Reva was recently promoted to a new leadership position which came with the responsibility of managing 12 people who came from different organizations, varying degrees of capabilities and outlooks, and differing levels of motivation to work with her as their lead. Her looming concern was the reluctance, indifference, or worse, hostility she faced from them.
Staying focused on the concern, agonizing and having sleepless nights over it was doing her no good. She wanted to prove her worth and her leadership capability. She wanted to start with a fresh outlook, instead, she was exhausted with low motivation even before she got started. This did not bode well for her.
Reva wanted to ensure her direct reports worked as a cohesive team. The reality was that she inherited employees who worked in silos, and some were individual contributors brilliant at what they did in their respective areas of expertise. She felt overwhelmed and stuck. She felt rising anxiety, with the danger of drifting into inaction.
She decided to pull herself by the bootstraps and to rearrange her line of vision. She started by identifying what was within her circle of concern. The team continued to work in silent isolation, without sharing information or collaborating. The lack of communication was deafening. Each felt protective of his/her department and refused to acknowledge or share with the others. This had the potential to lead to duplication and wasted efficiency. She then shifted her gaze.
She refocused on those tasks that were within her circle of control. The immediate to-do-list that she needed to handle on a daily basis became her singular priority and laser focus. She began to feel in charge of her responsibilities. She excelled in her technical and leadership skills. As she regained and maintained her control, she felt motivated and renewed with vigor.
Next, she made the conscious choice to create her own circle of influence. Her affect brightened up as she began to plan ways to engage her direct reports in team building exercises, sharing their personal stories of how they arrived at their current posts. She illuminated the strengths they brought to their roles. She cultivated psychological safety. They became willing to take risks and watch each other’s back. Team cohesion slowly gained momentum and before she knew it, they were humming like a well-oiled machine. Optimism was flying high.
STEPS:
Identify the topics of concern. Then step away. Release anxiety. Defocus and shift your focus from your circle of concern.
Take charge of the situation by doing the tasks you are able to execute. Regain self-confidence and self-agency. Refocus on your circle of control.
Take one topic at a time from your circle of concern and bring it into the middle circle to see if you can make a difference. Develop self-efficacy and forward-thinking, igniting innovation and creativity. Focus on your circle of influence.
Create your own sphere of influence, be it in life or at work. Focus on what/who you can impact, change, inspire. The circle can expand and contract from time to time. It is constantly morphing. It is not static. Your energy, attention, and choices will determine its size. You are able to change your efforts. You may or may not get the desired results. Consider it a gray area in which you selectively invest time and energy. Be invested in the process, not the outcome.
Take a dive into the water, you may or may not catch a fish. But you have definitely made an impact on the stillness of the water. You have disturbed the status quo. You have created movement: ripples that only expand outwards.