Leadership is much more than charisma or style. Real leaders are team builders. They lift people up to higher levels of performance, and, they make everyone around them better. And, this is a high synergy group and organizational process. As group members learn how to contribute and work more cooperatively with other group members, they begin to participate at increasingly higher levels of synergy. In other words, the whole group becomes greater than the sum of the individual members and a transformation in thinking and perceiving takes place that enables the group to see things differently and resolve any problem as collaborative learners and team members. Collaborative Leaders understand this process and are able to facilitate it in a way that brings out the best in every member and the group or organization as a whole. Anyone who has had the privilege of participating in a high synergy organization or group effort understands the transformative power of synergy.
In the transformation that occurs through this process, individuals and groups move through certain stages of development (See Figure 1). At the earliest stage of development individuals are fundamentally self-centered, competitive and aggressive. They are unable to really cooperate at a level that is conducive to learning because they cannot trust each other enough to take the risks necessary to learn and develop. We see these competitive groups throughout society that often seem cooperative enough on the outside but actually are self-serving and often ruthless underneath motivated by their own ambitions instead of the mission or goals of the group. However, as they develop under the guidance of collaborative leadership, they can become more cooperative and at least functional in social groups. These groups often achieve basic levels of problem solving. Then, as they develop over time in the group or organization, they become more understanding of their roles and abilities to contribute. More and more as self-directed learners, they are able to help the group and develop themselves as real learners.
Finally, at the higher levels of synergy the group members begin to more clearly see the needs and concerns of the other members and groups outside of themselves. And in becoming more “self-actualized” and less self-serving, they enable themselves to lift each other up to increasing levels of performance, productivity, and higher orders of thinking, sharing and problem solving. This High Synergy Development Model helps us to see how groups and organizations in society are able through synergy to progress from self-serving competitive efforts that are usually counterproductive to the goals and mission of the group or organization. Collaborative Leaders are able to facilitate this high synergy group process in a way that inspires and motivates the members to help each other and lift the group and the individual members to increasingly greater levels of achievement.
Discussion Questions
- What is synergy and how does it work to lift organizations, individuals and groups to higher levels of performance?
- How do Collaborative Leaders facilitate synergy in group work?
- How are groups and individuals transformed by synergy?
- In the High Synergy Development Model describe each level of development and how individuals progress to higher levels through collaborative learning.
- Why are collaborative and cooperative groups more productive with higher levels of synergy than competitive groups?
- How do collaborative teams produce more self-actualized and less self-serving groups and individuals?
- Discuss
the impact on society and individuals of developing more collaborative,
high synergy groups. And, how are organizations transformed in this process?
