THE CIRCLE OF IMPACT—A MODEL FOR LEADERS

Chapter One: Circle of Impact: Taking Personal Initiative To Ignite Change

Why Some Problems Never Get Solved

In the mid-1990s, I started my consulting practice with the aim of helping leaders strengthen their organizations, with the larger goal of strengthening their local communities. As one project after another came, a pattern began to emerge. Problems presented to me often turned out to be symptoms of more complex problems. These were not isolated incidents. The situations and the kinds of organizations were not similar. Their problems were similar. But more importantly, they were not getting resolved by the way we have all learned to solve problems. For as long as I’ve been working in organizations, the belief has been that the solution is in the problem itself. This approach failed to understand that there is always more going on than the problem itself.

The more significant pattern that I saw was that leaders’ perspectives were fragmented. They were not able to see their organizations as a whole. To put it differently, they were not able to see how the parts of their organizations fit together as an integrated whole. It wasn’t that they couldn’t see how one part influenced another. The problem was that there wasn’t a simple perspective that could be practiced by everyone in the organi­zation. Fragmented thinking produces more of the same. Here is an example of what I mean.

Communication is always an easily identified problem. It is often used as the reason why a client or a team member did not respond the way we expected them to respond. Too often it is how we understand the delivery of information to the public or what we mean when we send a survey to a group seeking their input. As one who has used surveys to gather perspective for clients, I always produced a report that could be distributed to the responders. It is an issue of respect and trust for me. It was a rare occasion when I’d receive one from a survey I’d completed. There is good reason why communication is the organizational problem at the top of my list.

If communication is a problem in your organization, what kind of problem is it? Is it poorly articulated information lacking a clear call to action? Is it a badly designed approach for getting information into the right hands so that they will pay attention to it? Is it a lack of understanding about the kind of information the recipient wants from you? Is it that the information sounds too generic, as if the leadership team is not in touch from the realities of the client? Or is the basic problem in our thinking that communication is simply the delivery of information to the marketplace?

While addressing this recurring problem with clients, the Circle of Impact developed. The issue of communication is a multidimensional one. The Circle of Impact came into existence to help people, like you and me, find a simple, practical way to address the complex situations of human communication that we daily encounter in our personal and professional lives.

The Circle of Impact is a dynamic picture of the interaction among three aspects of an organization—ideas, relationships, and structure—called the three dimensions of leadership. Typi­cally, these three areas are treated separately. We don’t even see how they interact and influence one another. At best, we see how they get in the way of the real business of the organization.

In particular, this is true regarding how the operation of the organizational structure tends to diminish the impor­tance of people in relationship with one another. In addition, ideas, like values, get marginalized as marketing words—“Your trusted provider of…”—instead of as strategic insights for developing the long-range strength and sustainability of the company. In a structure-centric environment, rather than a Circle-of-Impact-aligned one, this fragmented way of looking at an organization results in the idea that it’s just easier to treat everything, and everyone, as a functional part of the mecha­nism of the organization.

Let’s return to our communication problem example. We know that customers are not responding to our communica­tion. We send out informational brochures and emails, and post information on social media sites, trying to reach them with our message. What we don’t see is that communication is a product of these three dimensions. Instead, we see ourselves locked away in our office, with the shades drawn, doors closed, yelling our message, hoping someone will hear. When they don’t, we blame the client for not listening. To fix this problem, we need three qualities to surface into the life of the organization.

First, we need a clear reason why our communication with our customers is important. We need to be able to say what we expect the impact of our communication to be. What is it that we want them to do because of our communication with them? In this sense, the impact of communication is a change that takes place that is beneficial to both parties.

Second, we need to develop a relationship with our entire constituency—customers, employees, vendors, neighbors, and industry—so that they trust us. They need to believe that what­ever we have to say is reflective of who we are as a company and is in their best interest as a member of our constituent commu­nity. Having developed a trusting relationship with them, we then know what their expectations are for our communication with them. We’ll be communicating the kind of information they want, rather than just the information we have to distribute.

Third, we need to know the best method for communicating with them that accomplishes two goals. First, it strengthens their trust in us. Second, it lets them clearly know what kind of response that we would like them to make.

In the alignment that the Circle of Impact fosters, none of the three dimensions is more important than the other two. The three dimensions create a simple, practical way for us to work through the challenges that face us personally and in our busi­nesses. In most situations, one of the dimensions appears to have the more critical need for change. While we begin with one of the dimensions, we bring the other two dimensions into to the process to discover the solution that is always found in the alignment of the three dimensions.

Now in our communication situation, let’s identify the problem area as a customer relationship that does not produce trust. The least-effective approach to resolving this problem is to go directly to the customer and tell them that we want to increase trust between us. Instead, we go directly to our customers asking them two simple questions: What kind of information do you need from us? And how would you like us to provide it to you? The solution that builds a trusting relationship is one where we listen and respond to them, rather than expecting them to respond to us.

A Network of Ideas

As I began to piece together the image of the Circle of Impact, I began to see a deeper reality unfolding. Certain values take prominence in organizational life. Integrity, efficiency, agility, alignment, and sustainability are some that have come to guide organizational leaders. The greater the clarity and practicality of these kinds of words, the stronger an organization can become. However, if you look at those words, they primarily represent conditions of the structural dimension of an organization.

I came to realize through working with leaders and their organizations that their problems were not just organizational. Within their teams and workforce, there were philosophical differences that made creating a culture of trust more difficult. I found that when the ideas that we identify as values were treated as secondary or optional aspects of the business, it also contributed to difficulties in how people worked together. Trust in relationships is a product of clarity of not just the why of the company, but the how. It doesn’t take long talking with people from any business to discover if they are clear about the company’s values and goals. When that clarity is missing, there is reticence on the part of employees to give their best each day.

The three dimensions of leadership of the Circle of Impact each have a simple goal for their practice. For the ideas dimen­sion, it is clarity. Are people clear about the guiding values of the company? Is the company’s purpose simple and practical? Does it describe the difference the company makes that matters? Is there a clear understanding of the impact the company aims to achieve? By impact, I am speaking about the changes that make a difference that matters in the products or services that company produces, as well as how the company creates that impact in the marketplace. Finally, is there a clear sense of vision for how the whole of the company pursues the achievement of impact?

For the relationship dimension, the measure is trust. Is there a culture of respect in how people treat one another and how they are treated by the company? Trust is the product of a value culture of respect and integrity in the relational dimension. Trust is hard to build and easy to destroy. Is trust, therefore, a high priority for nourishment and sustainability?

For the structure dimension, the measure is agility, or the capacity for change within the context of constant transition. Agility is a much written about and discussed concept in busi­ness today. We, both our organizations and society on a global scale, are in the midst of a great transition. Organizations whose focus is preserving the legacy structure of their business will see change as an enemy and will not take the steps to develop their capacity for agility.

In the past, we’d take each dimension, and each of the words of our guiding ideology, and treat them separately. We’d have a values statement posted in the office. The company’s purpose would be its brand. The company’s vision would be a statement of where it wants to be in the future, and not about how we the people of the organization, working through the structure of the company, are going to achieve our goal for impact. And, lastly, over the course of two decades of consulting with organizations, I can count on one hand those who had a clear, compelling under­standing of the impact or change that they wanted to bring to their customers and society at large. The perspective was never about change, but about how the company would benefit from growth.

The world of the fragmented organization is coming to an end. Increasingly, if you can’t see how to integrate the whole of the business, then the business cannot compete. The Circle of Impact is a way of approaching the alignment of the company for impact. The other realization that I have had through this process of discovery is that you can’t start big. You must start small, and the best place to start is individually. The following story is about a man who finds out that his life, career, and the life of his family is in transition. Here’s how the Circle of Impact came to be used to help him become a person of impact.

A Career Transition Point: William’s Story

William has worked for the same large corporation his whole career, first in sales and then for the past decade in management. The company is in the process of being acquired by a foreign company. William is pretty certain that his department and his job will be absorbed into the same office overseas. However, he isn’t in a position to move his family overseas at this point in his career. For William and his family, this is a transition point in their lives. There is a moment of decision pressing in on them that will determine the course of their lives for the next decade or more.

William realizes that at his age and level of compensation, it is not easy to transfer to a new department or another company. He correctly sees himself at a transition point in his career. As he reflects on his situation with his wife and children, they decide that it is time to see what other opportunities are available to him outside the company. Does he start over in a new industry? Does start his own business? His children will reach college age over the next few years, so financial considerations are important in this time of change.

I’ve seen many variations of this scenario over the years. I find that many people can tell you what they do and how well they do it, but they have a more difficult time saying what difference their work makes. Many people in William’s situation often just jump to looking for the next job. They assume that the primary question before them is finding employment. However, like William, the more pertinent question concerns what they bring to a job. This is the moment of transition that William is in. He is confronted with a level of change that is unprecedented in his life. Before this moment, every change was logical, predict­able, and incremental. Now it feels like he is crossing a threshold into a new land with an unknown frontier.

The Circle of Impact is not just helpful for a person like William who is at a mid-career transition. It is also true for any business that recognizes that it is also at a crossroads—a transition point—requiring change. Like William, we are all in transition. The context of our lives does not stay the same each year. Many people I talk to feel the pace of change is accel­erating, and their capacity to absorb or respond to it is not adequate. Anxiety and fear of the unknown come to dominate their thinking about the future.

The Circle of Impact is a model that is not just for people and organizations going through change. It is, more importantly, how we can define our lives and the purpose of our organiza­tions as creators of change that makes a difference that matters. A lot of people talk about being change agents and changing the world. However, when we come to a transition point, this is the time to move from talking about becoming a change leader to leading the change that makes a difference that matters.

As I saw this scenario played out in people’s lives, I realized that it is insufficient just to plan our lives around what we do. We each do things every day related to work. Look at our calendars, filled with activities where we are doing things. Just doing things is not an adequate way to understand our lives, especially in a time of transition. For this reason, the principle of impact emerged in my understanding of what it means for us to live our best life. Define the impact that you want to have. Focus on it every day. Life becomes a bit simpler, as we can make choices as to what makes a difference and what doesn’t. This is the transi­tion point that William finds himself in.

Our Conversation

To apply the Circle of Impact to William’s career transition, he begins by asking, “What is the impact that I want to have?” At this point, he doesn’t know the answer. It is a question of purpose rising from the values that are important to him and his family.

William and I sit down for coffee and to discuss his situation. Our conversation goes like this:

“William, what has changed since you heard about the changes at work? How do you understand the transition point that you see yourself in the midst of right now?”

“As a family, we are choosing to see this change as an oppor­tunity, not something to approach with fear. But in saying that, this is a very new experience for me, and I recognize that this is not like any decision that I have made before. I need some guid­ance and direction on how to think about this change.”

From the perspective of the Circle of Impact at this point in the conversation, the transition point is specifically about the structure of William’s work. However, the change that William is going through has more to do with his own self-perception than it does simply with where his next job comes from.

In our conversation, William admits that he has never really thought about his purpose. He realizes that he has absorbed the company’s purpose as his own. He has been happy with the company because the company’s values and his are well aligned. William’s first step is to be able to see his life and work as some­thing separate from the company. He needs to look at his life as a whole. He needs to see himself as a whole person—body, mind, and spirit—doing things that truly matter to him. He needs to understand his desire for meaning and significance that are expressions of his best self. And, he needs to see all this within the context of providing financially for his family. This is not a simple problem, with a simple solution. It is a complex one that needs a perspective that integrates all parts of his life.

“What is the impact that you have had over the years of working for your company? What changed because of who you are and what you did?”

These are questions related to the three dimensions of lead­ership. His answers describe more of the activities he did, the projects that were successful, and the growth in sales that he had early in his time with the company.

This is an experience many people have. They function as part of an organizational system without ever knowing the difference their work makes. Knowing one’s impact is difficult to answer. It is not the same as producing results, though they are connected. It requires us to take the question to a deeper, more specific level of the Circle of Impact.

As William tells me his stories, and I follow up with more questions, he begins to see how his work made a difference. He develops a list of assets that characterize the value that he can bring to another organization. William can now say what he loved about his job, and why he was good at it. As a result, he begins to have a vision for the next chapter of his life.

Once he is clear about who he is, what his values and purpose for impact are, and the strengths that he brings to another work context, he can begin to bring the other two dimensions into the picture. William develops a short statement of what he has to offer an employer, and the impact that he wants to create. He develops a list of people whom he knows and trusts. Some he knows well, others only through friends. He goes to see each, and tells them his story, ending with this statement: “Knowing now the impact that I want to create, who do you know that you think I should know? Will you connect us together?” In this step, William is aligning his purpose of impact with people whom he trusts that can lead to another relationship within an organiza­tion where his values and strengths are assets that are needed.

For William, it now does not matter whether his next job is in a corporate office or with a small start-up business. What matters to him is being in a position to make a difference. Within a few weeks, an offer is made, he accepts, and William has success­fully made the transition from where he was to where he will be in the future.

The Circle of Impact’s Difference That Matters

Imagine having a clear sense of what you believe about yourself, being able to say with conviction, “This is who I am and what my purpose for impact is.” From this perspective, we have some­thing to offer an employer or a clear direction for the future. This is not simply a picture of our usefulness in life. It goes deeper than that. It is a picture of what motivates us to be at our best. It helps us to see ourselves functioning with impact in the social and work situations that we encounter every day. It helps us to know where we do not want to be.

For many of us, we have never thought of our lives or the work that we do in such terms. We have been led to think that we are parts of a system of production, just obediently or begrudgingly doing our job, until the whistle blows, and then we go home to do what we truly love doing. This separation of our personal life from our work life affects our perception of who we are. We don’t see ourselves as whole persons. It is the same fragmented state experienced when the three dimensions of leadership are out of alignment. We find life confusing, our relationships conflicted, and the work we do unfulfilling.

Just as we want to create alignment of the three dimensions of leadership within our organizations, we also want this for our personal lives. We desire for our lives to be whole, complete in all that we do. We sort of see it, yet don’t have the words to describe it. If we could put it to words, then we could do something about it. Until then, we are not sure how to cross over the threshold from self-doubt and fear, realizing that we are in the midst of a transition that we do not understand.

If you are at a point in your life and work where you sense a need for a change, then decide now to let reading this book become an opportunity to ask questions that can take you to a place where you find how your life matters. Do not settle just for an emotional belief that you have something to offer to the work. Instead, believe that what you have to offer matters in ways that you have never imagined. It is one thing to know why your life matters, which is your purpose for impact. It is a very different thing to know how your life matters. For when you bring the why of your life together with the how, you then can venture into those situations of transition with a confidence that you have something to offer and a way to bring change that makes a difference.

CHAPTER 1 QUESTIONS

Circle of Impact—A Model for Leaders

1.   What is the most pressing issue that you face right now? Are you at a transition point in your life and work? How would you describe this situation?

2.   Is this issue an idea problem, a relationship problem, or a structure problem? Look to the other two dimensions for resources and solutions to bring an alignment to your situation.

3.   What is the impact that you would like to have in the future? What is missing that you need to find to achieve the impact that you desire?