Covey’s seven habits for a digital agency – Habit 6: Synergy (in project teams, work life balance, and values)
Synergy happens when an end result is greater than the sum of each contributing part. If you are looking for fulfilment in your day job, you will find synergy to be critical in three areas: project teams, work / life balance, and alignment of your personal values with your commercial efforts. If you are looking to make a difference in your organisation, it is my hope that you may also find synergy with this blog post.
I started this post looking at the sixth of Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. I found Covey’s material on the subject to be a bit light on the topic, so I borrow on some experience and other research to understand how the concept may be relevant in the workplace.
Synergy in Project Teams: Fantastic people on the bus
The difference between a group and a team is the extent to which people are dependent upon each other to achieve their individual and collective goals. An effective team is one where each individual has improved as a result of working in the team. I find that what is often referred to as a “team” is actually a group of independent individuals whose efforts are in conflict with each other as they work to achieve a common goal.
A team of high-calibre interdependent people working at the same professional level towards a shared vision is something that can only be described as magic. Because of our close proximity to each other and length of time together in our studio, we often refer to our situation as being on a bus. Anyone who has taken an epic long bus ride together knows that you want to be sharing your journey with fantastic people you get along with. The goal is that we are all better as individuals at the end of the journey for sharing the bus ride together.
The analogy also extends to people wanting on and off the bus. We are not always sure the end destination, but we do know the general direction. While it can be sad to see some people go, at any time we are OK with slowing down and letting people off who may wish to go in a different direction for awhile.
Synergy in work / life balance: Building perspective
You know you have synergy between your roles in and out of work when you experience energy and mood states that transcend each role. Remember how synergy in a team results in each individual being better off as a result of the engagement? In the same way, synergy in your work and non-work roles makes you a better person than if you only had one role or the other.
You also know when you do not have synergy. Instead of each role building on the other, the interactions are simply a transfer of resources between one role and the other. This is typified in the mundane existence of working to get money to pay bills so you can work.
Dr. Beutell released a study that looked at what contributed to synergy between work and family life. Without getting into too much detail, the study confirmed that work factors of your attitude towards your employer, available learning opportunities, and autonomy increased synergy while work pressures decreased synergy. Synergy was also more likely when dependent support was available, there was sufficient family income, you had a good mental self-assessment, and you have support by your immediate supervisor for both your position and your family.
These appear to be common sense, but at least we now have a study to prove it.
Synergy between personal values and commercial efforts: Aligning your “So that”
As I recently posted, our “so that” is the reason why we do what we do. We apply effort “so that” we achieve an outcome of a significance that is greater than the effort we apply. A friend of mine and I were talking about this the other day about our “so that” and he drew the diagram above asking to the extent that our “so that” needs to align with our commercial endeavours.
I imagine some do not, that Option 1 is sufficient. They apply themselves to commercial pursuits during the week “so that” they can find fulfilment in the weekend or on their holidays. The synergies between their commercial efforts and that which they find personal value are compartmentalised into separate areas.
In what can be referred to as “commercialism for a cause”, Option 2 promotes alignment of you commercial efforts and your “so that”. I work so that I achieve something of significance which encourages me to work. This can take many forms, such as creating space to train for a marathon, investing in someone’s personal community, or using company resources to promote a personal cause.
It is my dream to create a space where everyone has the opportunity to align their “so that” with their day job. I respect some may not know what this is, or desire to have a “so that”. They will, however, be have a legitimate space to play and discover their “so that” on their own and be encouraged emotionally and financially to align their work efforts and personal values.
Alignment
Life is a challenge, with natural tensions between team members, work and non-work roles, and personal values and commercial efforts. We can intentionally convert these tensions to synergy by creating collaborative dependencies and alignment between what were previously opposing forces. For some, this effort in itself becomes a “so that”, as we create space in organisations to encourage naturally forming synergy.
good post… just need to follow it up w/ a workshop “so that’ everyone can figure out where they’re at synergy-wise… and where they’re going. 🙂