How to achieve the synergy effect in teamwork?

Thoughtful teamwork can bring much better results than working alone. The key to success is to achieve a synergy effect. What is the synergy effect in teamwork? And how to work it out? 

Many companies operate on rules teamwork. A team is a group of people striving to achieve a common goal, working together on a permanent or temporary basis. The team usually consists of a few to a dozen or so people, although there are groups of up to several hundred people. 

The key to successful teamwork is a clear division of roles, tasks and responsibilities. Thanks to this, it is possible to complement each other with competences and skills in achieving goals, to collect more information, to motivate and support each other in action. The combination of knowledge, skills and experience of individual group members leads to a synergy effect in teamwork. What is the synergy effect? 

What is the synergy effect in teamwork? 

Synergy is cooperation in such a way as to achieve a greater effect than the sum of the effects generated individually by individual units. Many theorists define synergy as "2+2=5". This means that by combining forces, knowledge, skills and experiences of individual people, we will receive the so-called added value. Work will be more efficient and bring better results. 

The synergy effect in teamwork is cooperation in achieving the goal. It is about using your own strengths and eliminating weaknesses with the support of others, while respecting the differences between individual members of the group. The team is one organism, but composed of different personalities. By using the potential of each of them, it is possible to achieve the best results. 

How to achieve the synergy effect in teamwork? 

The team needs to know what it is aiming for. Therefore, in the first place, it is necessary to define a goal that will outline the vision of the daily work of the group. The goal should be SMART, i.e. specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. 

The key to meticulous implementation of the next steps on the way to the goal is a clear motivational system. Employees need to be properly motivated to act. Always give them an impulse that will encourage them to take on new challenges. 

In order to achieve synergy in teamwork, you need to act carefully and with full commitment. Individual team members must not be afraid to express their own opinions or suggest unconventional solutions. Each topic should be thoroughly discussed in order to eliminate errors and complete tasks in the best possible quality. Teamwork principles they should be clear, understandable to everyone, tailored to the needs of the group and the goal it must achieve.  

Working as a team, employees are able to take more risks than when working alone. This is related to group responsibility for all actions. And although bold decisions in some cases may turn out to be the most accurate, you should be careful when making them. The team should be mindful of the negative effects that a particular action may have.

The manager plays an important role in teamwork. The leader manages the team and at the same time can participate in the performance of partial tasks. A good leader listens to his subordinates. It allows them to suggest ideas and solutions, and respects otherness and different opinions of individual group members. If the manager starts to impose his opinion and his own solutions on others, you should entrust the task of managing the team to another person.  

The effect of synergy in teamwork and the phenomenon of "groupthink" 

For teamwork to bring the best benefits, the group should include people representing different points of view and able to defend their position. As we mentioned earlier, the synergy effect in teamwork will only be achieved when the group works together, while maintaining the individuality of each person. Synergy is about summing up the knowledge and qualifications of all members as separate entities, not merging them into one whole. Otherwise, instead of synergy, we will achieve the so-called groupthink phenomenon.

According to Irving L. Janis, groupthink is "a quick and easy way of thinking that occurs when people are members of a cohesive group that strives for unanimity, resulting in disregard for other possible ways of thinking." In other words, it is a situation where the team does not use the full potential of each member. And therefore it is unable to achieve the synergy effect. Groupthink doesn't have the same benefits as synergy. Employees find fewer solutions, they are not able to thoroughly discuss and analyze every topic. Therefore, they do not achieve maximum effects and do not achieve spectacular successes.  

Conflicts that destroy the synergy effect in teamwork 

Effective team work is the key to achieving all goals without problems and achieving spectacular successes. However, for group activities to be fully effective, its members must get along well. Unclear communication, constant bickering and piling up unresolved conflicts can negatively affect the functioning of the entire enterprise. 

In order to achieve the synergy effect, it is necessary to ensure a positive atmosphere in the team. Employees should feel comfortable and at ease in the company. In a friendly, relaxed atmosphere, work is definitely more pleasant and, most importantly, more efficient. 

Relationships between individual team members are of great importance in terms of creating an atmosphere in the workplace. In order to enable employees to get to know each other better and build strong bonds, the employer should take care of integration. Cyclical outings among employees, company events, integration trainings, integration trips and other joint activities will bring employees closer together, relax the atmosphere in the group, eliminate conflicts and effectively motivate the team to act.  

Integration trip with elements of team building - a way to strengthen the team  

One of the best ways to integrate employees is to organize a company trip. The trip should be full of interesting attractions and games that will help employees get to know each other better and allow them to strengthen bonds, as well as team building tasks that will strengthen them as a group. Team building is, as the name suggests, team building. The process is carried out through carefully selected games, workshops and other activities. Team building tasks equip employees with valuable skills useful in everyday work, teach them effective communication and improve the quality of cooperation.  

Team building games that can be used on an integration trip include:

• company Olympic Games - team competition in various sports competitions,
• construction of the Goldberg machine - group creation of a complex mechanism consisting of various gears, wooden blocks, levers and other elements,
• culinary tournament - competition in such competitions as a blind taste test or foam whipping,
• scenario games - e.g. criminal riddles of the Karkonosze Mountains organized by Dwór Korona Karkonoszy, i.e. a game in which participants must work together to solve the mystery of the crime,
• paintball - a real paintball battle according to a special scenario (e.g. based on a classic historical battle).

An integration trip is not only a great way to build a harmonious group of employees that will easily achieve the effect of synergy in teamwork, but also a guarantee of great fun and amazing emotions that will generate many wonderful memories. The shared experience will undoubtedly bring employees closer together and positively affect their daily work.