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:
- The scribe reads each persons goal for that month. Each person reports what they did and the results that occurred from their efforts.
- Each person is allowed 15 minutes to request help from the group on a barrier or challenge they encountered.
- 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
