Minister Gumbs: Silos are not a system problem, they are a people problem

GREAT BAY--Government does not usually fail because it lacks plans. It fails because people stop talking to each other. That was the core lesson Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport Melissa Gumbs returned to after an ECYS Ministry strategic planning session held on February 13, a day she described as interactive and marked by candid participation. The session, she explained, highlighted a deeper, older problem that has a way of quietly draining capacity from any institution, departments and divisions operating in silos.

The word “silo” is often used as shorthand for bureaucracy, for slow procedures, for systems that are too rigid to deliver. Minister Gumbs framed it differently. Silos, she argued, are not primarily a system problem. They are a people problem, an attitude problem. Paper can be rewritten, procedures can be modernized, but the real barrier is whether the individuals inside the institution choose to work together.

A minister, she said, or anyone in the seat can encourage the breakdown of silo operations, enable more collaboration and cooperation, demand it, and push for it, but that it ultimately takes the people within the organization to want to make that shift.

One person who refuses to cooperate can stall progress for everyone else, she suggested, and when that happens, it becomes the responsibility of others within the team to bring that person in line. In other words, culture is not only shaped from the top.

To make the point tangible, Minister Gumbs shared an example from her time at FLOW formerly UTS. Customer service, she said, rarely spoke to operations, and at one point did not speak at all. Operations handled the infrastructure, the sites with panels that supported the internet solution. Customer service dealt with people and promises, the targets to meet, the service to install. When those two units did not communicate, the consequences landed on customers. People would be scheduled for installations at sites where there was no space, and the result was predictable, anger, complaints, and reputational damage.

The fix, she said, was not complicated, but it required someone to initiate it. When a new operations manager came in, she proposed biweekly meetings, a simple, consistent alignment where each side would talk about what they were doing, what targets were expected, and what constraints existed. The goal was to prevent misalignment before it turned into failure. The point was not that the meetings were revolutionary. The point was that someone had to decide, intentionally, to break the silo.

As for St. Maarten's public sector, several speakers at several events has underscored similar statements to the Minister's. When divisions work in isolation, government can appear busy while producing little. Each unit can be working hard, yet the public experiences only delays, contradictions, and confusion. Plans move from desk to desk without ever becoming outcomes. People get frustrated, not because nothing is happening, but because what is happening is uncoordinated. Minister Gumbs’ said that any process or system, she said, is only as strong as its weakest link, and that weakest link is the people who operate it.

The February 13 planning session, then, was not only about goals or strategy. It was a reminder that culture is the real engine of execution.

The session was also described as a full-participation day in which staff engaged openly with one another and spoke candidly about what is working, what is not, and what needs to change. Minister Gumbs publicly thanked those who took part for their willingness to self-reflect, share perspectives, and contribute constructively, noting that the session created space for honest discussion and practical input aimed at strengthening how the ministry functions and delivers.

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