Sphere of Influence, Part 1

By C. Damon Hecker

© 2008

How many times have you said to yourself, “If I were in charge, I’d have the opportunity to make the right decisions for my organization?”  Or, have you thought to yourself, “If I were just empowered by the senior leaders, I could really have an impact and do what’s right for my organization.”  We’ve all thought it many, many times.  From the bottom to the top of the organization, individuals feel they do not have the authority to make decisions or to take action without explicit permission from the “seniors.”

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And, believe it or not, from my experience with a number of organizations, the higher up a person is in an organization, the less the individual feels empowered to make decisions or take action.  I gotta tell you, I find it bizarre for a senior vice president or CEO of a company to complain about not having the authority to make decisions—but I’ve seen it.  And, this is rampant in government organizations.

This decision paralysis radiates through manyorganizations.  It’s an interesting paradox—when you are lower on the totem pole, you have the willpower to make decisions but you are not empowered to do so, but when you are higher on the totem pole, you are paralyzed and are afraid to make decisions.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that senior leaders have difficulty making decisions because the stakes are too high and the impact of their decisions is too great.  Their decisions could result in the demise of the company, or in the case of the military leader, the loss of life.

The reality is that you can make decisions and take actions regardless of where you are in the organizational hierarchy by implementing a simple leadership technique called Sphere of Influence.  The concept of a Sphere of Influence is that everyone, from the bottom to the top of an organization, can make decisions within their sphere.

The goal of this series of articles is to teach you how to build your sphere.  Your goal is to build your sphere so you have the opportunity to make decisions and influence your organization!

Basics of the Sphere of Influence

A sphere consists of two areas.  First, a Sphere of Influence is an area in which you can make decisions without requesting permission.  For instance, if you are in charge of making chocolate widgets and you have been empowered by your organization, you can make decisions regarding the chocolate widget process.  Second, a Sphere of Influence is an area in which you significantly influence decision-making.  For instance, if you are the only person in an organization that understands a specific topic, say for instance residual impact of sticky bits on the conflagration of continuance, no matter where you are in the organization, your input on that topic will significantly influence decision-making.  In other words, your unique knowledge trumps anyone at any level in the organization.

For example, this type of influence isused day in and day out by the computer folks in your organization.  When asked by a senior executive about a needed capability, the computer personnel “geek out,” discussing all kind of seemingly complex issues with lots of jargon.  “Well Mr. Smith, the reason your computer is not working is because you failed to empty the bit bucket.  Because of this, your bit bucket is overflowing, causing emails to be automagically deleted.  This will continue to happen until I empty your bit bucket and reboot your machine.  Oh, and by the way, because of this issue throughout the organization, I need to double the IT budget!”  In the end, the executive gives up trying to understand the topic and empowers computer personnel to make the decisions.  Now you understand where the saying, “geeks rule the world,” comes from!

Your sphere establishes your leadership boundaries.  Within the scope of your sphere, regardless of your formal position in the organization, you are the leader and you can make decisions.  In short, within your sphere, regardless of your official delegated authority, you are empowered to get the job done!

The technique works because of something I call “the dirty little secret.”  Since it’s a secret, I’ll whisper it.  Lean a little closer so you can hear.

The vast majority of leaders don’t like to make decisions.

I’ll say it again just a little louder.

The vast majority of leaders don’t like to make decisions.

Whether it’s because they are worried about the consequences of their decisions or the organizational culture does not reward decision-making, the dirty little secret exists in just about every organization.  I call these leaders, “the scared ones.”  Your job is to expand your Sphere of Influence by stepping up to the plate and taking responsibility for your decisions.  Once you do this, the scared ones will quickly and joyfully pass as much decision-making authority as possible over to you.

As an exceptional leader, one of your many tasks is to build your sphere.  In order to build your sphere you must work with a variety of entities.  Figure 1 illustrates a Sphere of Influence with you in the middle and the organizational entities that most leaders have to work with.

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Figure 1

Note that you have a number of entities to manage in order to build your sphere.  From direct reports to coworkers to management at all levels, your goal is to continuously improve you sphere.  Also, note that organizational partners such as strategic alliance partners, trusted suppliers, joint venture partners, etc. are also a source of influence.  Finally, the community that benefits from the products and services your organization provides or has an impact on your organization can provide influence.

Figure 2 illustrates a perfect worldwhere all organizational entities are within your Sphere of Influence.  If you have a sphere like this, you most likely are a dictator running a small, third world country.  For the rest of us, we can dream!

Figure 2

Figure 3 shows a more realistic version of a sphere.  In this example, the leader has great influence over direct reports, front line management, and coworkers, and some influence over middle management, organizational partners, and senior management.  However, the leader has no influence over executive leadership or the community.

Figure 3

Good versus Evil:  One key note is that Sphere of Influence only works over the long term when used for good versus evil.  If you intend to build your sphere simply to gain power and influence for your own evil purposes, it will work in the short term.  However, in the long term you’ll end up in the unemployment line.  So, if you see this as a way to boost your own ego and build your own empire without regard for your organization, please find some other method to help you achieve your evil plan.

In Part 2 of this article, I’ll discuss the Five Sources of Influence that you’ll use to build your sphere.

If you have any questions or comments related to this article, please email comments@leadership4results.com.