Habit 6: Synergize

Introduction

Habit six of Stephen R Covey’s seven habits of highly effective people is “Synergize”. Covey says that it is always better to work in synergy with others. When we give a conducive environment to others where they can also express their feelings, we can get the best solution to any big problem. Successful leaders use the power of synergy by merging multiple forces like people, companies, etc. This concept can be understood with the help of one practical example. Let us assume that Company A is an expert in manufacturing the motorcycles but lacks logistical skills but Company B has a super-efficient logistical system. Here Company A and Company B can synergize their expertise to serve the customer in the shortest possible time. Synergy will help these companies to multiply their revenue while decreasing the expenses, which is not possible if they work separately.

Habit 6: Synergize

There are multiple steps by which we can synergize with others:
1. Give a thought to the Opinion of Others: Covey says that we must listen to the voice of everyone. When we listen and ponder upon the opposition forces then we can get an unbiased view of any problem and can think about the perfect solution.
2. Take Criticism with Patience: Everyone cannot digest the criticism of others. It’s like a bitter juice but covey says that if we develop this quality then we can take the necessary steps to correct our weaknesses. Every successful person was criticized during the struggle stage. Let’s understand this with the story of Michael Jordan. Everyone including his coach had a doubt that he will not be able to play NBA as his height was a mere 183 CM. On the other hand, his brother had a good height and was more likely to get success in NBA. Michael Jordan took all criticism with patience and proved that no one can stop a person with resilience. 

Watch this video to understand that God's plan is always perfect:

3. Listen to the thoughts of Others: Everyone has a different thought process and no one knows who can give the perfect solution to the problem. Hence it's always better to understand others’ points of view and then take the required steps to solve the issue. This can be related to the Jury members of any award ceremony. One person may take the decision in isolation while ignoring a certain point of view but jury members can think in a more holistic manner.
4. Creating Change: The process of change is very painful and there is a separate field of management known as “Change Management” to deal with the issues arising due to change in companies. Covey says that the forces which motivate us to “Change” are logical forces and forces which push us away from change are emotional. The best way is always to listen to the logical forces. Even during exercise, our old muscles break so that new and refined muscles can develop.

5. Look for Challenging People: We can appreciate the power of Synergy when we work with people of different mind-set. These people will be difficult to deal with and hence this situation will strengthen our intelligence. Jack Ma once said that it was his quality of harnessing the synergy of multiple intelligent people in Alibaba that made him successful. There are hundreds of top management people inside Alibaba who are more intelligent than Jack Ma but it is his ability to synergize the efforts of all these brainy people to get the required results.

Summary

The best thing that you can get from synergy is the best solution to any problem as when you listen to the thoughts of multiple people then you know multiple ways of solving the same problem. When one lacks a particular skill and he takes the help of another person with the expertise in that skill, this will help a first person to sail through the challenges. When you work with synergy then you will feel the luxury of having multiple solutions to a particular problem.