#2: Control and Influence
We all get caught up in the daily routine of our roles but time spent focussing on things we have no control over is not good use of time and will not improve your team’s performance.
The circle of control – Stephen Covey
A thought provoking model highlighting those things that you spend your time on that you have little or no control over (salary levels, holiday allocation) and those that you can influence (relationships within the team, team morale,
development of direct reports).
One of the top ten drivers of recent studies undertaken relating to job satisfaction highlight the importance of employee engagement with their line manager.
An area you have complete influence over but are you paying enough attention to it?
THINK
- Where do you spend most of your time on a daily basis?Is it on wrangling over areas you have little or no control over such as pay/reward issues or discussing the drawbacks of an impending IT installation?
- When you’ve analysed this what areas do you think you CAN influence that you could spend more of your time on? (think about your John Adair model - learning byte #1)
- If you find it difficult to not get drawn into the areas you have little control over what could you STOP/START/CONTINUE doing that may help? Who could you speak to or get some coaching from? How might you get started?
Learning Bytes