Here’s a quick exercise for you.  List out all the members on your team.  Then, ask yourself if each person is with your team or against your team.  Don’t spend much time as you already know the answer.  Don’t try to talk yourself out of putting a person on the “against your team” list.  Then, if your list includes anyone that you think is not a fully contributing member of your team then it is time to talk to the rest of your team or leadership to determine if the non-team member should go. 

Yes, go.  Again, you are either with us or against us.  Your team could have a counseling session with the person and give the individual a second chance.  In my experience, if you need to give a teammate a second chance, you probably shouldn’t.  If the individual has not bought into the goals of the team and other team members, he/she probably never will.  Dump the person now and find someone else who truly wants to be a member of your team. 

You and your teammate’s job is to achieve the goals of the team.  End of story.  Get the best, most committed people on your team and truly achieve your team goals!

“Don’t give me the guy who’s supposed to be all-world and you’ve got to try to talk him into something.  Give me the guy who has maybe just enough talent to be on the field but thinks he’s great, and who’s willing to do whatever he can do to contribute, to make his team better.”  Mike Singletary, San Francisco 49ers Coach

“The fear of failure is the engine that has driven me throughout my entire life.”  Jerry Rice, the Greatest NFL Player Ever, Hall of Fame Induction 2010

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.”

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.

“Gratitude creates the most wonderful feeling. It can resolve disputes. It can strengthen friendships. And it makes us better men and women.”  Gordon B. Hinckley

“When you have them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow.”  Vietnam veterans’ proverb

“When you can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel, the only light you have is the light you create.”  Chip Conley

“The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can’t find them, make them.”  George Bernard Shaw

“The happiest people don’t necessarily have the best of everything.  They just make the best of everything.”

“Any man who starts thinking he is indispensable will start staying away from the fighting at the front.  He will spend more time in the rear echelons thinking he is too important to risk going where the shells are falling and men are being killed.  This man is a coward twice over.  He is afraid of himself and of the enemy.  In war every man is expendable.”  General George S. Patton

“If you’re not enjoying your work, you should either change your attitude or change your job.”  Leo Tolstoy

“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.”  Ralph Waldo Emerson

“We must have a superiority complex.  Always attack.  Never surrender.”  General George S. Patton

“The bright attitude is the right attitude.  It is a source of empowerment that can move everyone in the right direction.

“When they run you out of town, make it look like you’re leading the parade.”  Bill Battle

“You are not beaten until you admit it.  Hence don’t.”  General George S. Patton

The Stockdale Paradox: Retain faith that you will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties AND at the same time you must confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.

“Take what you do seriously but yourself lightly.”  Ken Blanchard

“If you really want to do something, you’ll find a way; if you don’t, you’ll find an excuse.”

“Audacity,audacity, always audacity!”  Frederick the Great and General George S. Patton’s favorite quote

“It’s surprising how much you can accomplish if you don’t care who gets the credit.”  Abraham Lincoln

“The last of man’s freedom is his ability to choose his attitude in a given set of circumstances.”  Victor Frankl

“If you’re bored with life—if you don’t get up every morning with a burning desire to do things—you don’t have enough goals.”  Lou Holtz

“If your ship doesn’t come in, swim out to get it!”  Jonathan Winters

“People with humility don’t think less of themselves, they just think of themselves less.”  Ken Blanchard and Norman Vincent Peale

“Work should be more fun than fun.”

“Nothing is work unless you’d rather be doing something else.”  George Halas

“The ‘fog of war’ works both ways.  The enemy is as much in the dark as you are.  Be bold!!!!!”  General George S. Patton

“Happiness is being able to lay your head on the pillow at night and sleep.”  Herschel Walker

“Confidence is contagious.  So is the lack of confidence.”  Vince Lombardi

“The greatest discovery of any generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitude.”  William James

“Morale is something you don’t put on like an overcoat.  You build on it, day by day.”  Fielding Yost

“Things not worth doing are not worth doing well.”  Ken Blanchard

“The currents that determine our dreams and shape our lives flow from the attitudes we nurture every day.”

“Confidence comes from hours and days and weeks and years of constant work and dedication.”  Roger Staubach

“Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow.”

If you have a humorous leadership joke, story, or quip you think will help leaders learn about leadership, please email humor@leadership4results.com.

Lawrence Livermore Laboratories has discovered the heaviest element yet known to science.  The new element, Governmentium (Gv), has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312.

These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons.Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert; however, it can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact.  A tiny amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that would normally take less than a second, to take from four days to four years to complete.

Governmentium has a normal half-life of 2- 6 years; it does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places. In fact,Governmentium’s mass will actually increase over time, since each  reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes.

This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentiumis formed whenever morons reach a critical concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as critical morass.

When catalyzed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium, an element that radiates just as much energy as Governmentium since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons.

May God help us survive this growing mass before it becomes a giant hole that sucks us all in!

C.