Tim, a government executive, was preoccupied with the negative attitude that seemed to be undercutting the productivity of one of his work groups. Tim was typically cynical about advice from management gurus and “how-to” management books. But as he walked to meet his friend, Jane, for lunch he admitted to himself that he could use some help in his struggle to turn the group around.

Soon after greeting Tim at their table, Jane received an emergency phone call. She excused herself and headed to the restaurant's patio, explaining that the call was vital and would take about 10 minutes of her time. As she left, Jane handed Tim a copy of the book, How Full is Your Bucket. You might enjoy looking at this, she said.

Tim opened the little book at random and soon was engrossed. As he read about five strategies for increasing positive emotions, he suddenly felt sure that he had the keys to improve his group's morale and performance. Soon after the lunch, he bought copies of the book for all his team members, and he went on to lead them to achievements that exceeded everyone's expectations.

Tim acknowledged to himself that he needed guidance and immediately, by coincidence, a friend handed him a book that could help him. Psychologist Carl Jung coined the term “synchronicity” to describe the kind of meaningful coincidence that Tim experienced.

As Jung used the word, “synchronicity” involves situations where events occur simultaneously, without apparent causation, but with significant impact for a person involved. Jung said that, when synchronistic coincidences pile up without obvious causation, participants might feel that some kind of guiding principle or unseen helper is at work.

More recently, leadership experts have used “synchronicity” to describe a state where everything seems to fall into place, and a leader has a sensation of being assisted by unseen hands. MIT management expert Peter Senge has described synchronicity in this way:

“A flow of meaning begins to operate around us, as if we were part of a larger conversation...We start to notice that things suddenly are just attracted to us in ways that are very puzzling. A structure of underlying causes, a set of forces, begins to operate, as if we were surrounded by a magnetic field...”

Experts in far-ranging fields have tried to describe synchronicity, but nobody has come up with a simple formula for achieving it. It seems that we are unable to take a direct path to the wonderful feeling of flow and gratifying sense that everything is falling into place. We can, however, employ these strategies to create an environment where synchronicity might occur: