Senior Executive Presence

People often use the term executive presence as a necessary competence for effective senior leaders.  When people move to a senior level position what is the difference from a high potential leader to a senior leader at the C-Suite level?

Executive presence has been defined as the ability to project confidence and gravitas ( substance or competence) under pressure. I would agree that confidence, gravatas  is one of the components of executive presence but I feel we need to expand the definition of effective executive presence. Let me more fully expand on what I see when coaching senior level leaders.

1. It starts with the senior leader being able to articulate a leadership point of view. It answers why others need to follow. It answers who you are and why being a leader matters to you.  The leadership point of view pulls people to their greatness.  Additionally, the leadership point of view answers what’s in it for others to be a part of your leadership point of view.

2.  An effective senior leader needs to be more strategic and less tactical. Technical skills, structuring and tactics are generally delegated to those who report to the senior leader.To be strategic is taking a long range approach to problem solving and decision making through objective analysis , thinking ahead preventing problems, and  planning. At the senior level you tend to focus on more broad perspectives versus a specific work area outputs.   Senior leaders  build shared meaning for a general direction in the company. Senior leaders guide planning activities to drive and sustain business success with job security for people who work within the organization. Senior leaders  develop others so the organization has potential ready to be employed when the opportunity arises. Senior leaders deliberate how to help  associates flourish in the work environment.

3.  Engagement and follower-ship become measures of performance at the senior level. How do you capture buy in the organization? Crafting a shared vision, mission, values, operating philosophies are the frameworks to create a highly engaged workforce.

4.   Communication; You will have more opportunities to communicate to others. Your communications will be about values in action demonstrated by employees for reinforcement, the compelling purpose driving the business unit, talking about what integrity, honesty looks like in the culture, teaching the culture to talk true to its leaders, getting leaders to seek feedback so to course correct the vision mission, and objectives.

5. Empathy: As senior leader  emphasis is placed in demonstrating an active concern for people and their needs by forming close and supportive relationships with others. There is more emphasis on empathy and less on authority, competition, and dominance. The senior leader needs to be the arbitrator for fairness, the person who cares about the success of all within the organization. The senior leader will be described as the person who exudes integrity, courage, honesty, and candor.

6. Persuasive: Senior leadership responsibilities are about follower-ship therefore you will be required to build commitment and wining others over to your point of view. People get to decide to follow you or not, accept the vision or oppose, feel as if they can contribute to the success of the company. Associates need to believe following  will help them thrive and flourish in the company.

7. Management focus: The senior leader seeks to make a significant difference by being in a position of authority, taking charge, and leading others. The senior leader is given more opportunities to direct the efforts of others.

8. Technical: Continuous improvement is the mantra of a senior leader. Senior leaders continue acquiring and maintaining  in depth knowledge in their field or areas of focus, using expertise and specialized knowledge to study issues and draw conclusions. The leap from department or specialized area changes to exerting influence on functional areas of the company. Team play, building and cooperation matter for the success of the whole.

9. Excitement: Senior leaders require operating with a good deal of energy , intensity, and emotional expression. A senior leader must have the capacity for keeping others enthusiastic and involved on behalf of the vision, mission, operating principles.

Less focus:

A.   Self: As a senior leader you will emphasize less the importance of making decisions independently and looking to yourself as the prime vehicle for decision making. Seeking shared decision making increases the capacity of the organization, it builds buy in, and  reduces resistance to change. People want to feel in on things which will be accomplished by shared decision making.

B.    Authority: As senior leader you learn to respect the opinions of others( peers, boss, direct reports)  by using them as resources for information, direction, and decisions.

A quick way to assess this area is to conduct a 360-degree LEA ( Leadership Effectiveness  Assessment ) with executive coaching.