Synergy--Accelerate Success through Teams

I believe in synergy. I relish what happens when 2 or more people come together either on a common project or to help one another achieve something great or small. Synergy is the capstone element of the GoalsWork model. Synergy generates the success of the GoalsWork model. Napoleon Hill called it Mastermind groups or alliances in his watershed book Think and Grow Rich.

Webster's dictionary defines synergy as "a mutually advantageous conjunction or combination of distinct business participants or elements (as resources or efforts)" (Retrieved December 31, 2009 from www.Meriam-Webster.com/dictionary/synergy). The keys to that definition in the context of achieving goals are "mutually advantageous...combination" and "participants or elements (as resources or efforts).

Synergy occurs when distinct people gather together, as participants and resources, for mutually advantageous results. Results increase when the people meet together regularly to

• Report progress on each person's goals
• Brainstorm solutions or actions to each one's challenges or barriers to success
• Encourage one another to persevere through problems
• Provide a sounding board for one another to evaluate and plan action

Results accelerate as frequency of reporting increases. In other words, the more frequently you report to one another, the faster you will achieve results. For instance some groups meet once a month, but share daily reports to one another by email, Facebook, or Twitter when they work on a special project.

Let me share some recent personal experiences with the synergy of groups.

EMPA Accounting Study Group

I am currently earning my Master's in Public Administration. This last semester we took an accounting class. I missed 3 class periods due to the H1N1 flu. I struggled to catch up. Each class shoved me further and further behind because I lacked the foundation laid in the 3 classes I missed. I was drowning.

The last week of class, I discovered that several of my classmates met each week in a study group. I attended the group meeting just before the final. Listening to others wrestle the problems eased my anxiety. They answered each person's questions until everyone in the group understood the concepts. No one moved ahead until everyone understood. They helped me build the foundation I lacked. They helped me catch up. More importantly, occasionally I provided some help to other members of the group. Helping someone else restored my self-esteem. I received, but I also contributed.

We helped each other. We lifted one another. Participating in the group helped me increase my grade two full points. Instead of failing, as I assumed I would, I passed with a solid B.

Marketing Success Team

I blogged about the Marketing Success Institute (http://www.miscommunity.com/) in a previous blog. MSI provides a collaborative site where multiple people can work on their marketing plans, ideas, or materials together. Marketing Success Live provides community members the opportunity to meet together in what Bryan Walden Pope calls My Marketing Day.

Most of the members (some never participate or implement what they discuss) increase the success of their marketing efforts through this synergy. For example, one chain of 4 bookstores doubled the success of three key marketing campaigns because of ideas and feedback he received through the group. The marketing manager for a mid-size HVAC company increased results within one week of meeting with the group. I could continue with success story after success story, but I won't.

The key to the success was a common understanding of marketing so we were working from the same page. In addition, we all had the ability to bounce marketing ideas, designs, and slogans off of every other member of the group. Finally, we could test our efforts with the group and their contacts before spending large amounts of money in production. The synergy lifted all of us.

My Mastermind Group

Finally, I would like to describe my mastermind group. Four of us meet every month over lunch for 90 minutes. One person acts as our scribe. Our agenda is simple:

1. The scribe reads each persons goal for that month. Each person reports what they did and the results that occurred from their efforts.
2. Each person is allowed 15 minutes to request help from the group on a barrier or challenge they encountered.
3. Each person informs the group of their goals for the next month. The scribe records them.

Each member of this group benefits from participation. Members of our group have reinvented their small-business resulting in increased profits and satisfaction; dissolved a business and found a job that offered greater satisfaction, fulfillment, and income; expanded their business from one state to nationwide delivery. The list could go on.

I would like to share how the group particularly helped me this last 3 weeks. I outlined 4 books in the last 3 years that I wanted to write. I told the group of my expectation and then delayed doing anything about it. My group, however, persevered with me. They encouraged me. They motivated me. They chastened me. Finally, they helped me set a goal to finish my job search book during my Christmas vacation.

I committed to them that I would send them one chapter a day during the vacation. I committed to finishing the first draft of the book by New Year's Day. They committed to hold me accountable. They would hound me if I didn't send them the chapter. Several of them committed to reviewing each chapter and sending feedback, edits, and suggestions. They were true to their word.

I sent them the last chapter to my book this afternoon. All of the main chapters are done. I still have hours of review and editing ahead of me. But, I finished the book. My group sent me valuable suggestions each day. Their feedback allowed me to incorporate improvements into new chapters as I wrote them. One member of the group wordsmiths my convoluted sentences into flowing prose.

I would never have started, let alone finished, my book were it not for the support of my group. The not only kept me going, they improved the product. I now understand why authors thank so many people in the prefaces to their books.

In Conclusion

Many of you will be, or have, set New Years Resolutions. You identified the things you wish to accomplish in 2010. People seldom achieve their New Year's resolutions because they don't establish a GoalsWork or Mastermind team to keep them going. I promise you that you will achieve your goals or resolutions if you include the synergy that I, and hundreds of thousands of others, found by establishing a mastermind team or group.

Good luck achieving what you want in 2010.

Also, look for my New Year's Special Blog on the GoalsWork Model

Peace on Earth, Goodwill to All

It's the day after Christmas. However, Christmas isn't over for our home. We chose to celebrate the season a little differently this year. We chose to put Christ back into our Christmas.

I am a man of faith. I believe that the babe born in Bethlehem was the Son of God. I accept that He was more than a great teacher, but the Messiah sent by a loving Father to save us all. I witness that His atonement, not only cleanses us of our sins, but it empowers us to accomplish things we could not do alone. He taught us to love and serve one another. Finally, I know that He burst the bounds of death through His physical resurrection--and lives today.

Angles proclaimed peace on earth, goodwill to all men (both male and female) at His birth. That peace and goodwill returned to us this Christmas. Three different people commented yesterday that I seemed at peace. They noticed the difference in my attitude, my demeanor, and my countenance.

I found peace this year in noticing the small things people did for others. I found it in the woman that served little children at our local homeless shelter. Her service was not limited to this season. She worked with the children more than 100 times this year. I found peace watching my neighbor consistently remove the snow that fell on four homes. I found peace in the families that dropped off little tokens to others. The peace was not in the size of the gift, it was the personal effort and intent given to create them. I found peace as I served others.

I found goodwill because I highlighted the good in others. I reduced my own petty, judgemental, and ill thoughts about people I knew. I tried to eliminate negative discussions about others. I read and watched films that elevated my thoughts and feelings. I remembered His invitation "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." My judgement of others dissolved in the recognition of my own flaws.

I found peace and goodwill because I looked for it. I recognize the pain, the suffering, and the death that covers this globe of ours. My work has taken me to some of the poorest places on earth. I've seen people volunteering their time to bring water to the homes in Cape Verde. I've seen others working to lift people out of the poverty of the favelas in Brazil. I've seen people teaching literacy, music, and health to disease riddled people in Asia, Africa, Europe, and all three Americas. I know a man who spent two years helping an entire country triple their food production. I've lost friends who gave their lives trying to help total strangers obtain life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Darkness, despair, and abuse surround us. Sometimes, they overwhelm us. We can overcome them. Jesus Christ gave His life to empower us to do better.

One of His prophets taught "Men (male and female) should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness; for the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men (male and female) do good they shall in nowise lose their reward. But he that doeth not anything until he is commanded, and receiveth it with a doubtful heart, and keepeth it with slothfulness, the same is damned (stopped)."

I believe those words. I proved them, over many years, to be true. I witnessed so many others prove their truth. We can accomplish many good things. We possess the power to change our lives and the lives of others. All we have to do is act, act in faith, and act in excellence. Christ told an anguished father, "All things are possible to him that believeth." I believe that.

These passages (together with one other, "Man is the he might have joy") form the foundation of my work to help people achieve worthy goals. I know that we can achieve anything that we put our minds, and the power God gave us, to do. I try to help all people set worthy goals and achieve them. I encourage them to then teach others to do the same.

I found peace this Christmas because I sought it. I sought it through the babe born in Bethlehem. He opened my eyes to see it. He put it in my heart. I hope to keep that peace by assisting others to improve their lives. I hope to keep that peace by helping thousands of others pass on the service they receive to still more.

So, with the angels of two millenia ago, I proclaim; peace on earth, goodwill to all.

No Success can Compensate...

My daughter-in-law gave birth to our 8th grandchild this week. Their daughter is named for my maternal grandmother. My grandaughter is soooo beautiful. She has red-hair, chubby cheeks, and a serene personality. Now, you may think this blog is going to be all about my grandaughter--but it won't be.

Instead I want to focus on one aspect of our careers, hopes, and dreams. Careers increased their dominance in our lives about 10 years ago. Companies demanded more time from employees. Pressures to perform intensified. Many people went from working one full-time job to 2 or 3 part-time jobs. The drive to make a million dollars by 30 pushed many to delay families, delay relationships, or to sacrifice existing families. Too many divorces have occurred because things preempted people.

A great man, David O. McKay said "No other success can compensate for failure in the home." Harold B. Lee, another great teacher, stated "The greatest good you will do in this world will be within the walls of your own home." Stephen Covey reminds us that one of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People includes maintaining a balance between work, family, personal, and the other aspects of our life. We are better at each when we maintain this balance.

My grandaughter's birth, combined with her sharing my grandmother's name, drove this point home to me. My professional contributions are very temporary. No one will remember what I blog (few people even read it). Fewer still will remember my professional accomplishments. My publications already achieved obsolete status. While some of my television appearances still play on PBS and other channels. Fashions will change, ideas will evolve, and they will also disappear.

I'm not alone. Everyone's time in the spotlight is limited. Lee Iaccoca, Jack Welsh, and the other titans of industry fade. Others take their place for a time, then they fade also. Do not misunderstand me. I recognize the need for excellence in our professional lives. I ask for balance.

Our lasting contributions will be in the people--especially family--that we strengthen and build. The more we dedicate time and attention to family, the more joy we receive back. The more pure love we share with friends and family, the more love comes back. Not the twisted temporary passion that passes for love these days. I mean the deep sacrificing love that supports, strengthens, and enlightens the lives of those we touch.

So, as you set your New Year's resolutions, set a goal to enrich the relationships in your life. To leave a lasting legacy etched as one great teacher said it "in the fleshy tablets of the heart."

Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, and a Joyful Kwanza.

Marketing Success Institute's New Community

Bryan Walden Pope, the architect of The 7 Pillars of Successful Marketing(TM) , recently unveiled his anxiously anticipated web community. You can join the community at http://www.marketingsuccessinstitute.com/.

I highly recommend you visit the site and join.

The site offers forums, blogs, collaboration, downloads, and a store. Members can create or respond to marketing forums. I saw several business owners posting proposed marketing materials and getting feedback from other members. Many members shared insights and successes to existing sales and marketing efforts. Bryan also shares streaming videos, podcasts, and full training materials through the site. An on-line store allows community members and others to purchase CD's, MP3 downloads, and other helpful materials to increase marketing success. He even has a tab labeled "Free Stuff."

Bryan offers several levels of membership. Each level adds access and opportunity.

• MSI Community provides access to the Public Forum, Public Groups, Event Info, Free Events, and Blogs--at no cost.
• MSI Insiders get a monthly audio topic, tele-classes, MSI Insider-only events, and more for just $19.95 per month.
• MSI Founder's Circle - Everything above, PLUS 1-on-1 access to Bryan Waldon Pope, our founder, along with other Founder's Circle members for $99.95 per month.
• MSI Live! - Get everything our MSI Insiders get online, PLUS a live, half-day event event each month. (Limited geographic availability) for $127 every month.

I have been a member of MSI Live for more than four years. It helped me increase my marketing effectiveness. We doubled and triple attendance at many of our events. Each year I've learned 3-4 excellent skills that more than returned my investment.

Do you want to improve your marketing? Do you want to increase sales dollars? I highly recommend you try http://www.marketingsuccessinstitute.com/.