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Promotion of conscious and consistent application and optimization of the concept of Three Basic Synergies (physical, mental, spiritual) in healthy organizations

Development of collective morale and efficiency as functions of leadership

Organizations as embodiments and mechanisms of the members' individual and collective empowerment through synergy

Repudiation of personality-centered organizational practices with 'superman'-type, superstar, 'infallible' or dictatorial leaders, on the one hand, and nominal, fans-club-type or slave-type members, on the other.

  1. Total Human Development and Harmony Through Synergism

  2. Holistic Health Care and Medicine

  3. Deep Ecology and Harmony with Nature 

  4. Sense of History and Sense of Mission

  5. Civics and Democratic Governance

  6. Culture as Community Creativity

  7. Light-Seeking and Light-Sharing Education

  8. Gender Sensitivity, Equality & Harmony

  9. Reconstructive/Restor-ative Justice

10. Associative Economics, Social Capital and Sustainable Development

11. Synergetic Leadership and Organizations

12. Appropriate/Adaptive Technology

13. Mutual Enrichment of Families and Friendships

14. Human Dignity and Human Harmony: Human Rights and Peace

15. Aesthetics Without Boundaries: 'Art from the Heart'   

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‘The Three Synergies’: Basic Points
of Attention for Organization-Builders

By Ed Aurelio C. Reyes

Prof. Reyes is one of the foremost champions in the Philippines of the serious study and conscious application of the synergism principle on various fields of human concern.  He taught synergism-oriented subjects of Applied Cosmic Anthropology, the doctoral program of Asian Social Institute (ASI) in Manila.

This article as rewritten in 1999, is based on the author's "Notes and Outlines for Discussion, Application and Evaluation" first written as part of the author's The PSE (People's Self-Empowerment) Chal-lenge, which came out in 1996 in a pilot edition with a very limited number of copies.

THE ESSENCE of organization is in its unity of purpose, of determination, of views, and, therefore, of action, where individual elements (member persons or member-organizations) synergize on the basis of, and for the enhancement of, such unities.

As my poem, Smile for Synergy, sings somewhere near its middle part and at its very end: 

Smile for teamwork and healthy organizations, the synergy of common and diverse physical, mental and spiritual capabilities for the same aims,

Smile for the synergy of all our smiles, happy and proud to be part of it all.

Good Members, Good Leaders

The magnitude of synergy in any organization depends on the magnitude of commitment and energy of most if not all of the individual members.

This is the “BASIC ELEMENTS” aspect, which per¬tains to the quality and also to the quantity of the individuals making up the organization.

Specific interrelationships are worked out for optimized synergy determined by the organizational design and by the quality of its leadership. This is the “LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT” aspect.

The following are physical illustrations for these aspects:

For “Basic Elements” aspect, a broom made out of tingting as contrasted to a “pseudo-broom” made out of bound strands of thread, or a circuit using new batteries as contrasted to one using spent-up batteries.

For the “Leadership and Management” aspect, a broom made out of tingting that are properly bound in contrast to having the same “Basic Elements” haphazardly bound, like batteries arranged in proper parallel or series circuitry contrasted to the same batteries in erroneous or open (broken) circuits.

Three Synergies as Underpinnings

The Three Synergies are:

Synergy of the Minds for policies and decisions, which covers an understanding by the members of the needs and problems being addressed by the organization and also the intellectual consideration by them of the options available for approaches and methods;

Synergy of the Hearts/Spirit, which covers the mutual reinforcement among members of their levels of conviction and determination, as well as morale; and

Synergy of the Muscles/Actions, which covers unified and coordinated actions that fulfill and enhance the full potentialities of the sum total of the capabilities of all the active members.

It should be noted that synergies in all three aspects correspond to what are generally described to be the triune facets of the full human. This implies that organizations of humans are best synergies of the full humanity of the members, where and not synergizing only the muscles of most of the members, the minds of only a handful of formal or de facto leaders who decide how to deploy the muscles of all the members, and ‘never mind the spirit.’ Such organizations survive all right but they are not as effective and powerful as they can be, and they do not really function as empowering entities for members who join in.

All of these three synergies form the essential underpinnings of organizational processes, like consensus-building and policy-making, coordination, etc.

General and specific policies, programs, plans, activities should proceed from the scientific, philosophical and organizational principle of synergism, where the total capability and actual output of a set of people working closely together is much more than the total capability or total output of the very same people if they are working separately (see “Three Synergies as Underpinnings” above). The structures (bodies, job descriptions, criteria, methods of recruitment/hiring and selection; methods of recall) should follow and not be determined ahead of these.

The Constitution or its equivalent is the supreme and fundamental policy of an organization. It is a multilateral contract among members, which creates and defines the organization, including its aims, approaches and processes.

Let Systems and Activities Determine Structures

To breathe life into the three synergies and therefore make the organization a healthy one, there ought to be certain systems similar to those of the body (like muscular, nervous, circulatory, digestive and respiratory).

Here are some of the most basic among these systems, for which broad-participatory activities are indicated as necessary:

a. System of Membership Development.

For these, the following activities or lines of work are needed:

(a-1) determination of clear criteria for members, along with a definite enumeration of duties and rights;

(a-2) development of base of recruitment;

(a-3) actual recruitment (mobilization towards filing of applications for membership, screening, acceptance, orientation and induction);

(a-4) maintenance of clear tasking for each member, according to the nature of the organization, in chapters and/or committees;

(a-5) continuing education (for consolidation and for human resources development);

(a-6) tracking of performance and behavior of members/personnel (for continuing development of their individual levels of commitment and capabilities, for transfer to higher and/or more appropriate responsibilities and tasks; and

(a-7) fostering of closer camaraderie, higher morale and commitment to the vision and mission of the organization.

b. System of policy-formulation and decision-making
For these, the following activities or lines of work are needed:

(b-1) acquisition, reporting and organized filing of external information needed for intelligent policy-formulation and decision-making;

(b-2) conduct of formal and informal consultations among the members (and external consultants) to determine what areas need to be addressed with policies/decisions, what options exist and their attached advantages and disadvantages, and what the preferences are;

(b-3) the actual process of presenting, discussing and resolving proposals for decisions and/or new policies; and

(b-4) the process of promulgation, which includes official recording and effective information dissemination.

c. System of Mobilization and Coordination for Operations
Operations are sets of activities directly flowing from the mission of the organization, as qualified by its goals and approaches that are determined for any given time. Operations and their details are mandated/determined by the decision-making processes. For every operation, the following activities or lines of work are needed:

(c-1) scheduling and monitoring of the operation’s specific activities;

(c-2) specific tasking for specific persons, aside from general taskings for all members;

(c-3) coordination (orchestration) of the operation, which includes mobilization, setting up and maintenance of a coordination center with working communication lines, and actual activation of these lines with the sending of reports and instructions;

(c-4) anticipation of and adequate provision for logistical needs (funds, food, equipment, etc.); (c-5) setting up and maintenance of capability for addressing unforeseen situations, like emergencies and necessity for changes in the plans; and

(c-6) evaluation of the plan and actual operation during and especially afterwards, to extract learnings, discover and enhance strong points, correct errors, address weaknesses, take stock of the situation as a result of the operation, and consolidate the members around a sense of accomplishment and an increased determination to advance still further along the organization’s mission.

These systems are needed by even the smallest and simplest of organization with a mission that seeks to affect more than its own membership.

Starting with consciousness of these points would help organization-builders determine, even if only along “broad strokes,” how their small and weak organization can grow to be big and strong, at a healthy pace, for the sake of its mission.

On the basis of consciousness of these systems, organization-builders can design more appropriate structures. The principle here is “form follows function.”

The common practice of immediately drawing boxes before even considering seriously what the boxes would be doing is similar to studying anatomy without understanding physiology along with it. The usual result of that kind of approach is that the structures become and remain real only as boxes, with names on them, drawn on paper.

One more word about structures, the boxes must contain clear tasks and job descriptions instead of only names of particular persons.

Types of Organizations

There are various types of organizations according to (a) goals/purposes relative to those of their members, and (b) design.

a. Types according to goals/purposes:

a-1. Those organized for synergized self-help, where main beneficiaries are the members and potential members themselves. Examples are the POs/MOs, cooperatives, unions, social clubs, etc.

a-2. Those organized for a mission to serve others, specific sectors or society as a whole, where members, if indeed there are mass members, are volunteer advocates, employees, or a combination of both. Examples are non-government institutions (NGIs, also called NGOs).

b. Types according to design:

b-1. simple/unitary organizations, with individual natural persons as members. Examples: associations, unions, teams, etc.

b-2. complex organizations, which have smaller organizations as members. Examples are alliances, federations, coalitions, networks, multilateral task forces, etc.

Name: Claim and Commitment

Exhaustive discussions have to be made regarding types and sub-types of simple and complex organizations, and nomenclature must be more in line with dictionary meanings than individual or collective personal preferences.

The name of an organization is both a claim and a promise (based on its mission, coverage and type). Therefore, misnomers, which often result from preoccupation with “beautiful” or “high-impact” acronyms or initials, should be avoided, because they tend to confuse the public or even the members and evoke false expectations.

 The Matter of Successful Meetings

Crucial Considerations for Success of Meetings are defined as talking and discussing systematically to forge a clear and strong unity towards, or on the basis of, definite decisions/resolutions, optimizing the synergy of the minds.

Meetings should be active, participatory, systematic and orderly, and producing definitive decisions/resolutions.

Every meeting should be clearly defined as to: (a) which body is meeting and what is its mandate; (b) presence of quorum or previously approved mechanisms for avoiding paralysis in the absence of quorum; (c) appropriate agenda with items logically ordered and given time allotments commensurate to their importance/urgency; (d) mechanisms for follow-up studies and discussions (sub-committees, etc.); and mechanisms for documentation, information and implementation.

For a meeting to be successful, the chairperson should perform the two main tasks of the chair, namely, (a) keeping order; and (b) leading in moving forward to greater unity.

Members should come punctually, prepared to discuss, and predisposed to respect the chair, speak only when recognized, be brief and concise and go straight to the point, and respect other members.

Rules of order in parliamentary practice are increasingly useful and necessary the bigger the body in session (and/or the complexity or breadth of agenda).

Key Elements in Healthy Organizations

There are five key elements needed to make an organization work as an effective and healthy entity:

1) membership, of which at least one-half is active (united, committed, dependable);

2) able and unified leadership (unifying, inspiring, principled, far-seeing, active, educating);

3) energetic workforce available for committee work;

4) physical base (for communications, meetings, files); and

5) hired personnel (minimum of two—full-time clerical secretary; messenger)

Crucial Officers

Consolidation/Coordination Officers (secretaries-general, executive directors, etc.) are crucial in the overall internal strength or weakness of their organizations. To be such an executive officer, one must have:
 

a) full dedication to the organization and its aims;

(b) organized thinking and style of work;

(c) mastery of policies and prescribed processes within the organization, coupled with responsible flexibility;

(d) respect accorded by the formal and natural leaders and by the general membership; and

(e) capability to target and train assist ants/successors.
 

Conclusion

These are but some of the basic points we should grasp firmly and apply creatively if we are to succeed in building and strengthening our organizations.

Step-by-step organizing guides that stress only on the HOWs are not good enough for building healthy organizations.

Unhealthy organizations are impotent in the long run if not immediately.

Worse, they may just become instruments of external control and give the members a negative experience in organizational life.

Only a conscious effort to fully apply the principle of synergism can result in organizations that are internally healthy and powerful and effective and empowering.

Of course, we are talking of human organizations. Gears and cogs in an efficiently functioning machine do their work according to the will of the machine-maker, not according to their own will, for they have no capability for choice and will.

Ditto for a platoon of robots or robotized humans, who are not even encouraged to make their own decisions and instead wait only for orders.

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