Synergia™

internet tools supporting organizational development

The concept of management by objective is only 50 years old. When it was invented it seemed that organizations were precise tools used to achieve logically arranged targets set in advance. If that had been the case, success would only have required formulation and allocation of those objectives, and involvement of people in those objectives in the appropriate way, and then observation of how they managed in achieving them. But in the 1990s the originator of the idea of management by objective himself, Peter Drucker, observed that "management by objective works if the objectives are known, and in 90% of cases you don’t know them”.

How is it possible that an organization's managers do not know its goals, and despite this they manage to work for it on a daily basis? Are organizations really tools used to achieve goals? Maybe they bear more of a resemblance to living organisms? Their goals are variable and fluid, so that they can be formed, changed and rejected, and new ones can be formed, with flexibility. Choose those that best serve the organism’s fundamental needs at a given moment and in given circumstances: firstly survival, secondly ensuring safety, and thirdly expansion. If so, stiff plans of objectives, sub-objectives and sub-sub-objectives precisely arranged in a hierarchy should be forgotten, and instead we should focus on introducing communication channels in the organization allowing fast and flexible reaction to change. It is worth teaching it constant internal strategic dialogue.

Methodology for the Synergia strategic dialogue

The aim of activities of a consultant facilitating strategic dialogue in an organization is to introduce channels of communication enabling flow of strategic information between all of the people making up a given organization. Strategic dialogue as an alternative to a management by objective (MBO) system does not stand in the way of the classic assumptions. For this reason it can be conducted to enhance or audit the existing MBO system, as well as prior to implementation of the MBO system. Strategic dialogue can also serve as a tool for redefining the strategy for action and to determine the risk connected with individual projects (understood as the objectives) in an organization managed according to projects.

The Synergia internet tool

With the methodology provided by Advisio for conducting strategic dialogue comes the exceptionally user-friendly internet tool Synergia. This is a set of internet questionnaires and reports making it easier for organizational development consultants to moderate strategic dialogue in organizations. Synergia allows you to lead a Client’s firm through the process of internal strategic dialogue relating to the rank and importance of particular strategic objectives in the organization. By distributing questionnaires online to key personnel in the dialogue you enable the organization to obtain up-to-date knowledge as to which objectives are mutually supportive, which require the highest input of personnel, and which are the most problematic and need to be considered again. The result of this process will be a new strategy plan which gives managers and Boards priceless information regarding the level of human potential involvement in realization of the organization's goals.

Use of the Synergia methodology and tool

Only certified organizational development consultants have access to the Synergia methodology and tool. If you interested in conducting strategic dialogue in the organization you run, you are welcome to do business with a selected consultancy and training firm licensed to use the Synergia tool. If you are a consultant, you can obtain access to the Synergia tool by taking part in one of Advisio’s certification programs.