Synergy: the third alternative

Covey's published term for the creative solution that emerges from genuine engagement of two different views. Not my way. Not your way. A third way that neither party brought into the conversation but both can endorse. Covey wrote a full book on this concept in 2011; the working test is that both parties say "yes, that's better than what I came in with." Most arguments stop at Win-Lose or compromise because the participants don't believe a third alternative exists; the move is to believe it does and then look for it.