Synergy is where individuals or organizations compliment and work
together rather than competing. The result is greater than the sum of their
individual effects or capabilities. Developing SYNERGY is not easy. It takes
openness and a creative attitude that not everyone has in our competitive
world.
A
family could be a great example of this process, but that doesn't always
happen. It’s an ideal to strive towards in marriage or any relationship. My
best friend and I have this at times when we support one another in our ideas
and value the talents we each have. When we are communicating on the same wave
length, it's awesome the ideas and insights we develop. Guess that's why we are
such good friends.
When
two people working together are able to accomplish more than the sum of each
person working alone, it’s called synergy.
It’s one of the reasons we form friendships, alliances, partnerships and
marriages. Finding someone with similar goals who is supportive and increases
our productivity is important whatever the challenge: raising a family,
starting a business or accomplishing any task or objective. We naturally think
of life as a competition or win/lose
situation, but synergy reminds us it’s not a race, but a journey where we can
both win/win. (Steven R. Covey
concept.)
What
stops you from developing synergetic relationships? Natural competition, envy,
jealousy, lack of self-esteem, etc. can sidetrack you. Perhaps an attitude
change (or paradigm shift) is all that is needed to see others in your life as partners not opponents, especially in marriages and families. Each person
brings their own strengths and weaknesses into a family. Too often we find
ourselves competing for status or recognition at home, work, church or in the
community instead of working as a TEAM.
After
spending most of my life as a working parent, being retired brings new
challenges as I find myself facing the job of planning, cooking and serving
three meals a day to my spouse and me. My husband since he’s retired too, has
volunteered to cleanup after my cooking chores are done. This is a good example
of synergy. Because there are two
of us involved, mealtimes aren’t as much of a chore with his help. Sometimes,
it even leads to offers of taking me out to dinner cause he doesn’t want to do
the dishes…lol! Is there some area of your life where you could be more
synergetic? NEXT TIME: No Regrets