Executive Presence

Professional actors can fill the theatre with their presence or have the audience craning their necks to listen in on their thoughts and reflections in Hamlet’s Act 3 Scene 1 soliloquy. So, what do people remember about you and your performance when you’ve left the room?

Managing presence requires conscious effort and practice to determine what kind of impact you want and how to be remembered for all the right reasons.

Impact and influence can’t happen without presence. Creating the right impression, persona and message are vital to success. If you want people to buy into your ideas, to be influenced by your thinking, to get your message with no misunderstandings then managing your presence is the foundation.

Presence is also about being present – actually being there in the room in conversations, discussions, meetings and negotiations. Actively engaging in the conversation and what other people are saying, not following your own thought stream as the noise circles around you. You know when you’re talking on the ‘phone to someone who’s not really there – even though they’re making noises like they’re listening.

Self-knowledge and self-awareness are at the heart of managing your presence, impact and influence. This programme challenges and supports your thinking as you identify what you want and compare it with how you appear and occur for others in your interactions.

Making a conscious choice about what to say or do next to get more of what you want does not happen by accident or instinct – and this programme develops your behavioural intelligence to become a skilled practitioner and to make your presence felt.

Overall Learning Aims

At the end of this personal and professional development experience, you should be able to:

• Manage the energy and aura you bring to a room, meeting or interaction

• Project confidence and comfort without being overwhelming

• Quickly engage people in conversations and interactions

• Deliver messages that are cleaner, clearer, and more compelling

• Recognise and develop a corporate presence and personal brand which reflects how you want to be seen in business

• Develop and apply a set of tools, techniques and disciplines that increase impact and influence, perceived authority, gravitas and presence

• Operate in a consistent and congruent way that builds trust and credibility in followers and stakeholders

An example question might be: –

How do I increase buy-in to my ideas and vision and get the whole team involved in implementing the plan?

In this example, the individual’s learning and development might include: –

• Structuring communications to make messages memorable

• What builds and erodes trust in communications and behaviour

• Motivating teams and individuals

• Stakeholder management and strategic influencing

• Running effective meetings and engaging people in group decision making

• Considering and challenging what involvement and engagement actually means

• Recognising and evaluating styles of influence and persuasion

• Dealing with the effects of change on the operation and its people

• Clarifying the role of leadership in strategic planning and execution