by Claudia Jeffrey,
Contributing Author, Conscious Reminder
Maybe I should describe what the term “synergy” entails before I address the concept of Synergy.
It appears to many people that the term is only superficially known. It is related to industrial transformations, medicinal products, or other phenomena.
In truth, Synergy is practically all around us. It is one of the main guiding principles in the natural world. Synergy revolves around such significant concepts as gravity, power, and intelligence, which help us understand how the world works.
It may be named under various titles, such as evolution, spiritual awakening, mutualism, dependency on density, mass movement, collaboration, boundaries, and even total tempests.
The Decline of Human Synergies
a) Evolution of Human Synergy
Chemists were the first ones to have suggested the modern concept of Synergy. They observed that, during each period, atoms or molecules were isolated from a dynamic mixture, the actions of the individual components would not justify their intertwined behavior.
For example, independent (H2) and isolated (O2) chemical activities of hydrogen and oxygen do not provide any data about the environmental comportment of water (H2O). This was a form of collective alchemy which Chemist termed Synergy, which made for endless experimentation in chemistry and invention.
Likewise, Human Synergy involves much more than “working together” in conventional organizational philosophy. Besides, Human Synergy is a structural concept which demonstrates the joint success of a group is unpredictable solely by the individual performance of its leader.
The collective performance of a team can thus be better or worse than the sum of the individual performance of its members. It creates a risk that many researchers ignore, and that is the key to understanding corporate performance and loss of the enterprise.
That is why we need to think about positive and negative synergies and about how we should reach the former and prevent the concluding.
b) What causes negative synergies?
Just for an instant, let us go back to chemistry. Let’s look at the following example where we are acquainted with the possibility of turning sulfur (S8) into a regulated, water-containing medium (H2O) owing to the correct temperature and pressure conditions. We can also turn this very living material ‘water’ into a damaging and toxic material, i.e., sulfuric acid.
This is just an analogy to show how the “wrong” component can transform positive synergies into negative synergies. The same can occur in human synergies.
In this particular regard, it can have devastating effects on performance to include the wrong person in a team. It is a very complicated task to create and maintain successful collaboration and to start with the recruitment of the right individuals.
Naturally, negative human synergy often depends on poor leadership and neglecting other ongoing human resources planning systems. Anybody who has actual collaboration ever understands. However, hiring the wrong person is much worse than recruiting the right person. In figurative language, turning a lump of coal into a diamond is far more complicated than trying to dig for real diamonds. So what are organizations supposed to do to achieve positive synergy?
Combining multiple products, business lines, or markets, organizations aim at positive Synergy or strategy fitness. The purchase of related products is one way to achieve successful alignment, so that sales assistants may market multiple items at a single call. The broader brand range can be delivered by one sales representative instead of two employees having two talking to a potential client.
Fusions and acquisitions entail business approaches to create meaningful synergies. In 2004, Cingular purchased AT&T Wireless, which offers better coverage, improved quality and reliability, and the full range of innovative services for consumers–an attempt to create customer benefits and prospects for growth, which no other company can attain on its own.
Negative Synergy is indeed practicable at both the corporate and management level. The reduction and dispossession of companies is partly a consequence of negative synergy. For instance, by splitting its limited investments in company paper and pulp processing, Kimberly-Clark corporation is intended to increase its emphasis on food and health products.
The company states that the removal of the pulp mill will improve the flexibility of operations and eliminate distractions in peripheral units so that the company can focus on single-core business.
The desired outcome is positive Synergy from many business decisions. Managers expect to achieve a higher level of performance by merging workers into groups or expanding business services, customer mix, or market dissertation. Nonetheless, merely joining individuals or company elements will not automatically produce better results. This may lead to negative cohesion due to a lack of cooperation and teamwork.
c) Issues of declining human synergies
The joint effort of the individual works together is one way of observing synergies within an organization. The work of the members of committees or teams may produce Synergy.
Through integrating their expertise, perspectives, and thoughts, teams sometimes make better decisions than the other groups themselves. Further ideas can well lead to more creative solutions instead of just going to buy assignment. It helps in more acceptance of group members, decisions, and increased opportunities for expressing different opinions. Positive Synergy resulting from group decisions can include more.
I realized that the mixture of mutual interest, mutual values, and compatible skills, just as the numbers of protons, neutrons, and electrons, describe the capacity of chemistry synergy. Let us further examine each of these factors.
1. Mutual Interest
When people share joint interests, they tend to link their activities with the same goal. Also, they are discovering mutual affinities that help them work together.
But when they are exploring ways to exploit each other’s strengths and are evaluating the effects of their collective efforts against their common goal. Nowadays, every individual wants to be at the top of the ladder. Therefore, mutual interest is seen decreasing in stats, day by day.
2. Mutual Values
They can build strong, long-lasting alliances when people have shared values. In particular, I found that the highest synergies are obtained by people with values of humility, honesty, faith, and discipline. It allows each group member to have a consistent actualization-image and to fulfill their development requirements promptly.
d) Importance of human synergies
If all of the above considerations are integrated, a collaboration between groups would usually be right. Yet group synergy is most often negative when they are out of synch.
Therefore, corporate leaders must ensure the mission, principles, and asset resources of their company were matched with each other, and the business demands to achieve beneficial alignment. Moreover, organizational leaders must ensure that such an arrangement is supported by their recruiting and management practices.
So much for any trend in the press that says men succeed and women battle in hostile societies. These stories can catch our eye, but both men and women are at a disadvantage. In reality, entities such as Human Synergistic find themselves in a win-win scenario.
They are better placed to maintain increasingly elusive top talents, male and especially female, by shifting their culture to make them more meaningful and less confrontational.
Conclusion
Happiness, patience, and persistence are the foundation to success. And success can never be achieved alone. Human Synergy is as essential as any other vital component of life. Through more skill, individuals can deal through hardship, remain focused, and achieve success more accessible.
“This is important news to business leaders who constantly worry about attracting and retaining of the best talent and improving operational efficiency,” confirms Catalyst’s founder and managing director Deborah Gills.
About the Author: Claudia Jeffrey has done a master’s in Psychology from Stanford University. She enjoys giving counseling to the ones in need. Claudia is currently working as a psychology counselor at Academist Help.
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