I developed the Circles of Influence Model (CIM) when I was working as a program manager for a non-profit that provided mentoring services to teens and adolescents. Fresh out of my PhD program, I was attempting to explain to my coworkers how our lack of consistent communication and boundaries was creating chaos inside our organization and with our clients. I developed the CIM in an attempt to help us visualize how our system currently worked, and think through how it could work better so that we could be more effective in our relationships with each other and with our clients.

Since then, I have used the CIM to help several organizations and individuals understand how their system works and highlight areas of communication failure. I developed it with a professional organization in mind, but the principles can apply to any system – professional or personal.

Watch a YouTube video where I create a CIM for a community organization.

Contact Human Systems to learn more about the CIM and how you can use it.