If you’ve ever arrived early to a symphony performance, you know the sound.

Musicians warming up, each playing their part, individually brilliant, but collectively dissonant. Violins run scales, brass instruments blast through warmups, percussionists tap in isolation. The result? Noise.

But then something happens.

The conductor steps in. A gesture, a pause, and suddenly everything aligns. What moments before was chaos becomes harmony. The musicians aren’t just playing, they’re performing, together.

Organization operations work much the same way.

Silos Are the Warm-Up Noise of the Corporate World

On paper, every function in a company might be doing exactly what it’s supposed to do. Sales is driving revenue, finance is managing cost, IT is innovating, and compliance is mitigating risk. But when these teams are moving without alignment, even high performance can produce a poor result.

I’ve seen this firsthand across industries like fintech, construction, GovCon, real estate, staffing, fashion, etc. The challenges differ, but the story is the same: functions operating as silos, each optimizing for its own outcome. The result? Bottlenecks, delays, rework, missed opportunities, and frustrated teams.

It’s not because the people or departments aren’t talented. It’s because no one’s conducting the orchestra.

The COO’s Role: Conducting Cohesion

As a former COO and now a Managing Partner advising companies across sectors, I’ve come to believe this: Cohesion is not a luxury, it’s a core operational strategy.

The COO’s role isn’t just about efficiency or process. It’s about integration. And like any great conductor, a COO must bring together different sounds, tempos, and personalities into a single, powerful performance.

Here’s what that looks like in action:

• Visibility: Everyone’s working from the same sheet music – shared goals, data, and metrics.
• Tempo: Functions move at a coordinated pace – no one’s racing ahead or lagging behind.
• Harmony: Incentives, processes, and culture support collaboration – not conflict.

When I served as COO of a fintech firm, one of our most important wins didn’t come from a product launch or cost-cutting measure. It came when we aligned compliance, customer service, and product development around a unified customer experience goal. Suddenly, everything moved faster. We didn’t need more meetings; we needed more clarity.

What Cohesive Ops Feels Like

When operations are truly cohesive, companies feel different:

• There’s trust between functions, not territorialism.
• Teams speak a shared operational language, grounded in strategy.
• Problems are solved at the seams, not kicked down the line.

And most importantly: people perform better because they understand how their work fits into the organization’s strategic goals.

The Takeaway

The best orchestras don’t just practice harder, they practice together. And the best organizations don’t just execute well, they execute in harmony.

If you’re a COO or operational leader, ask yourself: Are my teams playing music, or just making noise?

Because when cohesion becomes the standard, not the exception, the entire organization performs at a different level.

Let’s Talk

Where have you seen operational silos create friction, or cohesion unlock value? I’d love to hear your experiences.