Synergy at the Symphony

I had the opportunity to attend the Tulsa Symphony last Saturday evening with my son Jonah as a part of his instruction at Barthelmes Music Conservatory. It was a great night of music from the Symphony and also from a young Chinese pianist named Jie Yuan.

They started out playing some selections from Smetana, then Rochmaninoff and finally, Korsakov. It really was great…and I’m not just saying that to sound cultured!

Great music causes your mind to begin to expand. Actually, as you listen your brain subtly shifts from the logical left side to the more wide-open anything goes right side of your brain. You begin to dream. You begin to notice things that maybe you never noticed or think thoughts you’ve never thought.

As I listened in the dark with about a thousand other cultured souls last Sunday night I began to notice the symphony itself. There were almost a hundred people on stage dressed in black, playing their hearts out—each an expert musician in their own right.

But as good as they were…they had committed themselves to the music and to each other. It was not a night for improvisation. There was no place for individualism. I began to think what would happen if the violinist suddenly thought that the movement would sound better if she played in a different octave. Or the bassist, with a sudden desire for jazz began a deep riff during a momentary lull in Rochmaninoff.

It sounds ridiculous to consider—every player ignoring the conductor and the sheet music in front of them and playing what they think best without a thought of what’s taking place right next to them. But this happens every day of our lives…where we work, where we play and even where we live.

The definition of synergy is: the working together of two or more things, people, or organizations, especially when the result is greater than the sum of their individual effects or capabilities.

The symphony had synergy last Sunday night. And synergy is what many of our places of work, and play and even our families are missing everyday. Synergy means that we’re greater together than we’d be alone.

I used to work at a place with many great individuals. But because of a lack of effective leadership, we rarely achieved synergy…even though it was often talked about. There was no one to get everyone on the same page and LEAD! The result was a herky-jerky starting and stopping. We’d start projects (usually on different pages with different end-goals) but rarely finish. It was hard to gain any momentum and even tougher to accomplish much or see anything through to the end.

Working together doesn’t just happen. If it did…we’d all sound like the symphony every time we got together. Synergy takes commitment. Synergy takes patience. Synergy takes vision. Each of us need to take a hard look at the folks God has placed in our lives and find out how we can make beautiful music together.

You’ve got an instrument to play and so do I. I don’t have to be good at your instrument and you don’t have to be good at mine. But we do have to recognize the individual gifts and talents we each have and give each other plenty of room to operate. Now…let’s play!