TOGETHERNESS in synergism is reflected in the definitions of many words that start with this prefix: synthesis, symmetry, symbiosis, syncretism, symphony, sympathy, and so on. And, of course, this togetherness is reflected in the definition given by the same dictionary for the words synergy and synergism. It has been proven both in measurable and immeasurable terms that operation of the synergism principle results in value-added, in some sort of magnification of total value.

The eyebrow-raising arithmetical formula usually used to describe the operation of synergism is "one plus one equals three." And the question that may follow is about the source of this "magic," where does this come from? It took some years of hunting before I could arrive at an answer that would do fine for me. At least for the time being.

Not all combinations of individual elements make up a synergy, because the precise design or arrangement of the combination may not optimize the performance of these individual elements. We can see this in frequent manifestations of "bad teamwork" (actually a lack of teamwork) or bad management. In worst-case examples, the resulting equation is "one plus one equals zero" because the capabilities or the actions of the elements actually cancel out one another.

It is not necessarily true that "in union there is strength," because synergy cannot easily be attained and sustained accidentally. Ask the good sports team coaches and the good managers. And they will agree that it does entail a lot of study, experimentation, evaluation and painstaking improvement, not to mention expense, to build the right "chemistry," the great winning teamplay.

The idea that organizations automatically generate strength and empower their members is based on the illusion that "all sorts of combinations are synergies." Wrong! A dozen people can be packed tightly in an elevator but have no trace of unity among them save perhaps for confidence or worries about the safety of that ride. Organizations can be compact, even regimented, but not unified around a set of aims they had all agreed on.

In fact, the behavior or non-behavior of many organizations all around us has been giving the value of organizations a bad name. For this reason, there are many people who have come to stay away from organizations altogether.

I chanced upon my tentative answer to the question where does the value-added come from when I listened to the valedictory speech delivered by the outgoing president of a local business club. She said the outgoing officers were proud to report having fulfilled their induction-day promise to be a "TEAM." She said that for them, "TEAM" as an acronym has always stood for "Together, Each Achieves More." (I learned much later that this came from American life coach John Maxwell.)

Never mind the little syntax awkwardness here. The meaning is unmistakably clear, anyway. The statement really flashed inside my mind that here was the answer

I had been looking for -- Really close togetherness can actually increase the magnitude of capability or actual action of each individual element. If teamwork or harmony, in short attainment of synergy, can increase the capacity or output of each element, why would anybody be surprised at all that the total would be bigger or even much bigger?

Diversity is not something to be tolerated, "solved" or overcome in the context of synergy-building. While commonalities among the elements provide the bonding element, the glue or the magnetic waves among them, diversity is the enriching, catalyzing factor that gives the collectivity its dynamism. In chemistry, you cannot expect any chemical reaction to occur when mixing together quantities of identical substances.

In an orchestra, the richness of the musical sound produced comes from the wide variety of instruments played a single sequence of notes in the arrangement. In choral group singing, the blending of voices cannot occur and be enjoyed if all sing only the melody, the "first voice."

Study, Apply, Live Synergism!

We've been impatiently asked by some people, "What is there to clarify about synergism? Everybody already knows that 'in union there is strength'! You're not saying anything new!" To those who ask we try to explain that knowing about strength in numbers is only the beginning of knowing about the synergism principle.

There is much else to synergism that one has to grasp or at least be open to in order to derive more value from this highly potent principle.

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