Building Leadership Presence From A Distance
How to craft executive presence from your home office
Building your leadership presence remotely requires an intentional and thoughtful approach.
All of my clients lead their teams, at least most of the time, from a distance.
And whilst there are many benefits to be had, navigating the challenges of limited face-to-face interactions demands a deeper understanding of how to effectively convey executive presence, especially when time is a precious commodity for busy leaders.
Research by the Centre for Talent Innovation in New York tells us that there are three key strands to having a high level of presence; gravitas, communication and appearance.
You can see the ratios in the diagram below.
Core Elements of Executive Presence
Putting that simply, it means that leadership presence comes from how you talk, think, act, and look.
And all of these happen whether we’re working in person with someone or over camera.
But for busy leaders, leading teams remotely comes with its own set of tough challenges. Limited time and unlimited responsibilities, as well as back to back online meeting fatigue, make it hard to focus on building a strong leadership presence online.
The constant need to make quick decisions, adapt to new tech tools, and the absence of face-to-face interactions make it even more complicated. Additionally, finding the right balance between being professional and authentic in virtual settings can be tough.
But establishing a robust leadership presence gives you a platform to convey your vision and expectations clearly and build trust within your remote teams, which is vital for collaboration and achieving collective goals, maintaining team morale and engagement.
And it provides a sense of stability and direction, especially in times of continued uncertainty.
And when you don’t have as many opportunities to make a face to face impression, those online moments count even more.
Here are five things to consider to help you give your executive remote presence a review and refresh.
Review: Use the ease of online tech to your advantage and record yourself so you can watch your real life performance back. As much as it can be cringeworthy, it’s a fantastic way to give yourself instant feedback.
Record one of your meetings and review it on your own, or with your coach, and reflect:
What words would you use to describe your presence as a leader?
What did you do well, and what did you notice you could improve on? (*Use the model above as a guide and give yourself a mark out of 10 if you get stuck)
What two tweaks can you make to project more decisiveness, confidence, and vision?
Learn: Online leadership meetings provide the opportunity to see everyone in your exec team face-on. Use the opportunity to observe and learn how others hold themselves and create leadership presence.
Reflect on this question during your next meeting: Who, in your opinion, demonstrates a high level of presence and commands the virtual room well?
Observe them closely.
What specifically do they do?
How do their body language, words and tone differ to others?
How do those around them react in response?
Focus: When you’re moving from back to back meetings and don’t have the time to re-set yourself mentally or physically in between, establish systems and surroundings that help you when you need it.
Find or change up your background to allow you to hold your audiences attention, and make sure it supports both positive and more serious conversation. Remove anything that could be a distraction and if in doubt keep it simple.
How can you help those you’re meeting with focus on you and what you’re saying, rather than what’s around you?
What things in your background that might take away from your conversation?
Listen: Executive presence is not simply about what you say or how much you say. I fact the most impactful leaders I’ve worked with have one thing in common. They know the power of listening in building connected relationships with others.
Nevertheless, for fast paced leaders, slowing down, giving space and genuinely listening can help you demonstrate higher levels of emotional intelligence and gravitas.
What is your natural pace of speaking and forward movement in virtual meetings?
How many seconds do you typically allow after one person has finished speaking before you jump back in?
To what degree are you comfortable with open space and silence on a call?
Communicate: Executive presence conversations often focus on the verbal, but how you communicate through your written interactions will also shape how you are perceived.
While expectations around the formality of written interactions has shifted as we use chat, whatsapp, slack threads for talking with your team, don’t mistake the short nature of interactions for being any less meaningful.
That doesn’t mean you need to use perfect grammar or full sentences, but you should pay attention. Everything you write represents who you are as a leader, what you stand for and the values that you uphold.
Step back for a moment:
Imagine you were someone reading your chat thread with your colleagues or team. What conclusions would they draw about you as a leader?
To what degree does the way you communicate on chat or whatsapp align with the leadership brand you want to create?
How does your messaging style shift under pressure? Why and what impact does that have?
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