By Catherine Thorburn, Senior Consultant
As an executive coach, one of the common requests from managers is to help increase executive presence in those they are wanting us to coach. This sounds like a great objective, but what exactly do they mean by this and how will you know if you’ve achieved it?
What is Executive Presence?
The term executive presence gets used a lot and can mean multiple things to different people. Simply put, executive presence is the ability to inspire confidence. Inspire confidence in your team so that they see you as their leader and want to follow you. Inspire confidence amongst others that you are capable of getting the job done and that you have the potential to achieve greatness. Fortune.com describes it as “the ability of the leader to engage, align, inspire, and move people to act.”
Do You Need Executive Presence?
Your executive presence determines whether you will gain access to opportunities. These opportunities depend on the confidence you inspire in the decision-makers. So yes, if you want to move forward with your career in a leadership capacity, you need to have executive presence.
Can Executive Presence be Learned?
Executive presence is in fact a skill, not a trait — which means it is something one can cultivate and build on. Executive presence may appear to come naturally to charismatic leaders such as Nelson Mandela, Richard Branson, Oprah Winfrey, Barack and Michelle Obama, and Arianna Huffington, but the truth is that developing leadership skills of any kind takes time. And while it may come more naturally for some more so than others, executive presence is a learned skill.
Building Executive Presence in Three Steps
The biggest challenge with executive presence is understanding what it means. Some of the most frustrating feedback you can receive is being told you need to strengthen your executive presence. Although it’s a skill to work on, it can be vague and frustrating as executive presence is made up of so many things. Therefore, the first thing you need is to gain an understanding of what is required and here’s how:
Step 1: Assess the Culture. Someone with executive presence must develop the ability to assess. Start by assessing the culture of the environment. What is seen as important? Who seems to stand out? Who positively commands attention? By understanding what executive presence looks like within the work culture, you can begin to practice and model the necessary behaviour.
Step 2: Assess the People. It’s important to understand what’s appropriate in the environment in which you are working. This goes for clothing and appearance, as well as communication style, personality, and approach. What might have worked in one environment, may not work in the next. Those with executive presence are good at relating to others – understanding their needs, actively listening to them, and making a connection. Pay attention to how well you connect with others. Ask yourself – when in a conversation with someone does your mind wander? Do you wait for the other person to stop talking so that you can say something? Do you tend to talk over them or are you acknowledging what they are saying with non-verbal gestures such as nodding and offering up supportive feedback? Try to stay in the moment and truly hear what someone is saying to you. This demonstrates empathy and helps to draw people towards you which is an important factor of executive presence.
Step 3: Assess Yourself. Self-awareness is another important attribute of executive presence. By knowing your strengths, skills, and challenges, you have a baseline to work from. Consider the following:
- Skills: What key skills do you have to offer? Knowing where your knowledge lies and what skills you have can help you define how you can add value to your organization.
- Appearance: How are you showing up? You want to be dressed appropriately for the work culture. Being overdressed you might come across as being stuffy and non-approachable, whereas underdressed may appear too nonchalant and casual.
- Tone: Expressing yourself by using a tone of confidence is critical for generating executive presence. Eliminate disclaimers like “this may sound like a silly question” or “I’m not sure if I should bring this up.” When you preface your opinions like this, you are suggesting to the listener you lack confidence and that what you are about to say can’t be trusted. People have a natural tendency to trust those who appear confident. You may not always have an answer but how you handle the situation is sometimes even more important than the answer itself.
Conclusion
While it may not be ideal to receive the news you lack executive presence and are being asked to strengthen this area, it is good to know that it is something that can be worked on and improved upon. The first step is to better understand what it is that is being asked of you and then begin to focus on how you relate to people, your listening capabilities, being mindful of your strengths and challenges, and working on building your confidence. By doing these things you will lend yourself to having a stronger executive presence.