Your leadership influence

Things are a bit confusing and complex at the moment, and as a team leader you may be feeling that things are a little out of your control, but you may have more of a grip than you think.

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Punchy, actionable insights and tips to make the life of the team leader a breeze.

[00:00:00] Pia: Things are a bit confusing and complex at the moment, and as a team leader you may be feeling that things are a little out of your control, but you may have more of a grip than you think. I'm Pia.

[00:00:12] Dan: And I'm Dan, and this is Squadify Connects. I dunno about you, but I find I have a lot of thoughts at the moment from wars and politics to the climate emergency to work priorities to social and family matters. It's endless, to be honest. It's a little overwhelming

[00:00:29] Pia: This was recognized by Steven Covey in his famous book, Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, way back in 1989, and when he introduced something called the Circle of Influence. So imagine a big circle called a circle of concern, big one, and put everything that you are concerned about in there. And then add an inner circle, which is called the Circle of influence, where you can put the subset of things that you can actually make a difference to.

[00:00:59] Dan: And this is the zone to focus on. Focusing on factors outside. This circle can lead us to stress and what's called learned helplessness, where you just feel like you can't make a difference. Whereas inside the circle of indifference, we feel empowered and we can actually do something about it.

[00:01:17] Pia: We add one last circle. This is called a circle of control, right in the middle of the two circles that you already have. These are all the things that you can directly change yourself. Here's the thing that contains only you, who you are and what you do. This could be the way you think, your habits, your mindset, your use of time, your identity.

[00:01:43] Dan: So your first experiment is to draw those three concentric circles and start to put your concerns in the right places. This can be done on paper, on a wall, with post knits or on a, on an online whiteboard. Split those big topics down. For example, you may be concerned about climate change, but what within that could you actually make a difference to and have an influence on? Put that in your circle of influence.

[00:02:08] Pia: And by doing all of this, we learn to be more conscious of what we can influence and therefore where we put our energy and our thoughts and where they're best spent. Stay in touch.