I recently encountered someone who had built a barrier between them and customers because 'they had been told NOT to speak to customers'.
It made me think about permission.
“I wish you luck, and stubbornness, and the absence of the need for a permission slip from anybody. Just go fucking do it.” — Elizabeth Gilbert
It seems to me that building walls of process and silos of communication are huge barriers to success. Anything that stands in the way of employees doing 'the right thing' has a negative impact on company culture and ultimately success.
“Anyone at Tesla can and should email/talk to anyone else according to what they think is the fastest way to solve a problem for the benefit of the whole company. You can talk to your manager’s manager without his permission, you can talk directly to a VP in another dept, you can talk to me, you can talk to anyone without anyone else’s permission.” — Elon Musk
This approach needs to be infused in culture and encouraged from the top down.
