Synergize

Covey's Habit 6: Creative cooperation that produces outcomes greater than the sum of individual contributions. 1+1=3 — leveraging differences to create new solutions that neither party could reach alone.

Why this habit matters

  • Creativity: Synergistic teams consistently produce solutions that individual members rate as better than anything they would have generated alone. Psychological safety — the core synergy condition — is the #1 predictor of team innovation (Google's Project Aristotle).
  • Relational: Synergistic relationships — characterized by trust, open communication, and valuing difference — show 60% lower conflict rates and significantly higher reported relationship satisfaction in both personal and professional contexts.
  • Output: Diverse teams applying synergistic principles outperform homogeneous teams by 35% in problem-solving and 25% in decision quality (McKinsey Diversity Wins research) — when difference is leveraged, not minimized.

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