning them at the end.

Reinforce team accountability at every level

Accountability only sticks if leaders model it. That means encouraging open dialogue, spotlighting cross-functional wins, and aligning metrics to team outcomes. You don’t just reward execution; you reinforce the behaviors that make reliable execution possible.

Cross-functional execution leans heavily on how your people communicate, how they’re incentivized, and how safe they feel to challenge assumptions. One of the most important things I’ve learned is that everyone has valuable insights. But they won’t always speak up in a group setting. Good leaders learn to speak their team’s language, whether that means scheduling one-on-ones, encouraging email feedback, or recognizing body language that signals concern.

Creating a culture where people feel heard is important. But giving them the ability to act builds confidence between teams and their leadership and leads to accountability on all levels.

The Bottom Line: Shared Ownership Creates Predictable Performance

Whether overhauling an ERP or refining any internal process, the approach is the same: bring the right people in early, align them on outcomes, and empower them to deliver. In the end, teams are measured by whether they achieve the mission. That’s why we focus on outcomes over output, agility over rigidity, and shared accountability over sole responsibility.

Shared ownership turns complex, cross-functional work from a scramble into a repeatable success. Because building mission-critical products starts with building mission-aligned teams committed to serving customers as one.

About the Author:
Brandon Hansen serves as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer at Sealevel Systems, Inc., where he leads operational strategy, financial planning, and cross-functional team alignment for a company that designs and manufactures mission-critical, rugged computing solutions. He specializes in empowering teams through shared ownership and has led initiatives that improved decision-making speed, reduced project risk, and strengthened employee ownership across departments. Connect with Brandon on LinkedIn.

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