When 1+1=3 Everyone Wins

This was originally published in the December 2014 inTEgro newsletter produced by Al Watts, a veteran consultant, senior team coach and meeting facilitator who I met as a select participant in the RBC Wealth Management 2014 leadership development program. Following our work together he asked me to be his December guest columnist to share my insights about professionalism, committing to excellence, synergy and what happens when they come together.

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Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.

T.S. Eliot

I’ve heard it said that the best personal relationships happen not when 1+1=2 but when 1+1=3. When the combination of two individuals transcends the basic and becomes better than either imagined. I believe the same is true in a professional relationship between a business and its employees.

Just as in a relationship, using a checklist of requirements for suitable candidates doesn’t guarantee success. Likewise, a job description that looks good on paper may result in the wrong culture fit for an employee. Companies, industries and new techniques can be learned, skills can be honed, but it is the personality, drive and enthusiasm of both a candidate and an employer that can move the relationship from ordinary to extraordinary.

After all, doing your job does not mean just doing your job.

Stephen Covey writes that “synergy is what happens when one plus one equals ten or a hundred or even a thousand! It’s the profound result when two or more respectful human beings determine to go beyond their preconceived ideas to meet a great challenge.”

Getting through a To Do List may meet the expectations of a job but it doesn’t bring the most value to either a company or its shareholders. It is when a person is pushed or allowed to go beyond what is expected that the magic happens.

The rewritten paragraph that moves a speech from effective to quotable.

The collaboration that moves a project from accomplishing goals to achieving unexpected outcomes.

The voice of dissent that moves a discussion from logical, linear thinking to creative, lateral thinking.

I have always been a person who wonders if there might be a better way to do something that hasn’t been considered or discovered yet. When I was young, asking “why” sometimes got me into trouble with teachers or my parents. In certain circumstances, you just have to do things the established way. But, sometimes, not asking “why” can be detrimental, too. Not taking the risk or allowing risk limits the possibilities and prevents the magic.

I have had some powerful moments in my career when magic happened. Each of these projects had a different scope and different outcomes. But they had one thing in common – a leader and company that encouraged thinking beyond the expected results.

Just as often, however, I found situations when a new way of thinking wasn’t expected or supported. When doing it like it has always been done is enough. I often wonder why this happens. Is it a fear of taking a risk? Is it a feeling of having too much work or too little time to think beyond the basic? Or, is it the standard of mediocrity reinforced by a society that rewards individuals simply for making an effort rather than achieving greatness.

I don’t know the answer. But I do know that in my professional life I want 1+1 to equal 3. I want to thrive in an environment that encourages me to think beyond what is being asked of me. I want an employer who looks for someone who can offer more than the ability to place a checkmark next to a task on an ever-increasing To Do list. And, I want to have the courage and confidence to always expect more of myself.

When 1+1=3, both employers and employees win.