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Habit 6: Synergy
Habit 6: Synergy
Content
All the other Habits are preparation for the “miracle” of Synergy where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. For example:
A great building = more than a pile of bricks + planks + pipes
A book = more than a bunch of words + sheets of paper
P2CYW = more than the staff + participants + a building in Hof
In other words, synergy is about creativity.
How can we recognise Synergy?
✓ It can be scary. Creativity means you: take risks, don’t know where the process will lead, step out of comfort zones, trust in yourself, others and the creative process itself.
✓ You can see it everywhere in nature. (tiny seeds grow into massive plants) ✓ It values and builds on differences. Male + Female = Child
✓ It builds on strengths to overcome weakness
✓ When you experience it 1st hand it is massively rewarding.
✓ It develops your potential and therefore your effectiveness.
✓ Synergy is unique. It comes from people working together in a certain way in a certain context. This is hard to duplicate or repeat.
✓ Once you get a taste for it, Synergy changes you and your work for the better.
How do we recognise what is not Synergy?
❖ Anything that limits freedom and creativity: rules, regulations, Snooper’s Charters.
❖ Anything that is defensive or protective of vested interests.
❖ Anything that says that we shouldn’t/can’t trust others or life.
If Synergy is so good, how come there isn’t more of it about?
• Not everyone is ready for it. It builds on the other 6 Habits.
• Not everyone wants it. It can be scary, and by entering into it there is a risk that it might not work. (Anyone who has had a broken heart or been let down by a friend might hesitate to go into another relationship or friendship.)
• Most people for most of the time get “scripted” against Synergy. It is more common/easier/more profitable/more politically acceptable say that “Blackburn is the most segregated town in the Universe” than to report on “Bridging Blackburn”.
• Synergy is rare and becomes rarer (and therefore much more important) when times are economically tough, politically restrictive, when people are encouraged to be fearful and distrustful and when walls are more important than bridges.
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The person who owns this badge…
- ...understands that true collaboration creates results greater than individual efforts.
- …has learned to value diversity and use differences as a source of creativity and strength.
- …understands that powerful outcomes emerge when people feel safe, respected, and free to express themselves.
The holder of this badge has worked independently at creating syerngies. In collaboration with a group of international youthwork colleagues, the holder has worked at the sociocultural context of this competence during the international training course "Pathways to creative youthwork".
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Tasks
Task no.1
Evidence verified by: აქტივობის ერთი ორგანიზატორი
Reflect on today’s learnings. What are you taking with you? What was new? Did you have an eye opening moment?
Task no.2
Evidence verified by: აქტივობის ერთი ორგანიზატორი
How can you use your learnings in your work with young people?
Organisers
Beasily
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Pathways to Creative Youthwork
BeasilyCreated on Youth Work Pathways
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