“To put it simply, synergy means "two heads are better than one." (Stephen Covey, 2015) Synergize is the habit of creative cooperation. The ability to work within a team, having an open mind and finding new solutions to old problems. In my professional experience, I’ve worked as a social worker and now as a teenager. There wasn’t a lot of teamwork as a social worker. I managed my own caseload and was in charge of my own clients. As a teacher, I’ve never felt as if I was on my own. With the implementation of the Professional Learning Community (PLC) there has been much more teamwork, we all bring in all our experiences and knowledge to the table and we have been able to produce much more than we could on our own. I’ve been working with the same team for the past 3 years and I felt we were synergized and producing some awesome results for our students. This year, our team changed but the synergy remained. It took some time to get going, we’re still working out some kinks but I definitely feel the synergy and the open mindedness to work together and listen to each other's opinions.
Commitment
I Commit to surrounding myself with a diverse group of people and experiences. To have an open mind and value the differences of others. Instead of surrounding myself with a bunch of people and/or experiences that agree with me, I commit to stepping out of my comfort zone, meeting new people, experiencing new experiences, and to continuously improve.
Teaching the Habit
I plan on teaching the habit to my students through constantly switching their seating arrangements on a monthly basis, to continue working in groups and constant partner talk. I believe it’s important to constantly sit next to different classmates so they can learn to adapt and begin to develop the ability to work with people that may not look, speak, act and learn the way they do but they find a way to work as a team and succeed.
References
Steven covey, S.C. (2015). The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Habit 6: Think Win-Win. Retrieved 30 September, 2015, from https://www.stephencovey.com/7habits/7habits-habit6.php