Growing Your “Circle of Influence”

Years ago, I was introduced to the concept of “Circle of Influence” while studying The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey. Covey held that we all have a “Circle of Influence” in our personal and professional roles. This “Circle of Influence” is made up of the people we influence based upon their level of trust in our knowledge, experience, skill, trustworthiness, likeability, etc. Furthermore, our “Circle of Influence” applies to the “things” or “outcomes” we can influence based upon the work that we do and our actions.

Covey also described what he termed our “Circle of Concern”. This pertains to the people and things we have little or no influence over, such as the weather, the economy, various high-level executive/management decisions that are made in our respective companies. Covey asserted that most people waste inordinate amounts of time and energy on their “Circle of Concern”, those things they have little or no control over. This just increases their level of frustration, anxiety, and stress while failing to advance their own personal or professional objectives.

Here are a few tips for growing your “Circle of Influence” in your personal and professional roles:

1.????? Focus on earning the trust of those around you. Note the word “earning”. Trust comes from proving time after time that you can be trusted to do the right thing, even when not in your own personal self-interest. It means you will honor confidences with your loved ones, friends, and co-workers. It means you can be counted on to keep your commitments and get your job done. The more that those around you can trust you, the more likely they will be to be influenced by you.

?2.????? Have their back! Nothing will go further to growing your “Circle of Influence” than for those around you to have confidence that you will be there for them in their times of need. This may be a sibling who needs to lean on you. It may be a co-worker who needs you to back them up. It may mean a boss who needs you to support an unpopular decision.

?3.????? Outwork those around you. You may not be the smartest or most highly educated. You may not be the most skilled. You may not be the most socially gifted. But you CAN be the hardest worker and most dependable. Those character traits will cause those around you to respect you and more importantly to care about your views and perspective.

?4.????? Always do more than what you are paid to do. Do your job…and then some. Doing more than that for which you are paid is a tried-and-true method of growing your “Circle of Influence”. Over time, those you report to (and those they report to) will take notice and give you more important assignments and reward you for your growing impact and influence.

I have had the privilege of working with literally thousands of co-workers throughout the health club and country club industries over more than 30 years, from frontline teammates to the wealthiest of club owners. I repeatedly observed certain employees and leaders in each organization who stood out for how others responded more favorably to their perspectives and recommendations. In each of these cases, Covey’s assertion about the concept of “Circle of Influence” was evident. Through their consistent judgment, behavior, and trustworthiness, they earned deep levels of trust that translated into others choosing to follow their lead and support their recommendations and decisions.

This concept applies to every employee at every level of every organization. One final note, you must be trustworthy in all your relationships with others. You cannot be duplicitous by being trustworthy for the boss, but not for your direct reports. You cannot be duplicitous by “appearing” to be trustworthy at work while being untrustworthy in your personal relationships. Those who believe they can behave in a duplicitous manner in their interpersonal relationships are only fooling themselves.

For more information like this, I encourage you to read:

“Caring (The Sequel): Valuable Insights into Club and Hospitality Management”

https://www.amazon.com/Caring-Sequel-Effective-Hospitality-Management-ebook/dp/B09GW8TG7Y/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=1N4A3&content-id=amzn1.sym.22f5776b-4878-4918-9222-7bb79ff649f4&pf_rd_p=22f5776b-4878-4918-9222-7bb79ff649f4&pf_rd_r=141-5250446-0677118&pd_rd_wg=07z0p&pd_rd_r=901f3921-34de-4eae-81b0-8d7fa2abaff6&ref_=aufs_ap_sc_dsk