Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Article #235 Synergy


             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