Ever feel like you’re playing whack-a-mole with life’s problems? You know the game – as soon as you smack down one issue, another pops up, usually wearing a cheeky grin and demanding your attention. Welcome to the human experience! But here’s the thing: not all of those moles deserve your mallet.
Enter the “Circles of Control, Influence, and Concern” – a concept that’s less about carnival games and more about maintaining your sanity while leading others through uncertainty. Think of it as your team’s energy management system, helping you figure out where to invest your collective time and effort, and where to practice the fine art of letting go.
The Inner Circle: Your Control Center
Let’s start with the circle of control – your team’s sovereign territory where you have full authority over decisions and outcomes. It’s like being the conductor of an orchestra; you might not play every instrument, but you can certainly decide what piece to perform and set the tempo.
What falls into this circle?
- Your team’s processes and workflows
- How you communicate updates to stakeholders
- Your team’s development and training initiatives
- Daily stand-ups and team meetings
- Resource allocation within your team
- Your response to delays and setbacks
- The atmosphere you create in team meetings (even when discussing that project that’s six months behind)
Here’s the leadership food for thought: when stuck waiting for decisions from above or other teams, many leaders fall into the trap of passive waiting. Meanwhile, there’s usually a gold mine of improvements waiting in your control circle.
The Middle Ground: Your Circle of Influence
Next up is the circle of influence – the diplomatic zone where your powers of persuasion and relationship-building shine. Think of it as your sphere of “maybe we can move this forward if we play our cards right and bring cookies to the stakeholder meeting.”
This circle includes:
- Relationships with other department heads
- Priority alignment with dependent teams
- Stakeholder expectations and perceptions
- Cross-functional collaboration
- Resource negotiations
- Timeline discussions with senior leadership
- The speed of decision-making (to some extent)
Let’s talk about that last one because it’s a common pain point. Waiting for decisions from above? Instead of joining your team in the collective hand-wringing, consider:
- Preparing multiple scenarios so you can move quickly once the decision arrives
- Breaking down the work into smaller pieces that can proceed without the big decision
- Using the waiting time to upskill your team in relevant areas
- Documenting current processes to make future implementations smoother
- Building relationships with key stakeholders to improve future collaboration
The Outer Limits: Circle of Concern
Finally, we arrive at the circle of concern – the realm of “well, that’s happening” where your direct control is about as effective as a chocolate teapot. This includes:
- Corporate restructuring decisions
- Market conditions affecting your industry
- Competitor actions
- Global economic trends
- Other teams’ internal dynamics
- The fact that Project Phoenix was named before you joined and yes, it’s ironic given how often it crashes and burns
The Art of Productive Waiting (Or: How to Keep Your Team Moving Forward When Everything Seems Stuck)
Here’s a scenario every leader knows: You’re waiting on crucial information from another department, and your team is starting to resemble a group of restless teenagers waiting for concert tickets. Here’s how to apply the circles:
Circle of Control:
- Create contingency plans for different scenarios
- Use the time for team training and development
- Improve internal documentation
- Optimise current processes
- Work on technical debt
- Build team capabilities
- Update your risk register
Circle of Influence:
- Regular check-ins with key stakeholders
- Building relationships with blocking teams
- Proposing alternative solutions
- Creating compelling business cases
- Negotiating partial approvals or phased approaches
- Strategic hallway conversations (yes, those still matter)
Circle of Concern:
- The other department’s internal politics
- Senior management’s timing for decisions
- Budget freezes from corporate
Leading Through Uncertainty: A Practical Guide
When your team is stuck waiting:
- Redirect Energy to Controllables
- “While we wait for the API team, let’s optimise our test suite”
- “Let’s use this time to clear our backlog”
- “Perfect time to document those ‘it works but nobody knows why’ features”
- Maximise Influence Opportunities
- Build relationships with key stakeholders
- Prepare compelling data for decision-makers
- Create allies in other teams
- Master the art of the “friendly follow-up” (persistence without pestering)
- Keep Team Morale High
- Celebrate progress on controllable items
- Maintain transparency about the situation
- Create learning opportunities
- Maybe introduce “Waiting Wednesday” where you tackle all those “we’ll do it when we have time” tasks
The Bottom Line for Leaders
Leadership isn’t about controlling everything; it’s about knowing where your team’s energy is best spent.
Next time you find your team in a holding pattern:
- Identify what’s actually in your control
- Get creative about your influence strategies
- Accept what you can’t change (and help your team do the same)
- Keep moving forward on what you can control
After all, leadership is less about having all the answers or controlling everything – it’s more about knowing where to direct your team’s collective energy. And sometimes, the most productive thing you can do is help your team focus on what’s actually in their control while maintaining a sense of humour or realism about the rest – “we can’t control that, but here’s what we can do instead.”
