Beyond Synergy

SYNERGY [noun]:

the combined power of a group of things when they are working together that is greater than the total power achieved by each working separately.

It is not hard to see why the idea of “synergy” is held up as aspirational in many workplace communities. The idea that, in a well-functioning team, we are capable of achieving more than we can as a group of individuals is the reason teams exist. Of course, we all know that to call a group of people a team does not create a team or lead to synergy. Whilst there are any number of reasons why teams fail to function effectively, there is one fundamental issue that guarantees their failure.

Let me state this boldly: individualism will always lead to dysfunction in a team or community. When we perceive ourselves to be a gathering of individuals, we immediately create problems. We create the potential for competition for status. We create the potential for members of the team to be undervalued. We underestimate the value others bring to the table.

In their book “Tribal Leadership”, Dave Logan, John King and Halee Fischer-Wright describe what they label as a stage three tribe[i]. These tribes are made up of individuals in pursuit of personal greatness. Their allegiances are self-serving and last for as long as the tribe is perceived by the individual to maintain or enhance their personal greatness. According to the research behind the book, 49% of work place tribes in the United States fall into this category. Less than 24% of workplace tribes rise above this individualism to achieve something more.[ii]

Failing to see the wood for all of the trees

Woodlands are evocative places. Perhaps it is the way their moods change as in some places the canopy all but shuts out the light, in others it allows shimmering pools of light to reach the woodland floor, and in others dappled light flickers through the canopy. These magical environments have long been the inspiration for stories of magic and mystery, of terror and of life-giving experience.

It turns out that they are far more magical than we ever realised. We have assumed that they are places where individual trees form, sometimes vast, groupings. With this understanding commercial forestry spent decades using various techniques to obliterate plants they considered to be ‘competitors’ to the trees they were planting.

“…the thinking was clear and simple. Get rid of the competition. Once the light, water, and nutrients were freed up by obliterating the native plants, the lucrative conifer would suck them up and grow as fast as redwood. A zero-sum game. Winners take all.”[iii]

To summarise, forestry organisations couldn’t get beyond seeing woodlands through the lens of individualism. Failing to see the wood for all the trees, they destroyed anything considered to be competition. The only important thing was the success of the individual trees.

In ‘Finding the Mother Tree’, Suzanne Simard (Professor of Forest Ecology at the University of British Columbia) describes a journey of discovery that spanned over 20 years. Her research into the ecology of woodlands has revolutionised the way we understand these amazing environments. In her introduction she describes her findings:

“The trees soon revealed startling secrets. I discovered that they are in a web of interdependence, linked by a system of underground channels, where they perceive and connect and relate with ancient intricacy and wisdom that can no longer be denied.”[iv]

She goes on to describe a complex fungal network through which trees share nutrients, nurture their own seedlings, and pass chemical signals. Woodlands are far from being stands of individual trees competing for resources. They are complex ecosystems the success of which is dependent on the co-existence of the flora and fauna of which they are constituted. Woodlands are more like living organisms than groups of individual trees. Once again, our limited perspective had skewed our understanding. We saw a group of individual trees and called it woodland. We failed to see the interconnectedness and interdependence of the plants. We failed to appreciate that, far from being a group of individual trees, a woodland is an intricately connected ecosystem. It turns out that we really couldn’t see the wood for all the trees.

This realisation of a deeper inter-related existence stretches beyond woodland ecosystems and gives us pause for thought about our own existence. Suzanne Simard suggests that “Our own roots and systems interlace and tangle, grow into and away from one another and back again in a million subtle moments.”[v]She goes on to draw lessons about our own ecosystem:

“A system is ever changing because its parts – the trees and fungi and people – are constantly responding to one another and to the environment. Our success in coevolution – our success as a productive society – is only as good as the strength of the bonds with other individuals and species. Out of the resulting adaptation and evolution emerge behaviours that help us survive, grow, and thrive.”[vi]

Beyond Synergy

What do we mean when we use the word system? Here is a definition to get us going:

“…The essential properties of an organism, or living system, are properties of the whole, which none of the parts have. They arise from the interactions and relationships between the parts. These properties are destroyed when the system is dissected, either physically or theoretically, into isolated elements.”[vii]

 The idea of a system goes further than the concept of ‘synergy.’ In a system the components not only achieve more together they become something that they were not alone. They take on properties that do not exist in the individual components. They not only become capable of achieving more, together they become something that is more.

If ever there was a time when we need to step back and see the wood, rather than just the individual trees, it is now. We need workplace tribes/ communities to realise that teams are not just capable of achieving more when they work together but that together they have the potential to become something else, something bigger than any of them. Something life-affirming and dynamic – a human system.

Creating something special

Each of us is a unique human being. Biologically and psychologically, there is no one quite like you. When we create contexts in which we are willing both to see others for who they are and to turn up in such a way as to be seen we create something very special.

Healthy workplace communities share many of the same characteristics of healthy woodlands. On the surface it appears that a set of individuals simply congregate to do a job of work. Below the surface the complex network of relationships transform them from a mere gathering of individuals into something bigger, something different. A living system in which difference and similarity drive constant adaptation. Where resources flow to where they are needed, and the team grows together. A human system in which every part has an essential role to play.

Our success in coevolution – our success as a productive society – is only as good as the strength of the bonds with other individuals and species. Out of the resulting adaptation and evolution emerge behaviours that help us survive, grow, and thrive.”[1]

• What could you do to strengthen your connection with the people you work with? [Think especially of those with whom you have less obvious connections]
• What have you gained from the community that you can be grateful for today?
• How could you turn up so that you are ready to both receive from the community, and give to the community?

[i] Dave Logan, John King, Halee Fischer-Wright, Tribal Leadership, Harper Business (New York, 2008) p.76-107

[ii] Dave Logan, John King, Halee Fischer-Wright, Tribal Leadership, Harper Business (New York, 2008) p.20-25

[iii] Suzanne Simard, Finding the Mother Tree, Penguin (London, 2021) p.92

[iv] Suzanne Simard, Finding the Mother Tree, Penguin (London, 2021) p.4

[v] Suzanne Simard, Finding the Mother Tree, Penguin (London, 2021) p.180

[vi] Suzanne Simard, Finding the Mother Tree, Penguin (London, 2021) p.189

[vii] Fritjof Capra and Pier Luigi Luisi, The Systems View of life: A unifying vision, Cambridge University Press (Cambridge, 2014) p.65