October 09, 2025
Early in my career, I’d get frustrated when projects stalled because of things “outside my control.”
A stakeholder wouldn’t prioritize our requirements. Another team’s timeline slipped. Budget decisions happened three levels above me.
I was treating project management like a binary: either I controlled something, or I was powerless.
That’s not how influence actually works.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝘇𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗹𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲:
→ 𝗗𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹: Your team’s execution, your own priorities, technical decisions within your scope. This is where you set standards and drive outcomes.
→ 𝗜𝗻𝗳𝗹𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲: Stakeholder priorities, cross-team dependencies, resource allocation. You can’t force outcomes here, but you can shape them through relationships and strategic framing.
→ 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿𝗻: Market conditions, executive strategy, company-wide decisions.
You need awareness here, but spinning your wheels trying to change these things drains energy from where you can actually make a difference.
The insight that changed my approach: most project success happens in the influence zone.
When I stopped trying to control stakeholder timelines and instead focused on understanding their constraints, I could frame our project as solving their problem. That’s influence.
When dependencies with other teams became blockers, I stopped escalating and started asking “what would make this easier for your team?” Often, a small adjustment on our side unlocked everything. That’s influence.
When budget discussions happened above my level, I made sure my manager had clear data on ROI and risk, framed in terms of their goals. That’s influence.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗳𝘁:
For your current project, list everything that feels like a blocker. Then honestly categorize each one:
→ What do you actually control?
→ What can you influence?
→ What’s in the concern zone?
Stop spending energy in the concern zone. Double down on the influence zone. The most effective project leaders I’ve worked with don’t have more authority than anyone else. They’re just exceptionally skilled at understanding what motivates each stakeholder and connecting those motivations to project success.
That’s the power of operating in your sphere of influence.
Where do you find yourself spending most of your energy? In your control zone, influence zone, or spinning your wheels on things you can only be concerned about?
