Extract from Influential Leadership: A Leader’s Guide to Getting Things Done
The impact you create and the feelings you stimulate when people meet you.
Much is made these days of Executive Presence, and with good cause – because it is a source of considerable power and influence. It is usually described vaguely as a collection of characteristics which combine to create and aura around the executive making them immediately noticeable. When they glide into the room, everyone immediately feels and responds to their presence.
When it comes to becoming powerful as a leader, it matters little what you are or how you present yourself if you do not first consider what others are expecting of someone in your role. For me, true presence is displaying all of the qualities and characteristics that will convince others that you are ideally suited to your role, and that you believe you are too. You have to look the part, sound the part and believe the part all at the same time – super-confidence which never tips over to the dark side of arrogance. If you can do that, your influence will soar within your arena.
When I say all of the characteristics, I mean all of them, or as many as you possibly can. No easy task and one made more difficult because of the diversity of roles and expectations. You may be the Director of Operations but that is just one of many roles you have to fulfil concurrently. Some will view your role as predominately management while others may see you more in terms of a leader. Others may see you as a mentor and coach while your boss may view your role as being their number two. Expectations are very different for each of these roles and each of the observers.
In practical terms you have to figure out the most important characteristics you need to display which will demonstrate your confidence to the greatest number of constituents. And herein a twofold danger lurks. You may focus on the wrong constituents or worse, you may please the minority at the expense of the overwhelming majority.
The other danger is that by focusing on the audience you miss the point. If you spend time focusing on making people believe you are confident and in the right position you will spend less time on actually becoming super-confident. If you are super-confident, that some may think otherwise probably won’t matter because your performance will win through.
If you want to create a more powerful presence, here’s what you need to do:
- Determine your primary role definition.
- Quickly summarise what your main audience might be expecting of someone who is totally competent in that role.
- Spend a good deal of time working out what it will take for you to feel totally confident.
- Develop an action plan to develop your role confidence.
- Attend to the hygiene factors – eliminate things which could detract from your confident presence. Make sure you look the part as well as sound it.
The real challenge is in number three. What exactly is confidence? In this context it is a feeling that you are in total control of your role, situation and subject area. You know from experience that whatever happens, you can handle it. Nothing and nobody can faze your confidence. The depth of your knowledge and skill is always sufficient to meet the demands of the role and probably, by some margin.
Much of this comes from robust and well-honed processes of enquiry, problem-solving and decision-making. These allow you to respond well to the unexpected and the novel. Many people I’ve coached over the years base their confidence on their technical knowledge and experience in a given area. When they are promoted to lead in a new area which requires different technical knowledge, suddenly their confidence disappears because they don’t know as much about what they are doing as they used to in their previous role. What they need to do to quickly transfer the base of their confidence to the processes. These are usually highly developed but hidden from their self-awareness.
People who are totally confident subconsciously give themselves permission to relax and be at ease. The effect of this easy confidence is almost magical. The super-confident no longer need to keep trying to prove themselves to others. They are good and they know it. They can handle anything which comes there way with ease. Nothing surprises them or disturbs their relaxed approach. That’s real presence.
Visual impact
To the side of confidence you also need to at least be aware of the effect your visual presence has on others. To many this is more of a hygiene factor in the professional world, but is nevertheless an important one. Certainly the way you dress, the way you move, and the way you look can help to complete the picture or can make presence more difficult to achieve.
Unfortunately there are few hard and fast rules. This was illustrated when one coaching client asked me what he should wear to create the right impact. Without knowing his audience it was impossible for me to say. As I helped him to explore this aspect he began to cite differences between how men dress in London compared to Switzerland. As a director, in certain places people expect you to have your initials on your shirt cuffs. In other places, that goes unnoticed, unlike the watch you are wearing. To maximise your presence you need to tune in as much as you can to others’ expectations without getting too consumed and distracted by it.
Another interesting example was a newly appointed director almost running down the corridor to meet me. We subsequently discussed the impact that could have on the perceptions of others. To many, it gives the impression that you are in a rush, not in control and struggling to keep up. Don’t saunter, but do glide when you are relaxed and confident!
Don’t get too obsessed about this and focus first on building your super-confidence which will command attention, respect and influence. Be the part then look the part, naturally.
Colin Gautrey
Provocative Coach/Mentor | Specialism: Impact and Influence
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