Synergy is Everywhere
Synergy is that special kind of relationship and connections -- out of hundreds of possible relationships and connections -- In synergy, we generate something "more" with the parts within the whole where the parts participate to fly information...When the "right relationship" and its performance find its place its called "synergy."
In a living system, another word for this is "health." To the extent all the parts of a living system are in right relationship to each other and to the system as a whole, that system is healthy. Linguistically, the word "health" derives from the same root as the word "whole," as in "wholesome."
Stephen Covey describes Synergy such as;
If you plant two plants together, the roots commingle and improve the quality of the soil so that both plants will grow better than if they were separated.
If you put two pieces of wood together, they will hold much more than the total of the weight held by each separately.
The whole is greater than the sum of its parts... One plus one equals three or more...
Synergy can be observed and experienced both as 'static' or "fluid" (sometimes called 'dynamic').
In dynamic synergy, the power of the relationship derives from the active interaction of the people or things involved, like jazz musicians "in a groove."
In static synergy, the power derives simply from the design, the way things are placed in relation to each other, like a beautiful flower arrangement.
Dynamic synergy, in contrast, involves interactions that create, generate, or enable something. There's dynamic synergy in the interactive population dynamics of predator and prey, where each keeps the other in balance.
And there's synergy between lovers, as stimulus and response heighten responsiveness and engagement upwards to a dynamic peak.
'Diversity' is a prerequisite for truly dynamic synergy. If everyone in a conversation has the same perspective, we observe a common thread but low-level synergy and energy exchange.
However if there happens to be a development where LOTS of diverse views, AND when those differences are allowed to surface AND aware communication processes can facilitate those differences -- something can happen that stimulates a blossoming of ideas no one thought about before they entered the conversation.
The whole can become greater than the sum of its parts to the extent those parts are different, and to the extent those differences are handled creatively through a higher intention.
In a Dynamic Synergy new levels of organization and phenomena can begin to arise and emerge from new combinations of things different in form, function, perspective…
Nature solved this continuity through two of nature's most creative dynamos: DNA and sexual reproduction: When different genetic patterns interact, qualities unique and new, allowing for even more complex, powerful forms of emerging synergy -- where entirely new wholes (holons) where the right amount of stability and right conditions happen -- emergence takes place.
Natural selection in essence, is a dynamic form of synergy between every organism -trimming the natural abundance so that the most suited and workable possibilities persist...
Dynamic synergy in human development when learning and opportunity for dialogue happens: become full of ideas, perspectives and experiences that mix and match and develop new relationships with developing forms, stimulating the creative birth and death of ideas, perspectives and experiences into a richer world of understanding...
What then are the Three Dimensions of Community?
What is synergy (energy flow) in community?
Tom Atlee describes it well in a 3 dimensional perspective...
All 3 points require to triangulate one another... where one is missing or is more slightly developed, a flatness is recognized and leaves one longing for more...
- Length: How long does a group share their experience and how committed are you to continue such sharing and exchange?
- Breadth: How many facets of your life you share as a community, and how wide a range of people and experiences be included?
- Depth: How deeply, throughly, and range of trust, mature intimate exchange is shared?
Synergy is EVERYWHERE...
