Love Leadership
Many thoughts in leadership are simple ideas. It is putting this into practice that can be challenging, writes expert Katherine Farnworth
We know we should eat our five-a-day, but we don’t always do it. Here we consider an idea adapted from Stephen Covey’s ‘be proactive’ habit, taken from the international best-seller, ‘Seven Habits of Highly Effective People’.
When you are concerned, do you think about things that are in your control or out of your control? Imagine two large circles. Write ‘in’ in one circle and ‘out’ in the other. These circles represent things that are in and out of your control. Write a list of your concerns and put them into either of the circles.
Many worry about things that are out of their control. This can be stressful and can also mean we act in a reactive way. The only thing we can control is our response to what happens. Importantly, focusing on this allows us to start being proactive.
However, does everything fall into things ‘in’ our control or things ‘out’ of our control? If we imagine the circles overlapping a third is created. This is the Circle of Influence, which is about identifying what we can do, who can help us and who we can influence. Good relationships are important for the Circle of Influence to work.
Think about a situation where you can identify someone who could help, where you could ask for help, where you could improve a relationship. Do you start to move any concerns from ‘out’ of your control into the Circle of Influence? If so, this means you can start to take control. Reactive people ignore concerns under their control, tending to say things like, ‘If I had more resources, I could…’ Proactive people focus on what they can do, saying, ‘I can be resourceful’. Their Circle of Concern decreases and the Circle of Influence, increases.
When managing others, encourage your team to develop their Circle of Influence, to take control and be proactive.
