What is Leadership Presence?

In any given group, both followers and leaders emerge. There are some that seem to naturally gravitate to the top, while others need to put in a bit more effort if they want to be seen as a leader. But leadership isn’t about being loud or demanding attention. Leaders are listeners as much as they are talkers. They know their subject matter and can deliver their knowledge and opinions with confidence while giving others the chance to be heard and contribute as well. 

Leaders can emerge from all walks of life. What matters most is being able to read a room and adapt accordingly. While leaders may have extroverted personalities, it is not a requirement. Introverts can be leaders too. Introspective leaders are appreciated when they get to the point quickly to present their ideas, thus helping a project to keep moving forward. Outgoing people may rely more heavily on engaging stories and anecdotes to illustrate their points and encourage participation. Interesting, and entertaining but can be more time consuming. A combination of approaches is appreciated, especially in meetings. Both can be excellent leaders so long as they are able to properly balance speaking and listening to help everyone experience a productive and satisfying meeting. This can be a challenge for those who tend to be either a good speaker or a good listener. Most will need to put in some effort to be both.

 How to Develop Your Leadership Presence

Moving up in any situation usually calls for taking some type of leadership position, whether it is leading a project or a team. As the leader, it is your job to be a grounding force that keeps everyone focused on the task at hand. Certain skills are required to accomplish a good leadership presence. For example, people notice your level of integrity and if you walk the talk; how you dress, how you connect emotionally and engage; how you act and behave; how you speak; how you communicate your vision and purpose, and how you give feedback and grow and develop others. 

Fortunately, there is no secret sauce to having leadership presence and many of the skills required can be learned. With commitment, motivation and practice, people can achieve an influential persona, a “Leadership Presence” with their own style, in their own way.

Know your Values and Transmit what is Important to you.

What do you want to project about yourself? What would you like to look like? Compose a list and hone it down to 4 major values which form a solid platform from which to lead. Think how bosses have acknowledged you, what associates have said about you; what your mentors have reported about you. Rather than thinking of talents and skills you would like to have, your values can translate into attributes that encapsulate what you know about yourself already, evidenced by your actions at home and work. Kindness, accomplishment, credibility, generosity, courage, respect, contribution, empathy, authenticity, caring are a few examples. To keep them alive it’s very important that you give them away to others. Consider which overarching value (even beyond your core values such as acknowledgement, efficiency, connection, joy, guidance), you are going to be in this or that meeting. Consider each value as a hat that shapes your mindset and influences your communication style. It’s a remarkable way to become the author of your own life and career. 

How do you Empower Others?

People remember their favorite leaders, trainers, teachers because they were inspired, influenced, touched or moved to action by them. When you are a leader people close to you often say that their life changed as a result of working with you. Being a good leader is certainly about your own personality, character and style, but also critical is mastering the skills to empower others. In others words the people in your team start seeing things differently, become motivated and produce improved outcomes and results. 

Influence Happens in a Variety of Ways: The Head, the Heart and the Spirit

• The Head: Associates feel informed, knowledgeable, capable; they can put the information into practice; you are viewed as a teacher, mentor, advisor, coach. You provide useful documentation which has long term and universal value.  
• The Heart: You touch them emotionally; acknowledge and praise their good work. They feel a loyalty or bond and they trust and respect you. You do personal kindnesses which touch their heart; they feel understood. 
• The Spirit: Through your philosophy, coaching, example or actions, you jolt people to think out of their comfort zone; help them shift perspectives; take on a new viewpoint. You walk the talk, get things done. In short, you are an inspiration to others.

The Mindset of a Leader

• Reading the room — It’s important to be able to assess the vibe of the room as a whole. Are people excited about the upcoming project? Nervous? Uncertain? If the meeting is to discuss specific issues, get a sense of the mood and the level of experience or understanding of the issues, as this can help you begin a meeting with a clear explanation of the situation and the benefits to arrive at a solution. Pause to clarify any signs of confusion so you can make sure everyone understands the purpose and desired outcome of the meeting. 
• Being adaptable to the needs of the group—You as the leader can have a vision for what you want to cover and how you would like to lead but it is wise to learn that your opinions and ideas are limited.  If you make it a safe and non- judgmental space, people will make really useful contributions. The richest outcome is one which taps into and consolidates the ideas of everyone. 
• Reading the verbal and nonverbal cues of individual group members — The people in any given group will bring different skill sets and experience to the party. This is both good and challenging! However advantageous it is to have experienced people with different skills, personalities and styles, it can be quite a task to bring everyone together on the same page. Your job as a leader is to engage everyone’s best attributes appropriately. The quiet people must contribute as much as the talkative ones. Everyone has great ideas and the quiet people need to be drawn out, while the chatterboxes need to be focused. 
• Pay attention to your own body language — A good leader conveys both confidence and sensitivity. This is best demonstrated by good posture, using steady eye contact with as many individuals as possible, smiling and leaning in to listen intently to feedback. Watch for habits which betray your nerves such as a giggle, wringing hands, gazing at the floor, jerky gestures and eyes flicking around the room looking at nobody. If you’re getting ready to give a speech, try videotaping yourself talking about the subject at hand so you can get a better idea of how you are presenting yourself.

Top Ten Tips to Resolve Specific Issues

1. Ask for suggestions for the agenda from all parties involved
2. Limit and prioritize the topics so that knotty issues can be given enough thought and discussion by everyone
3. Give out a short, realistically timed agenda before the meeting, asking everyone to think about and offer ideas and feedback related to the issue(s) to be resolved. Give ample time for discussion. Take each item in turn and if appropriate, ask for challenges, roadblocks and knotty problems associated with that issue. Write up the “Challenges” list and weight each one from 1-5 to decide the top priorities to discuss given the timeframe
4. With each challenge you could have a brainstorm section right there in the meeting for the whole group in pairs or singly to contribute an idea, pathway or possible solution. Discuss these as they are brought up. Decide on the top three most feasible actions or action plans to solve the issue. Should it be taken to management or can it be hashed over later by the most appropriately affected people to come up with a solution?
5. In the unlikely event that the issue can be resolved in the meeting, a vote after each discussion is ideal but not always possible. If you do need closure, two other forms of agreement can be as useful as a vote: consensus or alignment for each issue in turn. Consensus is to find where the majority opinion falls. Alignment means that they don’t all agree 100% but could live with the decision.
6. Don’t leave action items incomplete. Delegate each action needed there and then
7. Ask for a deadline by when the result will be reported back 
8. E-mail all parties concerned a meeting report with all the action items and dates 
9. If items run over: vote to table the item for another meeting or continue if time permits
10. Delegate the issue to another individual or group or revisit it in another meeting

• Watch proven leaders that you admire— If there are certain people that you admire for their leadership presence, it is important to study them to see what they are doing right. One option is to look at TEDx talks by both people whom you regard as good leaders and those who have talks about your topic. Note what types of behaviors impress and which don’t.
• Practice leading with someone you respect who will give you honest feedback. – Watching yourself is helpful, but if you really want to see how you present to others, you need someone other than yourself to tell you. Choose a person who will be kind but honest and not just tell you what they think you want to hear. 

Learn About Leadership

While you can look into becoming a better leader through people you know and respect and practice, it can take some time to truly hone leadership skills that can make you a confident and sympathetic leader on a consistent basis. Because of this many people seek to specifically educate themselves about leadership. London Image Institute, founded in 1989, trains professional image consultants through training programs and courses available in person as well as online. To learn more contact London Image Institute today.