Discovery leadership masterclass series with Frank Adu Anim: Executive presence (3)

…exuding leadership confidence through appearance and communication

Are you a leader who command attention by your voice but have no message? Do you sound nice and articulate to listen to but does not have influence? Executives serve as the face of the organization, representing its values, goals, and interests. Therefore, it is important for executives to exude confidence through appearance and communicate effectively. To communicate effectively is to enhance relationships, foster partnerships, and improve the organization’s reputation. Interestingly, strong communication creates a streamlined and productive work environment that ultimately contributes to the success of the organization undoubtedly.

Indeed, what does it take to have a presence that is felt by those around us as leaders? Obviously, having presence is one’s ability to be present by communicating effectively, build confidence and take action. Leadership which is more than just words and actions encompasses every facet of the leader’s presence, including how he or she looks and dresses. The leader’s ability to build better relationships, communicate well, enhancing opportunities for developing bonds which eventually increases leadership influence.

However, while it is essential to lead with competence, integrity, and vision as a leader, your appearance also plays a crucial role in conveying authority, confidence, and professionalism. This is particular about our modern workplace culture for instance where poor strategic communication are often easier to find than good ones.

That notwithstanding, it is a fact that, communication helps leaders and individuals to improve their presence and show up more authentically to work and life. It’s not just about “what” the leader communicates, but “how” they do it that builds credibility and trust. The success of communication relies on the level of clarity and comprehension the leader is able to provide to those he or she is communicating to. Whether the leader is addressing an audience or not, the clarity, passion, and confidence that he brings to his message can mean the difference between success and failure. The ability to clearly articulate his message is a core skill the leader needs to practice and hone.

Meanwhile, for great leaders to inspire confidence and have impact, is to cause a positive influence by demonstrating strong leadership of teams, work with stakeholders and build trust. If you find a leader who is not confident in their ability, you will find a team or organization that is less than fully engaged. The absence of leadership confidence breeds mistrust and this makes it harder to get people on board with the leader’s ideas to foster trust and even a positive culture at work.

Though inspiring confidence in others and developing team influence will not occur instantaneously, the leader’s ability to inspire confidence and demonstrating commitment will help supercharge his team for greater achievement. Obviously, the modern organization is characterized by dynamic environment with extreme frequent changes, how does executive presence affect communication and appearance? And, by the same token, how does communication and appearance affect the manner in which results are impacted?

Research shows that only a small fraction of employees perceive their leaders as effective in executive communication. But by understanding the benefits of executive communication and excelling in this area, can foster engagement, trust, and strong professional relationships. Effective executive communication serves as a catalyst for organizational growth, driving innovation, productivity and overall success.

There is no magical switch to throw to turn on your executive presence. Developing executive presence takes time and will grow and be felt based on people’s interactions with you over time. While improvements are possible, executive presence will rise gradually with the total of interactions people have with you. Therefore, gaining presence isn’t so much a learned skill as it is the accumulation and resultant synergy of experiences, new learning, fearlessness and high esteem.

Why Appearance Matters in Executive Presence

Does your appearance fit the image of a leader in this workplace culture? To be taken seriously, you need to match your appearance to the expectations. The trick is to know what to wear and when and then, wearing it with confidence! Business executives can adapt their communication and leadership styles by seeking regular feedback, using multiple communication channels and assessing responses.

Developing a leader’s executive presence is by harnessing their style, passion, body language that improves their skills to deliver that message to have the right impact across multiple settings. Through first impressions, people often form judgments within seconds of meeting someone. Your appearance is the first thing others notice, and it can influence their initial perceptions of your leadership abilities. Again, your leadership confidence and authority are exuded through your sense of dressing and this signals how the leader takes his role seriously and are ready to make decisions and take charge when necessary.

Besides, the leader’s professional attitude is demonstrated by his appearance through dressing. This sets the tone for the entire team or organization to establish a standard of professionalism that others are likely to follow. And when it comes to how the leader inspire his team and become a role model for the entire organization, he is sure to present a well dress outlook which inspires others to put in the effort and take pride in their appearance. This can boost overall morale, confidence and productivity.

Much more importantly, the leader’s prowess in effective communication through clothing choices can convey messages without words. By aligning his attire with his message, can enhance the impact of his communication.

Communicating your Leadership Presence

One of the biggest detriments to communication is attempting to demonstrate ones intelligence and vocabulary. For leaders, it’s critical that you communicate simply. Enhance your leadership presence and bring your authentic self forward. Practice communication skills with peer support to discover a deeper awareness of your leadership identity. Communication which is a two-way street, once we understand the other person, we need to be understood. Speaking confidently is not a natural skill, even when you have solid data supporting your position. It takes practice. Speaking slowly and clearly will give the appearance of a more considered opinion.

Fortunately, many organizations exist specifically to help individuals develop better speaking skills. To maximize the leader’s ability to improve alignment with his team and organization through good communication, it is imperative that leaders communicate a message that is understandable and clear to their audience. Remember, memorable is doable and when it is clear and simple, people remember it. They repeat it to others and they will be more likely to take action and do it.

Secondly, a concise information is critical to leadership communication. Here, it is seen that leaders do not have to waste time beating around the bush but to get to the point before their audience pay less attention. In our communication, it is important to give examples and tell stories to connect with audience to make the message more memorable.

Most importantly, communicating frequently is advised. People do not usually get it the first time or the first way. This is buttressed by research findings that spaced repetition is key to learning and retaining information. Not everyone absorbs information the same way and that, some people remember if they read it, others if they hear it, some if they visualize it, and others if they have some experience of it.

Elements of leadership expressions that determine how effectively leaders communicate:

Having executive presence means being vocal, insightful, and clear. The ability to be vocal in meetings and interactions, the propensity for conveying insights that raise the level of discussion, the aptitude for speaking clearly and concisely are all considered elements of better expressions.

A key leadership attribute is to speak only when necessary and spend the majority of the time observing or listening to others. Start improving your executive communication by first listening with intent. Also speak concisely, clearly, and directly.

Listening empathetically and then speaking concisely with confidence, is a required leadership skill. Your ability to fully listen and your appearance of self-confidence will give you the window to speak and convince people to listen. Your ability to be concise with a compelling argument will ensure that your audience hears your message. Data and facts need to be used effectively in support of your position and to convince your audience to take you seriously.

First, as a leader, you must learn to speak up. Shirking away from active participation in the conversation is not an option if you wish to excel in your current position or level up. Leaders with executive presence ought to contribute actively to any dialogue. Second, you must strive to elevate the conversation. It does not mean that, every word you say needs to be utterly brilliant but in general, you need to make sure you are not just taking up space but also enhancing the dialogue. Third, you must communicate in a way that people can easily understand. People should immediately grasp your instructions and the points you are making.

How to Rebuild Your Leadership Confidence

It is an attribute we seek to have and look for in others, especially those in positions of leadership. Yet, time and time again, we meet executives who lack a confident presence. What many fail to realize is that confidence is dynamic and not a static emotion. Just like a physical muscle that needs exercise to grow stronger, a leader’s confidence requires continuous attention.

When negative events occur, the leader’s confidence can be impaired. Once this happens, one can begin to feel as though he or she is not up to the job for which he or she has been appointed. When you experience this as a leader;

Establish a daily routine for personal growth and development. 

You cannot give what you do not have. If you are not developing yourself as a leader, you will find yourself in situations where you are at a loss for how to move forward. When you invest time daily in growing yourself, you expand your thinking and your point of view. Even if you face something challenging where your confidence may wane, it will not because you are teachable. The more you grow, the more confident you become.

Develop your Self-Awareness.

Self-aware leaders naturally exhibit more confidence. Because self-aware leaders exhibit vulnerability they remain their authentic self and become more humble, more teachable, and more approachable. Their vulnerability develops trust with others which makes them reflect on how to make progress with their team.

Exuding your Leadership Confidence as a Leader:

As always the case this is a process many leaders are not born with, and it is not something that cannot be learnt. Each time one steps into a new leadership role, grow into a new business level, start leading a different group of people, one may find that he or she bumps up against this issue of not leading confidently.  When that happens, refer back to these moral compass:

Have solid integrity

When you say something, mean it and follow through on your commitments. Doing otherwise undermines trust, and trust is required for your confidence and executive presence. Someone who cannot be trusted will not be seen as serious. Even small commitments, when missed will drive down the leader’s gravitas and personal brand. Sarcasm is also an enemy to people seeing you as having high integrity. Sarcasm is saying the opposite of what you mean, using vocal intonations to hope the other person catches your meaning. Avoid it! Too often it leads to confusion, particularly in a multicultural setting where sarcasm just does not translate.

Be more formal

Your formality and appearance need to match the expectations of the work culture, but aiming for a position that is slightly more formal than average will help you be seen as more serious. Consider matching someone in the organization who has a high executive presence. Nevertheless, being formal does not mean avoiding having fun and laughing at good jokes. Participating in gossip, however, is never going to help your gravitas so avoid it! If you are gossiping, you give the rest of the team license to do the same, and only ill will come from that.

Be more Empathetic

Empathy is one of the most important leadership virtues that facilitates better communication. It helps team members as well as clients feel supported and valued and enables positive relationships and work culture. Empathy helps reduce burnout and increases team bonding, job satisfaction and commitment. It is regarded a crucial executive communication skill which involves showing genuine concern and offering support to the employees. As a leader, develop an empathetic communication style by being genuinely interested in employee well-being, practicing active listening and tailoring one’s communication style according to team preferences.

In summary, let me re-emphasis that building an executive presence is akin to building a personal brand. Many positive interactions over time will drive the brand up, while negative interactions can rapidly deteriorate the brand. Therefore, building executive presence and exuding leadership confidence require not just a one-time effort, but a true shift in the way the leader behaves in the workplace which may include a new way of doing things which may require deliberate, patient, and consistent actions to see the results.

 

Discovery….Thinking solutions, shaping visions.

Frank   is the CEO and Strategic Partner of AQUABEV Investment and Discovery Consulting Group.He  can be reached on 0241824033/0501324604 or via [email protected]

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