Synergistic Teams

Synergy is something that is constantly happening in a team. Synergistic teams are teams that perform,
deliver and create value for their organization.

What is Synergy?

Simply defined, it means the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. It means the relationship which
the parts have to each other is a part in and of itself. It is not only a part, but the most empowering, the
most unifying and the most exciting part. Synergy is naturally present in nature. If you plant two plants
close together, the roots comingle and improve the quality of the soil so that both plants will grow
better than if they were separated. If you put two pieces of wood together, they will hold much more
than the total weight held by each separately. One plus one equals three or more.

The challenge of course is to apply the principles of creative cooperation, which we learn from nature, in
our social interactions and more specifically in our corporate work which involves teams and the
management of synergy. Often teams in an organization are focused on very narrowly defined agenda’s
that may not include a synergistic perspective. For example, recruitment team promising growth to a
candidate within 6 months which HR operations team cannot keep considering the appraisal cycle & the
possible reactions of other team members or the HR operations team assuring new joinees of getting
salaries on 30th of every month which may not be practically possible for the payroll team Teams, this
often land up winning small battles, but loose the larger war at hand. This results in negative synergy
being created in the organisation.

The missing link in all these teams is a common larger purpose. And usually the common larger
perspective is - what is the organisation’s output and how can teams support that? What is the common
goal all parties can pursue? What are the benefits of achieving that common larger purpose? Those
benefits clearly defined and communicated, make team members see the value of a synergistic
approach.

Synergy in teams involves discipline and bonding and takes time. After World War II, the United States
commisioned David Lilienthal to head the new Atomic Energy Commission. Lilienthal brought together a
group of people who were highly influential – celebrities in their own right – disciples, as it were, of their
own frames of reference. This diverse group of individuals had an extremely heavy agenda, and they
were impatient to get at it. But Lilienthal took several weeks to create a high emotional bank account so
to speak. He had these people get to know each other – their interests, their hopes, their goals, their
concerns, their backgrounds, their frames of reference and their paradigms. He facilitated the kind of
human interaction that creates great bonding between people, and he was also heavily criticised for
taking his time to do it and because it wasn’t seemingly 'efficient'.

But the net result was that this group became closely knit together, very open with each other, very
creative, and synergistic. The respect among members of the commission was so high that if there was a
disagreement, instead of opposition and defense, there was a genuine effort to understand. The attitude
was “if a person of your intelligence and competence and commitment disagrees with me, then there
must be something to your disagreement that I do not understand, and I need to understand it. You
have a perspective, frame of reference I need to look at”. Non protective interaction developed, and an
unusual culture was born.

In order to develop synergy, teams must develop three attributes:

1. A willingness to look for a third alternative i.e. a route C when A&B are the only options visible

2. Able to reflect on each others viewpoints

3. Robustly create new ideas

But the essence of synergy in teams comes from (as we have seen in the example above) valuing the
differences - the mental, emotional and psychological differences between people. And the key to
valuing those differences is to realise that all people see the world, not as it is, but as they are. Teams
and persons that are truly effective have the humility and reverence to recognise their own perceptual
limitations and to appreciate the rich resources available through interaction with the hearts and minds
of other human beings. Teams should value differences because those differences add to the team’s
knowledge and understanding of reality.

Often this valuing of differences comes from Active Listening. No one should speak more than his
proportionate share in a team meeting. This encourages one to listen to the other and understand.
Synergy in teams is not a destination. Synergy is something that is constantly happening in a team.
Synergistic teams are teams that perform, that deliver and that create value for their companies.

Mohammed Attari
Assistant Manager – HR
Mirah Hospitality