In the 1990s, synergy was a popular concept in business. This was when investment bankers and corporate executives used corporate harmony to get buy-in for mergers and acquisitions.
Corporate synergy refers to the added value that companies will achieve when merging. Two companies can create more value when they work together in a merger or acquisition than their individual effects. This is due to economies of scale. Mergers of larger businesses can help one another and reduce costs, ultimately leading to greater profitability.
Corporate synergy does not always refer to M&A. It can also describe cross-selling between companies or lending team members to cross-business product development.
What Is The Relationship Between Synergy And Teamwork?
Synergy is at its core, a way to work together and produce great results. Although synergy was adopted by corporate executives, it does not refer to mergers or acquisitions as a general rule. Team synergy is based on the belief that the whole is more than the sum of its parts. It can be applied to teamwork. Team members can be their best selves at work thanks to this positive synergy. They can bring their unique perspectives, talents, and communication styles. Each person’s perspective is what allows a team to do its best work. Your group can accomplish so much more together if they can tap into the strengths of each member and allow them to learn from each other.
How To Create Team Synergy?
Team synergy leads to high-impact teamwork and effective teamwork. Building team synergy, like all interpersonal skills, takes effort and time. These are three strategies to build team synergy in business:
1. Begin With Communication
Communication is the core of any successful working group. This is especially true when there are diverse groups. A diverse group is valuable because of the diversity of opinions and experiences it brings to the table. To start building good workplace communication skills:
- It is important to establish where and what your team should communicate. The barrier to communication is reduced when team members know where they should communicate. Set up and share a communication strategy with all members of your team.
- Prioritize two-way communication. Listening to others’ ideas is a key part of the collaboration, especially when working in a diverse group. Encourage team members to practice active hearing to improve these skills.
- You can tell the difference between stories and facts. “Facts and stories” is an intentional leadership technique. “Facts” can be described as observable details such as who attended a meeting. A “story” is your interpretation of the situation. You can stop believing stories until you can verify them.
2. Encourage Trust And Collaboration
Team members must feel comfortable communicating effectively. You can make sure that your team members feel comfortable working together by modeling team collaboration best practices.
To foster collaboration:
- Encourage co-creation. Team synergy involves working together on projects to create something that each person wouldn’t be capable of doing on their own. You can’t tell your team members to collaborate on a project. Instead, have brainstorming sessions and invite discussion.
- Encourage open communication. It is important for team members to feel at ease sharing their feelings, giving opinions on projects, and disagreeing with each other. While we often view disagreements as a negative thing, healthy disagreement is essential for team collaboration.
- Lead by example. Building team collaboration takes time. However, the best way to start is to model the behaviors you want in your team. You’ll see your team embrace co-creation, new ideas, and openness to all.
3. Intentionally Establish Group Norms
Group norms are the unspoken rules that govern how team members interact. Even if you don’t establish group norms, they will develop naturally as your team works together. Group norms, if not controlled, can cause team members to feel uncomfortable and lead to poor group dynamics.
By setting up group norms you can make it easier for your team members to work together. These “unspoken rules”, which are not always discussed, reduce uncertainty and guesswork so that team members spend less time worrying and more on collaborative, high-impact work.