Circle of Control, Influence and Concern
This tool helps you generate a useful perspective on how to address the challenge of creating a better future and where to put your energy to achieve a more fulfilling result. You can create this perspective by defining three areas of life – what you can control, influence and what concerns you.
As you can see from the diagram, the ‘Circle of Concern’ represents everything that matters to us as individuals that someone else can control and is outside our influence. For example, employees may be concerned about the mood of their boss, yet can do little to influence it. But you can change the things you control, which is how you respond to your boss. It’s what you can do to make something happen as a result of your personal choices regardless of any agreement with others. But to have that choice you have to be aware of what’s happening.
It’s not just about what you do, but what you notice and interpret what you see, hear and feel. It follows that the greater your capacity for self-awareness the greater will be your capacity to have control over your Way of Being. It is important to notice that to fall into your ‘Circle of Control’ your moment-to-moment choices have to be aligned with bigger declarations that you assert about your future.
We are also social beings, making it possible to impact on other people’s ‘Circle of Concern’ through the observations of others. This is is your ‘Circle of Influence’ and is related to the quality of relationships and the quality of the conversations that happen within those relationships. It shapes our capacity to build our authority with others and gain substantive promises from them. The bigger the promises we can gain from others, the bigger the impact on our ‘Circle of Concern’.
More Tools
– Noticing what’s happening and sensing what could be hidden from you.
THE CDE MODEL
– Identifying the conditions and rules that produce different patterns of interaction
THE OAR MODEL
– Improving your observation skills to choose actions to will deliver what you care about.
THE SCARF MODEL
– Identifying the core concerns that shape your emotional responses
ONTOLOGICAL LEARNING
– Understanding how to change your Way of Being
THE PSYCHIC SYSTEM
– Knowing how to change your Way of Being to fit the prevailing context
ONTOLOGICAL BREAKDOWNS
– Dealing with disruptions in the flow of your life
THE NERVOUS SYSTEM
– How you give meaning to to your experience of internal senses and external events.
QUADRANTS OF CHANGE
– Achieving a more holistic and balanced response to complex situations.
ACTION LOGICS
– Assessing leadership behaviour and effectiveness in different contexts
THE U PROCESS
– Using your senses to improve your effectiveness now to shape your future.
SPIRAL DYNAMICS
– Explaining the growth of human capacity and values
THE HERO’S JOURNEY
– Finding a bigger purpose and passion to lead your life from.
ACTIVE LISTENING
– Knowing how to actively listen for understanding and empathy
REFRAMING
– Looking for possibilities to question and reshape perspectives.
THE OODA LOOP
– Achieving a bigger impact when working with other people
ADAPTIVE ACTION
– Examining the dynamic patterns of thought involved in decision making
THE LENS OF INQUIRY
Using the power of questions to get breakthrough results.
THE NINE PANES MODEL
– Discovering new perspecives when dealing with breakdowns in the flow of life.
THE JOHARI WINDOW
– Identifying alternatives to unseen or disruptive behaviour
THE FOUR TRUTHS
– Recognising and considering alternative perspectives in any situation
THE CIRCLE OF CONTROL, INFLUENCE & CONCERN
– Clarifying how you interpret what you see, hear and feel.
THE MIRACLE QUESTION
– In your ideal world, what do you want to be feeligs, thinking and doing?
A “BOTH/AND” PERSPECTIVE
– Dealing with paradox and ambiguity.
THE ADAPTIVE CYCLES
– Resisting breakdown and maintaining your viability for a breakthrough.
CREATING A WELL-FORMED OUTCOME
– Reducing the chance of facing unintended consequences.
WAY OF BEING
– Connecting words, emotions and body presence to be more effective.
CYNEFIN
– A sensemaking framework to help you crack different types of problems.
YOUR INNATE WISDOM
– Knowing what makes you who you are and using it to lead a more fulfilling life.