How to Improve Your Executive Presence (and why it matters)
What do you do when your professional life isn’t giving you what you want? How do you get to the root of your lack of forward movement as a business owner or leader?
When clients come to me with this frustration and feel stagnant or that life isn’t responding in the way they want, I ask them to examine how they’re showing up -both physically and emotionally.
It’s often their executive presence skills that need a tune-up!
What’s Executive Presence?
Executive presence is an ability to inspire confidence in others. This might involve increasing their confidence in YOU and your skillset or abilities, and this might also involve inspiring their confidence in themselves. Executive presence is about stepping into the role of a leader and being an individual others want to follow.
It’s about how others see you and how you show up, and it looks different for everyone depending on their role, goals, environments, and expectations.
If life isn’t getting you where you want to go and you don’t feel your contributions are as effective as you’d like, it might be time to examine your executive presence and influence and see where you can make some adjustments that will help move you forward.
How to Improve Your Executive Presence
Begin with knowing your goal and desired outcome.
Executive presence looks different for everyone, there’s no cookie-cutter definition of what someone with executive presence looks like. It depends on who you are, what kind of environment you’re in, and where you want to go.
Let me give you an example. If you’re a solopreneur working from home, wearing sweatshirts and leggings and you’re happy as can be running your business from your couch, you might be completely keeping things just as they are. But if you’re goal is to climb the corporate ladder and become CEO of a major investment firm, it’s most likely that wearing sweatshirts and leggings and a messy bun isn’t going to get you where you want to go. Again, it’s dependent on who you are (where you’re starting), what your environment is, and where you want to go. As we know, for some CEO’s, in the right environment, sweatshirts are perfectly acceptable attire.
What kind of leader do you want to be?
Start by looking at who you are, where you are, and where you want to go and you’ll most likely see a gap. Developing your executive presence is about the steps we take to fill that gap and help you achieve the success and results you’re striving for.
Let’s get into three ways to further develop your executive presence!
Appearance
When I say appearance, I’m not referring to how attractive you are. I’m talking about the factors that play into how you present yourself physically. Think of your physical appearance as a way to express who you want to be in the future NOW. It has to do with how you dress, your body language, and your personal hygiene.
I already gave you an example of sweatshirts and soft pants, and again, that might be right for certain environments. I like to bring it back to a question of asking yourself if what you’re wearing inspires a sense of confidence in you? Do you feel confident wearing it? Do others look at how you’re dressed and see a leader? Looking at your body language and stance, do you present yourself in a way that shows you’re confident and able to step into the role you’re looking for?
Be aware of how you may be perceived by others and use it as an opportunity to come across intentionally in the way you’d like to be seen.
2. The Language You Use
A huge thing I coach my clients on is communication. It’s not just what you say, it’s how you say it. One of the most impactful ways to improve your executive presence is to work on your ability to communicate effectively. This means everything from your tone of voice, pace and timing, the words and phrases you choose, the message you deliver, and how clearly you articulate ideas and concepts.
Communication skills may not come naturally, but they can be learned.
A great way to get feedback on how you speak and communicate is to join a speech club like Toastmaster’s or Speaker Sisterhood where you can work on your speaking skills and get valuable resources on how to improve.
There are endless articles and books written on improving your choices of phrasing and eliminating words that are holding you back.
As you find your voice, you better learn situations in which you need to speak up and where you need to refrain. Working on your communication in a holistic way can help you improve and develop your executive presence so that others around you respect you more and are more confident in what you have to say when you do.
2. Emotionality and Vulnerability
You may wonder why I’m bringing emotions into this equation. But as far as I know, the greatest leaders are human beings and human beings are emotional creatures.
A huge key to developing your executive presence is learning the instances in which to display your emotions and when to hold back. You can learn how to share vulnerabilities in a way that displays empathy and understanding rather than simply venting or oversharing. There’s a lot of nuance here and I love working with my clients to help them learn when to share and when not to, but here are three questions to ask you when you’re about to share a vulnerable moment:
Is it helpful? Will this be helpful to others in some way? Is it a learning experience? If not, what’s my motivation for sharing it?
Does it clarify something or connect people or does it create distance and dissent?
Am I being authentic?
Developing a strong executive presence isn’t straightforward, there’s no cookie-cutter formula for showing up better.
With self-awareness, it’s doable no matter who you are and what you’re aiming for. A great place to start is investing in yourself and committing to being a lifelong learner who’s committed to growing more personally and professionally.
Want to work together to develop your executive presence skills? I’d love to help you step into becoming the leader YOU ARE.
Book a free Discovery Session with me HERE and let’s talk about your individual challenges!
