FranklinCovey Blog | Circle Of Influence

Becoming a Trim Tab at Work

Friday, August 28th, 2009 | From the Desk of Stephen R. Covey | 9 Comments

Imagine you are at the helm of a huge ship moving forward at high speed.  You’re the driver, you control the direction of this ship. Now, how is it possible for a single, small person to change the course of something so massive?

To change the ship’s course, you move a steering wheel that operates a rudder, which then turns the ship. But the rudder itself can be enormous, perhaps even ten stories tall on some ocean liners. So what moves the rudder?

A tiny second rudder called a trim tab, which is attached to the big rudder. › Continue reading

Tags: Boss, Circle Of Influence, Control, Creative Force, Direction, Helm, High Speed, Imagine, Improvements, Job Description, Marvels, Moving, Ocean Liners, Organization, Rudder, Small Person, Steering Wheel, Swings, Trim Tab, Trim Work, Truth, Vacuum, Wheel

Leading the 21st Century Workforce

Wednesday, June 10th, 2009 | The Leader In Me | No Comments

Have you ever wanted something to change but didn’t know how to start?  We have all been in the position of making a choice; the choice to walk away or to work within our Circle of Influence.

When Andrew Cherng, co-founder of Panda Express, read Dr. Stephen R. Covey’s, The 8^th Habit, he found something intriguing in the back of the book-a CD with video clip from A.B. Combs Elementary School in Raleigh, North Carolina. Mr. Cherng already knew, firsthand, how powerful the 7 Habits could be.  But, could children as young as kindergarten be taught the timeless principles? Andrew and Peggy Cherng decided to visit the school.

The theme at A.B. Combs is leadership. It permeates everything they do and every choice they make. They do not believe that every child will be or should be a CEO. Rather they focus on leadership principles with the 7 Habits as their foundation. › Continue reading

Tags: 7 Habits, A.B. Combs, Andrew Cherng, Career Lives, Children Of Today, Circle Of Influence, Co Founder, Doing The Right Thing, Dr Stephen, Foundation Leadership, Habit 6 Synergize, Habit 7 Sharpen The Saw, Leadership, Leadership Principles, Panda, Panda Express, Raleigh North Carolina, Self Confidence, Six Schools, Stephen Covey, Stephen R Covey, The 8th Habit, Timeless Principles, Working With Others

Facilitator Tip: Video Set-up and Debrief

Monday, June 8th, 2009 | Client Facilitation | No Comments

As a facilitator, you probably know that the program videos play a large role in the effectiveness of many of your FranklinCovey workshops. As part of the Client Facilitator Academy, we worked with our delivery consultants to come up with more ways to set-up and debrief of the videos used in your workshops.

 Here is a sample of one from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Signature Program. Mike Bechtel, one of FranklinCovey’s senior delivery consultants, has provided some great ways to use the video Circle of Influence.

Best Practice: Set-up

Before showing this video, ask participants to take notes as they watch. They’ll learn the difference between the Circle of Concern and the Circle of Influence. Then, they’ll hear the story of Ben, a worker at a university who worked his way up through the ranks simply by putting his energy into the things he could influence. Ask them to list the things that were in each of Ben’s circles.

Best Practice: Debrief

Use two flip charts to gather conclusions from the group. “What was in Ben’s Circle of Concern? What was in his Circle of Influence? How did those choices impact those around him?” Ask for volunteers to share a situation that causes concern that most of the group could identify with-traffic, financial issues, relationships, etc. Then draw two circles on a flip chart, and have the group decide what things are in each circle.

Additional Thoughts

How do we use these two circles to become more proactive? Once we’ve decided what items are in each circle, we have to make two choices:

 1. Put energy into the things that are in the Circle of Influence.

2. Don’t put energy into the things that are in the Circle of Concern.

The result? Whichever circle you put your energy in will grow. It’s that simple! Some people might feel that their Circle of Influence is just a tiny speck in the center of a huge Circle of Concern. But the principles still hold: no matter how small the circle is, that’s where we want to focus our energy. When we do, growth is inevitable and the Circle of Concern will shrink.

Click Here to access the 232 other video tip sheets.

Tags: 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People, Academy, Bechtel, Circle Of Concern, Circle Of Influence, Conclusions, Flip Chart, Flip Charts, Franklincovey, Habits Of Highly Effective People, Participants, Relationships, Signature Program, Tiny Speck, Traffic, Two Choices, Two Circles, Videos, Volunteers