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Breaking Down Silos While the Ship Is Leaving HarborTeam Facilitation That Creates Continuity, Not Just Connection

Find highlights in DE and EN at the end

Welcome to your fresh DesignChange edition, delivered every 2nd Tuesday at 8am!

Have you ever watched a team of strangers try to coordinate under pressure? It’s like watching people build a ship while it’s already leaving the harbor.

A leading European energy company faced this reality: rapid reorganization, exhausted people, and almost no time to form new teams.

Traditional team building wouldn’t cut it.

But when you create the right conditions, teams can rise up to the challenge; even under extreme pressure. And that is what we experienced!

🎉 First, Some Exciting News!

DesignChange YouTube Channel Launch

Before I share the workshop story, I want to introduce something new. My DesignChange YouTube channel is live, featuring bite-sized leadership insights for our AI age:

👉Coming soon: Videos on hybrid coaching advantages with MirandAI, combining human insight with AI support for leadership development any time you need it.

Now, back to that team workshop story …

🌿 The Context: Courage Under Pressure

Change happens in the energy industry. But the battery storage market?

It moves faster than most sectors can handle.

This company saw the problem: existing structures weren’t working. Employee satisfaction was dropping. They acted fast.

They identified the right new organizational structure. Then made a bold call: implement it in days, not months. The challenge? Bringing together a team that barely knew each other and jumpstart the new structures.

My colleague Anette Stein-Hanusch asked me to co-facilitate this team kick-off workshop. The BIG question we faced: How do you help people who are still fighting daily fires form a new functional team and do this fast?!

Why Most Team Restructure Workshops Fail

When teams form suddenly under pressure, traditional approaches rarely work. People are too unsettled, still managing the day-to- day while trying to understand what’s coming.

Change management is to help people adapt. It starts when you create clarity. This begins in safe spaces where folks can express concerns and begin to understand the why behind the dynamic.

Before: Preparation That ROCKED!

A self-organized “guiding coalition” of volunteers met with us three times before the kick-off workshop. Using interviews and a concept board, we gathered what was needed and started to create the vision for change in 2026.

The concept board showed lots of reservations and even anxieties.Plus the wish for much more role clarity and the desire to understand interdependencies. There was an underlying tension since several members were still in the dark and would learn about their new assignments only days before it was due to kick-off.

Anette and I realised we needed a metaphor simple enough to grasp quickly, rich enough to carry two days of complexity. One guiding coalition member suggested lego. We went for it.

The Ship Metaphor: Making Silos Visible

The mother company is the big tanker. These new sub-teams would help it move faster and navigate better. Each sub-team got a role: navigators, engineers, engine room, first mates, crew on deck of the large lego “Artic” explorer and each a big pack of Lego.

This wasn’t abstract. Setting out the stage for all gave the 5 sub teams not only goal but also quickly showed their interdependencies. It was so on target! The ship metaphor created shared language for discussing complex dynamics without getting lost in org chart abstractions.

Day 1: From Strangers to Ship-Builders

Grounding in History: One team member visualized the timeline nautically, who joined when, milestones achieved. For people just learning that they are part of the team in a new constellation, this context was essential.

The Captain’s Interview: The executive leader was interviewed on stage. Questions like “Where is this ship sailing and why?” made strategy accessible. Then team members asked their real, revealing questions. Transparent dialogue broke down the first walls.

LEGO Team Building: Each sub-team received lego to build their ship section. Building with hands creates different conversations than talking about concepts. It equalizes power dynamics and makes abstract concepts concrete.

When teams demonstrated their work through lego, you could hear and see how people were moving closer; it was relationship building. Folks who’d not previously worked together were now building, designing something together for their future, physically and metaphorically.

The Team Marketplace: Teams walked between stations, asking questions, adding observations. The cross-pollination was immediate. They saw not just what they were building, but how their work depended on others succeeding. They weren’t parallel teams. They were symbiotic.

Day 2: From Connection to Commitment

Fish-Bowl Discussion: A senior leader joined for dialogue about team DNA and direction. The outer circle listened. The inner circle explored. This wasn’t about knowing all the answers. It was about making time to listen and being brave enough to ask hard questions.

Planning the Next 100 Days: This was where connection became action. Teams mapped their priorities, identified interdependencies, and created a concrete workflow. They established communication rhythms: monthly (or weekly as needed) check-ins to review progress across all teams, and a planned retrospective to adjust course based on what they learned.

The goal wasn’t perfection. It was creating a system that would allow them to continue to preform well - even fighting those fires - while building toward faster productivity in 2026.

💡 LeadershipLab Tip: The Safe Space Framework

Your 5-Minute Tool for Breaking Down Silos

Whether you’re facilitating a workshop or leading a team meeting, this framework helps create the conditions for real collaboration:

S - Structure Multiple Channels: Create different ways for people to express themselves (visual boards, discussion circles, hands-on activities). Not everyone feels safe speaking up first.

A - Acknowledge Reality: Name the pressure, the exhaustion, the uncertainty. When you acknowledge what everyone’s feeling, defensive walls come down.

F - Find Simple Metaphors: Use visual language that makes abstract concepts concrete.

E - Equalize Power Dynamics: Use activities like building with lego where hierarchy matters less than contribution. Physical creation levels the playing field.

Try this framework in your next team meeting. Notice how people respond when their reality is acknowledged and multiple pathways for contribution exist.

What Made This Workshop Work

We partnered with team members who volunteered. Three prep meetings and interviews with the Guiding Coalition members gave us facilitators insider knowledge about real pain points.

We chose metaphors that work. The ship gave teams vocabulary: “We’re navigators. We need the engine room’s data.” Clearer than organizational jargon.

We created safe spaces. Ice-breakers to get to know each other. Multiple channels (concept board, Fish-Bowl, marketplace)to let people express uncertainty. Beneficial for breaking down silos and creating relationships.

The Results: Continuity in Motion

“We’re motivated to get going,“ one participant said.

The team’s managing executive used the word “continuity” to describe his key take-away on the impact of the workshop. Not transformation. Not breakthrough. Continuity.

The Next 100 Days framework gave them that path. Benchmarks were set. Accountability is clear. The workflow for transitioning from crisis mode to collaboration mode in 2026 had begun.

Ready to Transform Your Team?

Whether you’re facing a restructure, building a new team, or breaking down silos that slow your organization down, I’d love to explore how expert facilitation can help.

👉 Book a complimentary consultation to discuss your specific team challenges.

Thanks for reading!

Best wishes,

Karla Schlaepfer and the DesignChange Team⚡

Leading through change isn’t about having all the answers. It’s about creating the space where teams can find them together.

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