Understanding the Three Circles: Control, Influence, and Concern

You're at work, facing a major crisis. Your company is going through significant restructuring, leading to job uncertainty and potential redundancies. Your email inbox is overflowing with anxious messages from colleagues, and urgent notifications keep pinging on your phone—emails, LinkedIn messages... It feels like you're caught in a whirlwind, and no matter how hard you try, you can't seem to get a grip on everything that's demanding your attention.

This scenario is all too familiar for many of us. In times like these, it's crucial to step back and assess where we should focus our energy.

This is where Stephen Covey's insights become invaluable. You might know Covey from his influential book, "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People," but his concept of the Circle of Influence Model is particularly helpful in such moments of chaos.

This concept offers a framework for understanding where we have control, where we have influence, and where we have no control at all. This framework helps us focus our efforts on areas where we can make a real difference and reduce stress associated with issues beyond our control.

Understanding the Model

The Three Circle theory uses a simple diagram with three concentric circles. The smallest circle in the middle is the Circle of Control. Around it, there’s a bigger circle called the Circle of Influence. Finally, the largest circle around all others is the Circle of Concern.

The Circle of Concern (Things that are outside of my control)

This is the outermost circle and encompasses everything that concerns us, both big and small. It includes world events, the economy, the weather, other people's actions, our health, and our future. While these things might be important to us, we have no direct control over them.

How do you evaluate it?

Key question: Is it within my control?

Examples: Global economy, company decisions, weather

Response: Acknowledge these concerns but avoid spending too much energy on them since they are beyond your control.

Consider the example of company restructuring. When a company goes through significant restructuring, it usually results in a great deal of uncertainty and changes in responsibilities. It's natural to feel uneasy about decisions made by management, potential redundancies, and new organisational structures—these are things completely out of your control.

However, instead of stressing over these uncontrollable factors, try to focus on what you can do. Be flexible and open to new opportunities within the organisation. This might be a good time to build new skills that could be relevant in the restructured company. Networking with colleagues and maintaining a positive attitude can also go a long way. You can work on your CV, LinkedIn profile, and get in touch with recruitment agencies to see what's happening in the market and prepare ??.

By being proactive and adaptable, you can navigate these changes more effectively. Who knows? You might even find a new role that better matches your strengths and career goals.

The Circle of Influence

This circle includes the areas where we can have indirect influence. We can influence things like our relationships, our workplace environment, our health choices, and the way we communicate. Stephen Covey calls it the “smaller circle.” Each action we take here can impact other areas too. With time, taking charge of yourself can make your circles bigger.

While control allows us to manage our own actions and environment, influence is about extending our reach to impact others and the situations around us.

Influence is a powerful tool in both personal and professional settings, enabling us to create positive changes and drive outcomes even when direct control isn't possible. It's about recognizing the areas where we can have an effect and leveraging our skills, communication, and relationships to make a difference.

How do you evaluate it?

Key question: If something is out of my control, can I still have an impact on it?

Description: These factors involve other people or situations you can interact with but only partially affect.

Examples: Relationships, commitments, job roles, team dynamics

Response: Concentrate on the factors you can influence most and accept the limitations of your influence on others.

As an entrepreneur, I found that while I can’t control the slowdown in the job market, I can influence how my business responded to these challenges. By maintaining open communication with my team and clients, and offering additional services such as career coaching and virtual workshops, we were able to adapt and thrive. This proactive approach not only helped us weather the storm but also strengthened our relationships and expanded our service offerings, ensuring we stayed relevant and supportive during tough times.

The Circle of Control

This is the innermost circle and represents the things we have complete control over. The Circle of Control helps you see what parts of your life you can change. It includes our thoughts, emotions, actions, behaviors, and choices. When bad events happen, such as a restructuring, these are not in our circle. But we still have the power to make good changes within this circle every day. This is the smallest circle, but it's also the one where we have the most power.

How do you evaluate it?

Key question: If I can’t control or influence it, can I accept it?

Description: These are factors outside your control that affect you but cannot be changed by you.

Examples: Weather, economy, war, legislation, virus outbreaks

Response: Accept these factors and focus on what you can control and influence.

“Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens.”Philosopher Epictetus

Acceptance is not about resignation but about focusing your efforts where they can make a difference.

Using the Model Effectively

One way to use this model effectively is to make an inventory of all the issues and topics you are currently concerned about.

• List them out
• Categorise them into the three circles
• And then follow the brief recommendations given above.

By focusing on your Circle of Control and Circle of Influence, you’ll spend your time more effectively on factors where you can actually make a difference. As a result, you'll likely feel more in control and less overwhelmed by the challenges you face.

I hope it helps! Happy Summer ??

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