In the business world results matter. A team or a group that can “make things happen” or “get things done” will succeed because they understand what stakeholders and executives are looking for. Synergy is a necessary element for these types of teams to function at the highest level achievable.
Groups are comprised of individuals. Individuals create diversity within the group and synergy happens when these individuals work together toward a common goal (Pennsylvania State University, 2017). Creating and maintaining synergy within a group can be challenging due to the various levels of diversity among the members. So the very individuality and diversity that differentiates one group from another is the same element that makes it complex for synergy to be created and maintained within the group.
Back when I first started my job at my current company I worked on a “conversion team”. This team was comprised of a: business strategist, data scientist, user-experience and user-interface designer, front-end developer, and finally, a back-end developer. We were not the only team, there was another “conversion team” on site and they consisted of a different set of individuals with the same disciplines. However, our team was successful and their team was not because they were missing a necessary element that we, in contrast possessed, synergy.
Why did our team have synergy? Each individual on our team had a different discipline and we made sure that we respected their expertise on the subject. We understood that we are far superior as a team if we agreed to be stronger collectively than individually (Merriam-Webster, 2003). We worked on this because there were moments when we challenged each other but we did so with the team in mind. We completed personality tests to understand each other, organized team lunches, and listened when other teammates spoke. The other team didn’t follow these practices and one-by-one they started to get unhappy and disband.
Synergy is a necessary element for teams to function at the highest level achievable. If synergy is not involved then the individualism that makes up a team will be also be the thing that destroys it, as well as, the ability to get things done. The team that has synergy and works together can also win together.
References
Pennsylvania State University (2017). Lesson 01: Introduction to Leadership in a Global Context [ ]. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1826457/modules/items/21654124
Synergy. (2003). In Merriam-Webster’s dictionary (11th ed.). Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster.
Hi Daisy!
We ended up doing the “Strengths Finder 2.0” test that scored everyone. It was helpful and because it wasn’t a typical personality test it really helped us understand how each other view things and work in a slightly different way.
Our team booked a block of time in a conference room, brought in some specialty foods, and went over the results. Everyone really found this to be a fun experience and we learned a lot about each other. I might mentioned that we were each given a book that included a code to take the test online. It was given out about a week or so before the meeting so we had plenty of time to complete the test and read through the book if we wanted to.
“Corporate brats” is a really nice way of saying that because I can picture similar people in our organization. 🙂 What people on our team really pointed out is how our personalities suited our positions. So there were a lot of “of course” and “ah-ha” moments. One of my strengths was “restorative” and everyone was like… “yep, that’s Joey”. I’m the designer so that really suited me well. We tried to take the approach as a celebration of our strengths and that really went well.
Good luck and let me know if you have any other questions!
Hi Joey,
Your post was a very interesting read and I enjoyed the contrast you provided between the two conversion teams. You said that, “there were moments when we challenged each other but we did so with the team in mind” (Joey, 2017) I think you really hit the nail on the head with that statement. We’re often so wrapped up in our own ideas and our own way of doing things that we can come across as what I humorously refer to as, “corporate brats”. I can easily see how staying team-minded would help to ward off such destructive mindsets. The other awesomely proactive idea you mentioned was that you all completed personality tests to better understand one another. I did have a question about this, when your group discussed the personality test results, were there any group members that held their type of personality as superior? I’m thinking of having people do this where I work but I can see two people in particular, holding their personality type as superior.
Thank you for the great post and the nice synergy-forward ideas.