Work Mode with Brown Uzoukwu: 4 Tips For Improving Synergy in the Work Place

I have encountered quite a lot of young career persons having trouble dealing with synergy. They find it difficult and frustrating working in a team. They are always caught up in the blame game, where everybody in the team blames someone else but themselves… especially when assignments don’t go well. Some claim to be at their best when they actually work individually and not in a team. The problem with this kind of work culture is that leads to so much dissipation of energy and inefficiency in the workplace. However, it is quite understandable for some people to be having problems with building effective synergy in the workplace, because humans are very complex. So it appears the synergy problem is inevitable because every individual that comprises a team has different idiosyncrasies and proclivities.

Some people don’t realize that there is more to team work than just working together to accomplish a task. It is more about achieving results that are much greater than the sum of our individual contributions.
Like I said we all have our different ideologies, idiosyncrasies and proclivities. We differ in our individual priorities, talents, motivation, interests, ego, habits, strengths and weaknesses. Some of us have astute leadership skills while some are better off as followers. All this discrepancies leads to synergy problems, which ultimately results in low productivity, mis-coordination, inefficiency, lack of responsibility and accountability and blame game.

Peak performance can actually be achieved in a team if every team member understands their personality and the personality of their colleagues. Synergy works better when every team member knows their roles and responsibilities. Synergy is not just another HR buzz word, it is a practical approach to achieving both individual and team results.

Below are few basic tips to help improve your work place synergy.

Develop Self-awareness and Interpersonal Skills
Ensure you really understand your strengths and weaknesses. Understudy your colleagues to uncover their interpersonal skills. If you think you are better off a follower then pair up with someone that has strong leadership qualities. Some people naturally don’t like to take initiative they rather follow initiative. So, it is advised if you are such a person, identify people with strong proactivity tendencies and pair with them; that way, you guys can leverage on each other’s strength and weakness to achieve more.

Complement Yourselves
Like I said above, identify people that can complement you. Instead of pairing up with people with similar attributes together, team members should be able to complement each other. You will find it very difficult making the most of synergy, if for example, you are a leader and you are paired with other bunch of leaders on one project. Who is going to lead who? There will be no one left to do the grunt work.

Focus on the Common Goal
Organizations have goals. Ensure you understand those goals and also be conscious of the fact that everyone at work or on the team irrespective of job description are all working towards achieving the common goal. Synergy is much more likely to happen when your focus is on the common goal. People find ways to overcome their differences when they have a common objective.

Develop Mutual Trust and Respect
When you and your colleagues work and communicate with the basis of trust, respect and empathy, everyone will feel that their contribution is as valuable as the next person, and vice versa. If you have empathy, you will be conscious of the impact of your action on others. Everybody will pull their own weight in helping each other achieve the common goal and a healthy synergy is built.

I wish you the best in your pursuit of great synergy with your colleagues. Have a great day.

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