Strengthening Your Leadership Presence—The Attributes and Actions That Set You Apart
The way you carry yourself and engage with others determines whether people see you as a leader worth following. Leadership presence is not only about how you look or speak. Making connections, projecting confidence, and speaking with credibility will define your presence to others. In the previous article, The Power of Presence: How Leaders Can Elevate Their Influence, we explored the foundations of presence, including how everything communicates, why confidence and credibility matter, and how authenticity shapes how others perceive you. Awareness of these elements is the starting point, but the real impact comes from refining and building upon them.
Once you recognize that presence is always at play, the next step is to manage it. A strong leadership presence draws people in, creates trust, and amplifies influence. Presence is not about taking over conversations; rather, it is about opening up dialogue, listening to others, and adding value with what you have to say. That is when people will listen. That is when you can influence others.
So how do you enhance your presence to make a lasting, positive impact? What steps can you take to increase your credibility and ensure your influence extends beyond a single moment? Let’s explore a few practical ways to enhance your presence. In doing so, it will also strengthen your leadership effectiveness and create deeper connections with those around you. Here are five things you can do to continue to enhance your presence.
Control Your Body Language
Don’t let unconscious movements, facial expressions, or other actions get in the way of the message that you intend to convey. Be conscious of how you are holding your arms when you are both speaking and listening. Your arms will tell a lot about your engagement. So do your eyes. Be mindful of what and who you are looking at. If your face is buried in your computer screen or phone, others will assume you are not paying attention. Let people know if you are a notetaker and need to look at what you’re typing. And be sure to pause from notetaking throughout the discussion to make eye contact. Finally, be aware of whether you are smiling or not. Your mouth says a lot without saying anything. There may be phrases that often convey something you do not really mean to. Staying aware of that can change perceptions of you very quickly.
Practice: The best way to do this is to have someone video you during a meeting. Ideally, if there is a recording of a virtual meeting, you can see how you look while speaking and listening. If you are in primarily in-person meetings, you may be able to have someone you know record parts of the session (let others know you are recording the meeting for your learning purposes). You may have to be selective in which meetings you do this, but you can also tell the team what you are doing and let them know that portions of the meeting will be recorded to help you improve your listening and response skills.
Speak With Clarity
Our brains work fast. And many times, we are chomping at the bit to start talking. Resist that urge. First, worrying about what you will say next takes your attention away from listening actively. Second, you want to allow for some time to process what you’ve heard and how that fits into what else you’ve heard throughout the discussion. Sometimes, the most clarity you can add is by not saying anything at all. A simple nod of agreement, or at least understanding, may be all that is needed in the situation. When you do speak, speak clearly and intentionally. This becomes more necessary in meetings that are formal in nature. That audience is likely to be more engaged in what you are saying. Form your thoughts, and speak so that everyone can hear you. Remain calm and deliberate in your message, regardless of how you may feel (anxious, passionate, angry, energized). This is a difficult thing to do. (Anyone who knows me will tell you that I still have to practice this a lot.)
Practice: Much like the body language practice idea, having a way to see a recording of how you spoke or addressed others would be the best way. It is more likely to catch you naturally responding as well. The other thing you may be able to do is to replay a recording of a previous meeting, and record yourself responding to it as you would today, or trying different responses.
Active Listening
Listening is a learned skill. I have written several things in the past, but in 6 Ways Listening Can Make You a Better Leader, I share the benefits of listening. The art of listening is at the heart of leadership. Being good at active listening will impact your presence multifold. Listening is a multiplier of how others see you. You can say all the right things, look the part, and even be engaged, but effective active listening will fuel your ability to make better connections with people and to the topics being discussed. You will be more insightful in what you are saying, plus you’re likely able to draw in others because you’ll be connecting your thoughts and ideas to theirs. That is powerful.
Practice: The ideas above remain helpful here as well, but something else you can try without engaging others is to listen to/watch videos or audiobooks and practice listening for understanding. Then, speak your response or a summary of what you have just heard. I recommend taking pauses throughout longer videos or recordings so you can interject what you have gathered so far. You can also find several short clips that are less than three or four minutes long and use them to help you listen and learn. This is also a great way to learn new ideas quickly. (I have done this by listening to a clip of Simon Sinek speaking as an example.)
Maintain Energy and Engagement
This doesn’t mean you need to be bouncing off the walls or being the loudest person in the room. In fact, it can be quite the opposite. A calm demeanor, fully connected to what people are saying, can be the most noticeable thing in the room. That often is the signal of confident leadership. It shows someone who is there to listen and learn more than speak to be heard. At the same time, you don’t want to sit in the room like a bump on a log. This really brings together the steps mentioned above. Recognizing that your body language communicates a lot, you can positively affect the entire group by presenting openness and enthusiasm for what you are hearing and participating in. This becomes even more critical if you are a higher ranking person in the room. Others will take their cues from you. If you walk away from a meeting where you thought the energy was low and the team wasn’t fully engaged, you may have no further place to look that to yourself. Regardless of your position, your energy and engagement will likely influence others and either reflect positivity into the situation or suck it out of the room.
Practice: Watch others in several different meetings. Identify the key leaders in each session and observe how their energy and engagement impact the discussion. If they are upbeat and engaged, does that help the meeting seem better and more productive? Then, think about how you can replicate some of the same energy and engagement cues they were giving. Make it your own. Trying to copy or mimic someone else’s approach will not be authentic and will miss the point of what you are trying to accomplish.
Be Prepared
Presence doesn’t happen by accident. Being prepared mentally and physically (in the sense you’ve done your homework) before different meetings, calls, or situations can make a huge difference in how you show up. We all know that you cannot be prepared for every situation that comes up, especially in retail situations. However, that doesn’t mean you cannot be ready. You may not know exactly what will happen in every case, but you’ve likely experienced something like it in your past. You can take a few moments before a call with a customer, before you walk into a troubled store, or before you have a difficult conversation to walk through some past experiences that can help guide you through what may come up. This will help you remain calm and able to listen, versus having your brain immediately begin to scramble for answers to solve the problem that is happening in real-time.
Practice: Consider previous situations similar to what you know you have coming up. Jot down any notes from those and how you responded. What would you do differently? This is where you can use your 20/20 hindsight to prepare yourself for the future.
The piece that connects all the dots on these is authenticity. We also covered that in the last article, but it is important to reiterate it here. If you are not genuine in how you approach all of these, it won’t matter. Authenticity always shows through. It is the foundation for trust, and trust is the foundation for all else in leadership. A reputation for low trust will overshadow anything that you try to achieve through presence.
As we have repeatedly said in these articles, presence is more than just how you show up. It is an extension of who you are. It encompasses everything we discussed in this article, coupled with character, attitude, and mindset. It cannot be faked, certainly not for long, and it cannot be taken for granted. Your awareness of how others see you will dictate the ability you have to influence. If you feel you are unable to sway decisions in key areas, begin to take inventory of how you are perceived in those circles. Be intentional. Be aware. Be engaged. And, the good news is, again, so long as you are authentic in the approach, your presence can continually be improved upon and strengthened. You can make a difference in yourself to make a difference for those you serve.
How can you use the ideas above to help strengthen your presence?
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