The CIA model: Control, Influence, Accept
The CIA model, discussed in The Critically Reflective Practitioner (2008) is a framework for navigating difficult times or situations. We use this model often in communications and leadership training. Sometimes used as a stress-management tool, the model helps bring focus and clarity on actions to take, and guides us how to minimise the impact of external events at the same time as maximising the impact of our personal power. In this post, we’ll explain the CIA model in more detail, and we’ll explore each part of the model to identify ways to implement it.
CIA Model
| Control | Influence | Accept |
|---|---|---|
| identify which elements of the situation you can directly control | identify the elements that you can’t control, but that you can perhaps influence | identify the things that you can neither control or influence, and learn to live with them |
Control
“It’s not events that upset us but rather our opinions about them.”
Epictetus
When I’m delivering training on change management or influencing skills, I start by asking participants to identify things in the situation or change process that they directly control. At first, they typically produce quite a small list, but with more thought and prompting their lists get bigger. What always strikes me is how many of the things on their lists relate to self-control rather than control of external things. In a nutshell, most external events are outside our control, but we can control how we react or feel about them and the decisions we make. So, the first lesson of the CIA model is that we control more than we think we do – if we know where to look. Here is a list of some of the things that are inside of our control:
- our emotions
- expertise/subject knowledge
- how we react to situations
- our reputation
- personal choices/decisions
- relationships with other people
- interpersonal skills
Are you making the most of the control you have over these and other things?
Influence
“It is not that we have a short life to live, but that we waste a lot of it.”
Seneca
Once we have a list of what we do and don’t control, we are ready to move on to use what we control to influence the situation. It is not productive to waste time getting frustrated over things we cannot control; rather we need to focus our energy by leveraging the things we do control to exert some influence. For example, building better relationships is a clear way to influence other people.
Who is your role model? Barrack Obama, your line manager, Batman? Role models exert powerful influence over us because we admire something in them. If you find yourself in a difficult situation, ask – what would my role model do? Thinking in this way can help us see the situation in a new way and use the resources we have to find some personal power.
See the links at the end of this post for resources to develop influencing skills.
Accept
“Begin each day by telling yourself: Today I shall be meeting with interference, ingratitude, insolence, disloyalty, ill-will, and selfishness.”
Marcus Aurelius
There are some things we cannot control or influence. In this case we just need to accept that bad things happen. But this doesn’t need to throw us off track. In fact, these kinds of things have the potential to help us grow enormously, if we can find learning opportunities in them. “What’s the worst that can happen?” is a good question to ask in order to get some perspective on the situation. Looking back at past failures and difficult situations is another great way to realise that things which seem the end of the world are seldom so.
The CIA model itself is a method of accepting what can be controlled, and what cannot, and carving out some influence in order to move forward. This doesn’t mean it’s easy to do, but it will get easier.
Endnote
You will notice that we have quoted 3 philosophers in this post. Epictetus, Seneca and Marcus Aurelius lived in the ancient world and developed a school of philosophy known as Stoicism. The basis of Stoicism is that external events are neither intrinsically good nor bad, so it is only our reaction to them that counts and that’s what we need to work on. If we had started this post describing an ancient school of philosophy, you might not have continued reading. But this 2000-year-old philosophy is the basis for much of today’s thinking and trends on self-help and dealing with adversity, from Mindfulness to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) to CIA itself.
We hope you enjoyed reading this post. If you would like to know more about our experience of working with organisations going through change, feel free to contact us.
For more information
For more tips and advice on influencing and dealing with change, see these posts:
- https://www.targettraining.eu/power-putting-shoes-influencing-people/
- https://www.targettraining.eu/dealing-with-change/
- https://www.targettraining.eu/linking-and-building-to-successfully-influence-others/
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