The 6th Habit of Highly Effective Networking is Synergize. The art of making the whole greater than than the sum of the individual parts.
This habit, more than any other, requires that you are currently practicing all of the other habits. Especially the 4th and 5th habits.
As you move toward the Interdependent realm you will depend upon all of the previous habits. This is why it’s essential to not just read, but cultivate the habits as your daily routine.
You may need to go back and review previous habits as you go through this one. You’re building powerful habits and the more frequently you visit them the more power you give them. One of the fundamental laws of business success is you get more of what you reward. So reward these habits by continually making them part of your practice.
Certain plants grow better when planted with other plants. The practice of planting companion plants is a gardener's secret to enhancing flavors and improving pest resistance. Plant synergy...
If it's works in the plant world it will work in the business world. Planting tomato and basil together gives the tomato more flavor and the basil grows heartier. So in the business world putting two businesses together can add dimensions that were never going to happen individually.
Creative cooperation - The essence of Synergy - means you really don't know where the venture is headed because you don't know the potential that is created by the synergy of the parties. It can take you places you can't dream of alone.
That's what synergy does…
For most networkers the creative environment is too unstructured. The ambiguity is frustrating. The testing/trial and error approach to every venture is too much to handle. So they resist.
They find it easier to rely on their own devices and settle for the predictable. They want guarantees. They are reluctant to venture out beyond the normal to explore what could be the greatest opportunities of their life.
For the highly effective networker the creative part is the most enjoyable. They have grown past the need for structure, certainty and predictably.
They’ve moved beyond the friendly cooperation required for any business to grow...to the creative cooperation where opportunities flourish.
Stephen Covey's son has taken his father's work to a new dimension with the book The Speed of Trust.
One of the amazing things about synergy is the compression of time required for trust to develop. Trust is the key to synergy. You will never achieve synergy without trust.
Mature people require little time for a relationship to develop to the point of trust. Leaders are capable of making quick decisions about opportunities and most importantly about people.
In a networking environment this is golden. You often have very little time to build a relationship before you need to make a decision to continue or to pursue other things. Decisiveness is a mark of the speed of trust, but it is also essential to build a powerful business.
Habits 1-3 focus on personal growth in your private world. You must have your world on track to being in order before you develop the other habits. Making sure that the first three habits are routine for you will make it much easier to focus beyond yourself to the public world.
Synergy resides on the edge of chaos. Pulling yourself out of your old routines and developing the habits that will make you truly effective will at times seem slightly insane. Do it anyway!
Taking your ”new self” into the public and offering real value by refusing to consider a thing unless it is win/win, by understanding before you long to be understood and believing there is far more value in the whole and in the individual parts won’t be easy.
Pulling those pieces together into a cohesive whole is what synergy is all about. As you move in that direction you’ll be amazed at the value that will have to you, but first to the world around you.
"If a person of your intelligence and competence and commitment disagrees with me, then there must be something to your disagreement that I need to understand. You have a perspective, a frame of reference I need to look at."
Mature people can make that statement. When you’ve done the hard work in your private self, you’re prepared to test that in the midst of disagreement. If your position has never been challenged, has it ever been validated?
Seeking the third alternative requires that you consider that the other person's position has merit if they have an equal stake in the game. This opens up possibilities for synergy to flourish.
Most business leaders operate on the assumption that they are right...all of the time, about everything. This prevents synergy from ever taking place.
There's a third possibility. It exists where synergy takes place. It may be just the answer you're looking for. It could be the opportunity that will forever change your business.
Networking with your competitors is a good idea.
I frequently get laughed at when I say this, but it's true. It helps to know people who are working in the same space and with the same clients as you. You’ll benefit from each other. If either of you feel threatened there is a maturity issue.
Synergy thrives in an environment where non-protective interaction is developed. I'm not talking about trade secrets or sharing client lists. I'm talking about:
That type of interaction is beneficial to the whole. That's the place where synergy thrives.
Think about the people in your circle of influence. Are there people who irritate you or with whom you see things differently? What would happen if you could create a synergistic relationship? Is that even possible? Why? Why not?
Are you capable of seeing beyond right and wrong, black and white? Synergy requires that you seek a third alternative. Can you find the third alternative in your relationships as you network with others?
Make a list of the possible "partners" in your business focus on three areas:
Synergistic companies - People with whom you have an obvious affinity.
Competitors - Yes, competitors! There is plenty of space to work with your competitors.
Completely Unrelated Business - A totally unrelated business can become a synergistic relationship in ways you can't imagine. [Use the worksheet provided on the next page]