2. “SYNERGISTIC SOLUTIONS”

Ameya, my grandson, came calling on Sunday, last. He is in his primary school , and is quite a brilliant student. As is wont with granddads, I fielded my icebreaker,
“ Ameya, now that you have learnt additions, could you please give me, a quick answer of a simple sum?. One plus one ?”
“One.” pat came the reply.
I dismissed it first, as the modern mathematics they teach at schools these days. I am as enlightened about it ,as Hisenberg’s uncertainty principle.
To mask my ignorance, I asked him for a quick logical explanation of his answer.
“Elementary , Dr Watson”, was his tone. In fact, he said,
“You see the rain drop on the window-pane? Now ,watch it approach another one. Both form into a bigger, ONE..”
I was stunned by the genius in him.
Was he conveying some message?. Merging one’s individual self, into a collective team objective, for a larger goal is the key to a spectacular success? A nature’s lesson?

TEAM WORKING
Well-formed teams achieve spectacular success, when they act
monolithically.
Albert Einstein had posed a question to the young engineers, when he went visiting a college. It goes something like this:
‘While walking on a seashore you find it very difficult to walk on the dry sand, unless you have hoofs like horses, camels or donkeys. Thereafter walking towards the seawater you encounter damp sand. You walk with greater ease, as if on a normal ground. Einstein’s question,
” Give a scientific explanation for the fact, that it is easier to walk on the damp sand. No, no; don’t give the wishy washy poetic descriptions. Point out the phenomenon behind this occurrence.”
Most recalled the happening vividly, but few could offer the scientific reason ; which is “SURFACE TENSION.”
A natural bonding, which occurs between two droplets of water, holds the sand pieces together, on damp sand. When there is no dampness on the dry sand, it is slippery.

Ah! A great principle, but perhaps beyond the comprehension of my little genius, AMEYA.
In fact the two molecules of Hydrogen and one of Oxygen, just by bringing together, won’t form into water. A conducive relationship, has to be conditioned, by a process of ionization, a charge has to be created before the molecules will form into a new entity, water.

SUCCESS OF TEAMS
In human activity system too, unless a conducive, and complementary relationship is created, disparate individuals don’t bond together into great teams.
Best performing teams; achieve their goals only through a conscious process of integration. The building blocks of today’s corporate success are better performing teams, which act as a single entity. They are bound together by a common cause, a mission to perform to the best of their individual and team abilities.

WHY TEAMS.
When a single individual cannot perform a given task, one resorts to a team formation to take on the same. The total task is broken down into sub-tasks; the work is allocated depending on the specialties and capabilities of the team members. Complementary roles are
assigned ,role clarity is established. The leader ensures that the team skills are developed and the morale of the team is kept constantly high.

In some cases the team members do work independent of each other. But there has to be a leader who coordinates the activities of the members of the team after he has viewed the task, in its totality. He has to break it down to various activities, and allocate the individual tasks. The manufacture of a two- wheeler- engine, will involve making of different parts, and finally the assembly. The manufacture of constituent parts of the total assembly could be an independent activity, coordinated and monitored by the leader.

MATURE TEAMS
In some cases the work is such that it has to have a greater inter-dependence. Then aligning the jobs of the individuals to ensure that the total job is completed is a supreme need. A family is a good example of an interdependent, effective team.
The roles of the individual members of the family are interdependent and complementary. Each member of the TEAM- FAMILY has a role to play and when it is done well ,the outcome is a happy family.
Mature teams, have a built-in passion for improvement, they share common aspirations, set out an agenda, for completion of the team
task.

DIFFERENT LEVELS
Various teams operate at different levels.
There is a team working at the operating level that will concentrate on the immediate tasks on hand.
However the middle management team will concentrate on mediate goals. They will look to the future of say, next two years or so.
The highest level of management will have to envision the future and work at a conceptual level. The job involves cognition of the concepts and translating policies into action-plans. A road map has to be set for the team to operate, which is the task at the highest level.

THE NATIONAL LEVEL
There were two fishermen fishing in a rivulet on either side of her banks.
The rivulet separated two distinct ideologies, practiced during the cold- war, regime. On the eastern side of the river there was the communist regime, of East Germany and on the western banks it was the West German, a liberal capitalist regime.
Since morning the fishing was going on patiently.
The German on the eastern side of the river was not getting any fish at all. The German on the western side was getting heaps of fish, and was busy pulling the line and fixing bait on the hook continuously.
“Herr Schultz, what is the bait you have put on the hook? “ Comrade Schmitz asked.
“I am using the canned worms.” Herr Schultz.
“Me too, but I am getting no fish on the line.” Comrade replied.
Herr Schultz offered an explanation,
“ Comrade, on your side of the river, the fish are afraid to open their mouth.”
This was prior to Mikhail Gorbachov’s understanding of the problems in USSR. He embarked on two distinct policies. One glasnost, an openness; and the other perestroika, or, restructuring.
Unless openness is brought in the team operations by a restructuring, the teams will not, operate successfully, at the national level.

SYNERGY
When you have a muscle pull, like many of the cricketers have; these days; you are in acute pain.
To relieve the pain one takes a painkiller and to relax the pulled muscle a relaxant.
One expects; say, one unit of relief from the painkiller and another unit from the relaxant. Under normal circumstances, a total of two units of relief.
Right?
No, sir.
If the medicines are working “synergistically” you can expect a relief of more than two units and if they are canceling each other’s efficacy you may get zero relief.
Synergy is a word replete with meaning. A very telling one.
Syn means together, ergy stands for work .If the two disparate entities are WORKING TOGETHER; they will produce results, which are equivalent to more than the arithmetic sum of the constituents. Great ! isn’t it?
So it could be; that one plus one will be more than two. May be eleven or one hundred and eleven
The same principle holds good for synergistically working teams. You can reap benefits disproportionately higher than the efforts put in by you; to build great teams.

My little genius AMEYA, has to be TAUGHT the new mathematics, one plus one can be ONE, yes, it is a precondition to forming a performing team. But in mature teams it can be much more than TWO too.

M. S. Ranade,
Chairman & CEO
Placewell Consultants, Pune 411007mranade@vsnl.com
Published in Indian Express , on Thursday,13th March,03 Appointments supplement, Page One. as “Team Building”.