Breaking down Leadership Presence
We hear this phrase so often but what does it really mean? And how much does it actually matter?
In essence, leadership presence is the ability to put others at ease and to instill confidence. It connects to mindset, ie showing up as you want to be perceived. Leadership presence matters more than we realize. The issue with defining leadership presence is “you know it when you see it”. While it is subjective and hence in the eyes of the beholder, there are a few elements that are discernible and can be cultivated. These are learned behaviors, and as such are great areas to work on with a coach.
It’s a combination of:
Being grounded; not reacting unnecessarily when things get pressured. This is also about what you say and how you say it. Its also about listening with intent.
Confidence; projecting authority without attitude. Confidence and being grounded connect to security; its hard to project either if we are insecure in ourselves. A hidden characteristic of confidence is somatic presence ie how you hold yourself and how others perceive you physically. It’s the ability to “own” the room (no matter what size you are!).
Clarity; one of the most important elements of leadership presence, this is the ability to make things clear for others. This is tied to being knowing where we want things to go ie our intention. Its also a function of speaking in simple and economic language. In my experience this a rare skill.
Approachability; people are drawn to natural leaders not pushed away from them.
These traits all strengthen leadership, as you have to work less hard to convince others to follow you. All of these attributes can be learned and practiced.
So where are you on the leadership presence scale? Unless you already have a really good coach who actually sees you in action working with others, a simple way to find out is through the power of video feedback. Take an issue that you have to work on in the next week or two where you have to convince others in a meeting (not a speech), and try taking some video of yourself speaking in a practice session for that meeting. Then analyze the video using the above criteria.
This is imperfect of course because meetings are dynamic and practice sessions aren’t, but you will for sure see things that may surprise you.
A related issue is how leadership presence ties to personal energy. How often have you heard something like “she is so dynamic”, or “he seems somewhat passive”, or “she has great energy”? Leadership presence is correlated to how others perceive your energy. So what is your energy, and how does your energy affect others around you? Like leadership presence its sometimes hard to know what your energy is because it’s a function of how others perceive you not how you perceive yourself. Also, energy is influenced by your natural disposition, including aspects like introversion and extroversion, but it too can be learned.
One of the best pieces of advice I ever had was “Smile more; it will put others at ease”. (I grew up in the UK; people don’t smile so much there, perhaps because of the weather). I tried it and it really does make a difference. If you smile more people see you as more approachable, and will be happier around you. Oh, and you will be happier too. Try it, it really works!! (I have a dog that habitually smiles at strangers and I know this to be true……).
So, how do you really know how others perceive you? Well, you can ask, but these questions are hard to answer. 360 feedback helps. It gets more difficult to answer this question fully the higher you climb in the leadership ranks as the quality of feedback loops tends to decline with seniority.
Or you can just hire a coach. Go figure!!