"Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each
other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and
purpose."
The word synergy gets used frequently in business. We hear it most when
companies are merging and the business leaders say, "This deal will
create synergy between the two entities". We just read these words with the merger of the two largest global advertising firms. That is usually code for cost
reductions and potential lay-offs so the word takes on a negative
meaning. It is not a negative word at all. Synergy is a great thing
and is defined as; "The interaction of two or more agents or forces so
that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual
effects." That does sound good doesn't it? We all want more of that at
work, but why is it so hard to get? It's a great question. It shouldn't
be hard at all to get two or more people together to combine their
efforts so that the result is much stronger than what the individuals
could do by themselves. But, somewhere this breaks down and we can't
find the synergy and we instead have to reinforce and teach the
importance of teamwork and the leaders of the organization have to spend
extra time and efforts to get people to work together. It shouldn't be
hard at all to get people to want to work together and to get more done
with each other than alone. But, many a company talks a good game about
teamwork but when it comes down to it, the incentives and rewards
(whether spoken or not) are all about the individual and not the team or
partnership.
Paul and Timothy tell the people of Philipi what they
think synergy should be and we would do well to take their message to
heart; "Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each
other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and
purpose." We have the opportunity today to be synergistic leaders in
our workplace. If we take the challenge of Paul and Timothy to find
those who we can align with and we, through our own life example, model
what it means to love one another, be in agreement and work together
with one mind and purpose, then we will be modeling the life of the One
we follow. And who at work will not want to be on your team? What an
exciting company it would be if there were people all over the
organization modeling these behaviors. As it is said, "it only takes
one to get it started". Can today you be the one?
Reference: Philippians 2:2 (New Living Translation)
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