Circle of Influence and Circle of Concern

Choose an action that can change the situation

Some years ago, I was given a strategy from above that wasn't clear enough to work from. I could have kept complaining about the lack of clarity. Instead, I wrote a strategy for my part of the business and checked it with the stakeholders around me as I went.

That gave us something concrete to discuss. I worked on the part I could affect, with the people whose decisions mattered. Afterwards, I found myself included earlier, which gave me more opportunity to contribute.

If you're waiting for clarity that hasn't arrived, I would start there. Identify the decision you can make, the proposal you can prepare or the conversation you can initiate. Then check your understanding with the people who need to be involved.

At a glance

• Your circle of concern includes everything that matters to you, and your circle of influence includes the things you can affect through your actions and relationships.
• Covey's recommendation, from Habit 1 of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, is to give your attention to what you can influence.
• Finish each discussion of a concern with something someone can do, whether that is a proposal, a request for a decision, a protective measure or a deliberate choice to monitor.

Where the circles come from

Stephen Covey introduced the Circle of Concern and Circle of Influence in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, published in 1989. They sit within Habit 1, Be Proactive.

Your circle of concern includes everything that matters to you. Your circle of influence includes the things you can affect through your actions and relationships. Covey's recommendation is to give your attention to what you can influence.

That is a useful discipline for a leader. It asks you to identify where your next action could help, even when the wider situation remains uncertain. Keep the distinction connected to a real decision so it leads somewhere practical.

Separate direct authority from influence

Some things are within your authority. You can change the agenda, clarify an instruction or decide how to use a budget you've been given. Other things require agreement from a colleague, client, board or partner.

Treat both as possible places to act. Influence can mean bringing evidence, building a proposal, asking someone to reconsider or finding others who share the concern. You may have to work through several people before a decision changes.

Be precise about what you can promise. You can commit to making a case and reporting the response. If the final decision belongs to someone else, explain that to your team while keeping responsibility for your own follow-through.

This distinction helps with delegation too. Give people enough authority for the outcomes you expect. If every meaningful choice still needs your approval, address that limit when you ask them to take ownership.

Keep important concerns under review

An issue can deserve attention even when you have little control over it. A change in regulation, customer demand or financing conditions may require preparation long before you can change the underlying situation.

Decide what you need to monitor and what would trigger action. Name the person who will watch for the change and when the team will review it. That gives the concern a defined place in your work.

For example, if demand is uncertain, decide which evidence would cause you to adjust capacity. Review that evidence at an agreed interval. Avoid reopening the whole question every time someone reads a worrying headline.

You can also prepare options. Ask what action would remain available if the situation worsened, which decision would be hard to reverse and what information you need before committing. Preparation is something you can choose even when the external event is beyond your control.

What the evidence supports

Research on locus of control offers a related perspective. Thomas Ng, Kelly Sorensen and Lillian Eby's 2006 meta-analysis found that an internal locus of control was associated with favorable work experiences and greater job motivation across the studies reviewed. Those relationships are correlational, so use the finding as background to the model and assess the effect of your own actions directly.

The practical limit is that effort and influence can meet real barriers. Authority, resources and other people's choices affect what you can accomplish. Name those constraints accurately, then decide whether the next useful move is local action, escalation or collective action.

My recommendation is to finish the discussion with something someone can do. That may be a proposal, a request for a decision, a protective measure or a deliberate choice to monitor. Make the commitment clear enough to review.

Help a team move from concern to a workable response

When a team keeps returning to a decision made elsewhere, hear the concern fully before redirecting it. Ask what consequence they expect and which part they need help with.

Then separate what has already been decided from what remains open. People may be able to influence timing, implementation, communication or the support available, even when the overall direction is settled.

Ask who needs to hear the concern. If the team has information that senior leaders have missed, help them present it clearly. Summarize the issue, its likely effect, the evidence and the decision requested.

If you are the person with authority, make that decision. Sending people back to their circle of influence while you leave a necessary choice unresolved would avoid your own responsibility.

Work through an uncertain reorganization

Here's a hypothetical example.

Your organization announces a restructuring, and your team doesn't yet know which responsibilities will move. People are worried about clients, workloads and their own roles. You have no authority to decide the final structure.

Start by gathering the questions that require an answer. Identify any immediate client commitments at risk and make sure the decision-makers understand them. Agree who will give the team updates and when you'll return with the information you have.

Within your authority, clarify the work that continues this week. Protect essential handoffs and avoid promising a future role you can't confirm. If the proposed structure creates a problem, prepare a specific alternative and take it to the person who can decide.

Some questions may remain unanswered. Keep a record and follow up at the promised time. Your contribution is to reduce avoidable uncertainty and represent the team's concerns while the wider decision is being made.

Sort the examples into the two circles

Each concern in this article has a part you can't decide and a part you can influence. This table separates them and names a step you could take this week.

Watch for the ways the model can be misused

The circles can become an excuse to dismiss an uncomfortable issue. If a colleague raises discrimination, unsafe work or a serious ethical concern, help them use the appropriate reporting and decision process. Those situations may require action beyond the immediate team.

They can also encourage you to underestimate collective influence. You might have little ability to change a policy alone and a useful opportunity to work with others who face the same problem. Check who else has relevant information or authority.

Finally, beware of choosing only the easy local action. Fixing a small inconvenience can feel productive while a necessary conversation keeps getting postponed. Ask whether your chosen action addresses the concern that actually matters.

Use the circles in your next leadership meeting

Try this

1. Choose a concern that has appeared on the agenda more than once.
2. Ask each person to identify an action that could affect it and the authority or help that action requires. These questions can guide the discussion:
   • What part of this situation can we decide ourselves?
   • Whose decision do we need to influence?
   • What evidence or proposal would help that person decide?
   • What needs monitoring while we act?
   • Which concern requires escalation or cooperation beyond this team?
3. Discuss the options, then choose the one with the clearest connection to the outcome you want.
4. Agree what you'll do if the first request is declined. That prevents the effort ending with an unanswered email or an assumed refusal.
5. Give the chosen action an owner and a date.
6. At the next meeting, review what happened, what you learned and whether the next move needs to change. Keep working from the response you've received.

Sources

• The 7 Habits: Habit 1, Be Proactive

  FranklinCovey. Undated; checked September 26, 2026.

• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

  FranklinCovey. Undated; checked September 26, 2026. Confirms the book's original publication in 1989.

• Locus of Control at Work: A Meta-Analysis

  Thomas W. H. Ng, Kelly L. Sorensen and Lillian T. Eby, Journal of Organizational Behavior, online September 22, 2006; December 2006 issue.