You’ve always needed a strong Executive Presence to Influence people. Now is the time to make sure your effort is on full-throttle.
Throughout the second half of this year, people are returning to offices based on one of the many patterns that management chooses. During this “fluid” stage of the post-pandemic period, lots of “return-to-work” models will be adopted. Like water that “settles”, this offers an opportunity for company and individual experimentation to determine what is the best policy for safety, individual lifestyle and corporate performance, team collaboration, innovation, and longer-term profitability. Our team has been monitoring the many changes in prior stages of the pandemic since March of 2020, and will continue to do so.
There are two key things you need to concern yourself with during the “fluid” stage.
- With a distributed work pattern – some at home and some in the office, micro-management of individuals won’t work. Instead workers should adopt self-management systems so they are “accountable for success” in their jobs. We have to execute on the company’s strategy for performance, culture and leadership. We also need to keep our eye on professional and personal growth by improving our skills in areas where we want to make more valuable contributions. (We’ll soon be posting information on the web about our “Accountable for Success” (A4S) system that gives the worker-supervisor team tools they can use to do so. (To request advance information, send a note to JerryCahn@PresentationExcellence.com.)
- Second, this is the opportunity to step-up your Executive Presence, so you can make a larger difference in your company and industry. Now that we’re going to interact with others both virtually and digitally, this is the time to make sure you’re projecting your expertise and forge important new relationships.
Dr. Brooke Vuckovic, a clinical professor of leadership at the Kellogg School recently noted in a podcast, that “Executive presence doesn’t measure your merit. It doesn’t measure that intellect or horsepower; it measures your capacity to translate out all of your creativity, all of your good ideas, all of your deep expertise.” She offers this formula: “Executive presence is equal to credibility, plus ease, divided by ego.”
For those of you who have been following us for years know, our formula for winning presenters is to deliver ADAP: Audience-Driven, Authentic Presentations. Once you’ve developed expertise, you always need to present it authentically. To influence each audience, you need to control the content and format of the message and the format, style and power of delivery to resonate with the audience’s ability to receive the message and perceive you as trustworthy, credible and expert.
Listen to the podcast and use this opportunity to increase your executive presence! Attend one of our workshops or request coaching if you think it will help. Remember, often you only get one opportunity to make a superb first impression!