Synergy
In the business environment, synergy occurs when two or more businesses or resources come together to make a greater impact than they would separately. “Two heads are better than one’, according to Stephen R. Covey. Synergy in business can enhance your product, services and processes, as a small business owner.
The combination of entrepreneurship and innovation holds the key to organizational sustainability on this period of rapid change and non-linear dynamics. Whilst the pandemic has motivated more new entrepreneurs to start their own business; one of the ways that helped current businesses thrive during the pandemic is synergy.
Strategic Synergy Approach
The success of any company depends of efficient and effective chosen strategy. It is important to see changes in environment as an active factor of influencing strategy management of companies. Companies may use a synergistic approach to enhance communications, promote knowledge sharing, streamline processes and bridge the generation gap.
Enhance Communications
Synergy extends communications across departments, and teamwork is encouraged to reach strategic goals. Synergy is much more likely to occur when everyone is aiming for the same goal. For example, the sales department and IT department work together and share skill sets to create a new customer service portal and increase market share. A company that promotes synergy could use technology, such as tablet computers and video conferencing, to provide mobility, ease of access and real-time discussions. This may help employees improve communication skills and deliver exemplary customer service.
Promote Knowledge Sharing
Knowledge sharing permits feedback from co-workers and collaboration between internal and external stakeholders. Synergy may involve the use of social networking sites such as Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn to facilitate the exchange of ideas and to solidify relationships. When individuals work together in a synergistic team, the expectations, rules and best practices in this T environment fosters learning, growth and innovation, which is advantageous to a company’s competitive standing and strategic value.
Streamline Processes
Collaboration and knowledge sharing across the organization can lead to business process improvement by eliminating redundancy, reducing cycle times and increasing efficiency.
If, for example, a marketing department and sales department enter customer account information on separate computer systems, streamlining the process will prevent duplication of efforts and free up resources. This poses opportunities for process automation and a reduction of labor costs, which can positively affect a company’s bottom line.
Bridge the Generation Gap
A synergistic environment helps bridge the gaps among multiple generations, such as Millennials, Generation X and Baby boomers. Without it, each group might adapt, communicate and work in different ways.
This could negatively affect a company’s productivity and the way it functions as a whole. For example, according to a study published by Ernst & Young, 78 percent of respondents perceive millennials as the most technically capable, but only 45 percent of respondents agree that the same generation works well in teams. A synergistic approach would pair the group with another generation that has strong team skills and poor technical skills, and facilitate team-building exercises to encourage members to learn and complement from each other.