Learn how to develop your leadership presence by adopting some simple changes that create trust and respect.
What is leadership presence?
It is one of these phrases that people talk about, and I hear it being used frequently when I am meeting a new coachee for the first time. In years gone by, a manager would often say that someone needed more gravitas.
I love this definition by LHH that we use in our Elevating Women in Leadership programmes:
“Creating impactful moments and experiences to quickly gain and sustain credibility, influence, and trust in the eyes of others.“
Why is it important?
Think about leaders that you admire – typically you respect them, would like to emulate them and would follow them if you were in their team.
No doubt they will have leadership presence – you will see something in them that creates trust and respect.
How do you develop leadership presence?
Whilst some people seem to naturally have presence, it is something that many are looking to develop, and the recipe seems elusive. Thankfully, we can identify the recipe although, sadly, there are several ingredients.
Presence is what people see and experience in you and let’s start with the basic ingredients of the recipe:
- Know who you are – your personal brand
- Know what you want to say and say it succinctly, clearly and decisively
- Sound confident and interesting – use your voice to add interest
- Take an interest in others – listen
- Pay attention to your body language and appearance
- Be consistent in what you say and do
Going back to the leaders that you admire, observe them to see how they combine these ingredients to create a sumptuous feast of leadership presence.
As you can see from this, it is the simple things that make a difference. What simple ingredient will you focus on to take your leadership presence to the next level?