Habit 6 of [[The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People]]

# Summary

Synergy means the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. When people with different views work together openly, they can create solutions that none of them would have reached alone. Covey calls this the highest expression of the other habits: it grows out of a win-win attitude (Habit 4) and empathic listening (Habit 5).

# Key ideas

- **Valuing differences**: Differences in view, experience and strength are the raw material of synergy. If two people hold the same opinion, one of them adds nothing.
- **The third alternative**: Not my way or your way, but a better way that both sides create together. It differs from compromise, where each side gives something up.
- **Levels of communication**:
  - *Defensive* (low trust): win-lose or lose-win, protective and legalistic.
  - *Respectful* (medium trust): polite compromise, where 1 + 1 = 1.5.
  - *Synergistic* (high trust): creative cooperation, where 1 + 1 = 3 or more.
- **Trust and openness**: Synergy needs enough trust for people to share unfinished ideas and risk being wrong.
- **Force field analysis**: In any situation, driving forces push for change and restraining forces hold it back. Pushing harder raises tension. Synergy works on the restraining forces by involving the people behind them.
- **Synergy within yourself**: Using both analytical and intuitive thinking, as Habits 1 to 3 encourage.

# In practice

- Seek out someone who sees a problem differently and ask them to explain their view.
- When a discussion heads towards compromise, ask "Can we find something better than what either of us proposed?"
- List the people whose strengths differ most from yours and consider where you could work together.