All too often women on the leadership track are told to work on their presence. But what does strong leadership presence actually look like? Andria shows us! ~ InPower Editors
As an executive coach, when an organization contacts me about coaching one of their senior leaders, I often hear this statement: “She needs to work on her leadership presence.” When I ask what that means the answers are usually fuzzy. “You know, her leadership presence; how she handles herself.” That’s about as good as it gets. Yet, leadership presence is more than how leaders handle themselves. It more tangible than that.
Leadership presence is often thought of as one’s ability to “command” other’s attention, for example, when interacting with others or walking into a room. Although that is a part of leadership presence, the definition that most resonates with me and my clients is by Belle Linda Halpern and Linda Lubar. They state that leadership presence is the ability to “connect authentically with others in order to motivate and inspire them to achieve a particular result.”
Based on many years of working with leaders. I’ve consistently seen three key aspects that support this definition of leadership presence. They are self-confidence, curiosity, and charisma. If you possess these, you possess strong leadership presence.
Leadership presence is self-confidence, curiosity, and charisma.
Self-confidence
Self-confidence is knowing why you are leading and having a purpose behind that leadership role. It is also being certain you are in the best leadership role to share your talents. If you’re skilled as an Engineer, it might be best for you to lead in that area instead of being a marketing leader. Knowing these things ensures you are able to exude self-confidence.
Curiosity
Being curious demonstrates a strong learning orientation. True leaders are life-long learners and always looking to better themselves and their teams. Being curious is a trait of a life-long learner. It shows you are someone who is is aware that you don’t know everything and are continuing to grow. It also demonstrates self-confidence in your ability to lead, despite the fact that you “don’t know everything” and are curious to know more.
Charisma
Charisma includes elements of self-confidence and curiosity but also includes some other things like posture and eye contact. These may seem like small nuances but they are actually huge aspects of charisma. How you actually walk into a room and hold yourself says a lot about how charismatic you are. You want to be the one who walks in the room confidently and makes eye contact while smiling warmly and firmly shaking hands with others in the room. This will demonstrate more charisma than the person who walks in and does not interact with others or make eye contact. I suggest walking into a room as if you’re hosting the event or meeting, even if you’re not. That immediately puts you in the frame of mind of leader since hosts typically are the leaders of their events. This also puts you in the frame of mind to warmly and confidently greet others, which demonstrates strong leadership presence.
Start practicing a few of these techniques and notice how others notice you, how they stop and pay attention, and how they want to find out more about you based on what they see when you enter the room. It will also draw others to you and make your ability to lead much easier. Remember, be authentic, be confident, be curious, and strong leadership presence will follow!
What are some of your techniques and practices for demonstrating strong leadership presence?
