
Let’s face it—running a print business today isn’t for the faint of heart.
The market’s more competitive, clients expect more, timelines are tighter, and the tools we use are evolving fast. That’s why it’s baffling when internal roadblocks—like silos and misalignment—are allowed to slow everything down.
If you’re the CEO or a senior leader in a print company, here’s a hard truth: you can’t build a thriving business when your people are working in isolated pockets. Silos aren’t just about departments having different workflows—they’re about teams not talking, information getting lost in translation, and decisions being made without context.
And the consequences? They show up everywhere: jobs going out late, missed upsell opportunities, frustrated clients, and even more frustrated employees. The problems we chalk up to “execution issues” often stem from something deeper—a fragmented culture that rewards individual turf over shared success.
Silos: The Silent Killers of Progress
You know silos when you see them. The pressroom that never hears the client’s priority deadline. The estimating team that doesn’t understand how small changes on the front-end impact production. The account manager who doesn’t loop in prepress when a job changes specs. These aren’t isolated incidents—they’re signs of a business running without alignment.
Here’s the thing: those silos don’t just slow you down. They drain your margins, wear out your people, and create friction in your customer relationships.
That friction is a killer. Because friction doesn’t just waste time—it kills momentum.
What’s the Fix? It’s Not Just More Meetings
Crushing silos starts with clarity. Everyone in your company—from the scheduler to the salesperson—needs to know what the business is trying to achieve, what great performance looks like, and how their work contributes to the bigger picture. Without that context, you’re going to keep seeing dropped handoffs and misaligned priorities.
But clarity alone isn’t enough. You also need cross-functional alignment. That means intentionally building systems and routines where departments work together, not just alongside each other. It means holding teams accountable to shared goals, not just their own task lists.
For example: are your sales and production teams aligned on what your “ideal” client looks like? Do estimating and client services agree on how to triage urgent jobs? When a client throws you a curveball, does your team react with agility or finger-pointing?
These questions may seem operational, but they speak to something much bigger—your culture.
Culture Eats Workflow for Breakfast
The best leaders I’ve worked with understand this: processes matter, but culture is the engine that drives everything. If your culture tolerates silos—if it rewards hoarding information or “staying in your lane”—you’ll never fully unlock your team’s potential.
On the flip side, when you create a culture that celebrates collaboration, transparency, and problem-solving, everything starts to click. You become nimbler. More efficient. More competitive.
You also become easier to work with, and that’s not something clients take lightly.
The Payoff: Focus, Speed, and Better Outcomes
When you eliminate silos, you don’t just get better communication—you get better decisions, made faster and with more confidence. Your team stops second-guessing. They stop duplicating effort. They stop wasting time on the wrong things.
Instead, they start focusing on what really matters: serving high-value customers, pursuing the right opportunities, and building a business that’s built to last.
And that’s what this is really about. Not just surviving the next tight quarter but building a company that can grow sustainably—without being held back by its own internal friction.
Ready to Clear Your Path?
You don’t need to do this alone. Sometimes it takes an outside lens to see what’s really going on inside your business.
I help print company owners and CEOs eliminate silos, align their teams, and get everyone rowing in the same direction. If you’re tired of fighting the same battles, let’s talk about how to simplify your operations and create the kind of culture where people thrive, and the business grows.
Learn more at www.philiegroup.com, on LinkedIn, or by reaching out at mphilie@philiegroup.com.
The preceding content was provided by a contributor unaffiliated with Printing Impressions. The views expressed within may not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of the staff of Printing Impressions.

Mike Philie leverages his 28 years of direct industry experience in sales, sales management and executive leadership to share what’s working for companies today and how to safely transform your business. Since 2007, he has been providing consulting services to privately held printing and mailing companies across North America.
Mike provides strategy and insight to owners and CEOs in the graphic communications industry by providing direct and realistic assessments, not being afraid to voice the unpopular opinion, and helping leaders navigate change through a common sense and practical approach.