Bu siness skills: b et ter me etings 1 — 21 business englisch bu sin es s e n g L is

32 
Business Spotlight
1/2021
CAREERS
Change is not a choice
Change in the workplace is inevitable. This means 
that dealing with change on an individual level is 
not a choice, but a necessity. To do this well, we need 
to reflect on our perception of change, how we inter-
act with it and how we can leverage it for good rather 
than feeling threatened by it.
In his bestselling book 
The Seven Habits of Highly
Effective People
, Stephen R. Covey reminds us that “our 
basic nature is to act, and not be acted upon”. So, we 
need to consider how we can be proactive about deal-
ing with change in a way that will advance us.
One way to overcome any potential fears of 
change and our resistance to change is to reflect on 
our concerns. They may be concerns about change in 
general. Or perhaps they are more specific concerns 
about how Covid-19 or changes in our workplace 
might affect us as individuals. 
Covey suggests that we put all our concerns into 
a “Circle of Concern”. By analysing our concerns, we 
can separate the things we can actually do something 
about from those things we have no influence over. 
We can then put the ones we 
can
act on in an inner 
circle, which Covey calls the “Circle of Influence”. 
You can use a graphic such as the one below to allo-
cate your concerns to the different areas.
Our aim should be to focus on the items in the 
Circle of Influence. This allows us to spend our time 
and energy more productively, on day-to-day activi-
ties or longer-term personal strategies.
When you are ready to accept that inaction is not 
an option and you can identify the concerns that you 
can influence, you can begin to define a plan of action 
for managing your own performance. How you act, 
behave and perform are things that are within your 
control.