What’s Inside:
Leadership Presence
Note from the Coach
Link's Links
Adaptive Leadership

Leadership Presence —
The Key to Inspiring Trust in
Times of Change

We've talked a bit in previous issues of The Coaching Link about the principal roles of an effective leader, including orchestrating change. Some define leaders by their ability to manage change. Others argue that one's ability to manage change does not a leader make. So what does define an effective leader?

In the eyes of many followers, what sets extraordinary leaders apart is their ability to create an atmosphere of trust. And in order for a leader to create trust, I believe he or she must have a strong and effective presence. Leadership presence is the sum of all the traits a person has that make others want to follow that person.

Not everyone's leadership presence feels or looks exactly the same because each leader brings their own unique experiences and sense of self to their role. Regardless of the individual experiences that influence their direction and style, exceptional leaders tend to do these four things that add up to a strong and commanding presence:

1. they are clear on their purpose
2. they act in an authentic way
3. they elicit respect from employees
4. they convey confidence

Those with leadership presence have a clear sense of purpose that aligns with the mission and values of the organization. This creates an anchor when one is tempted to deviate from the mission and purpose in order to please certain people. I call this “standing strong.” By remaining crystal clear on their purpose, mission and values, these leaders are able to lead with a clear head, which motivates others to follow their lead.

If you find yourself struggling to hold to your purpose, consider the motives behind the forces that are pulling you off track and then pause just long enough to assess and negate those residual forces. If it's a matter of trying to please certain people, remember that you may not be able to satisfy everyone, and that in the process of holding to your purpose, there may be some casualties.

The second hallmark of leadership presence is the ability to act authentically. Authenticity, as noted in a 2005 Harvard Business Review article, has two parts:

• staying true to who you are as you lead others
• bringing forth those parts of yourself that encourage others to follow you.¹

The corporate environment will sometimes test your ability to stay true to who you are. I recall an executive I once coached who felt pressured to change his reflective, deliberate leadership style to match his company's high-paced, competitive alpha culture. In the end, my client realized that he was most effective at leading others when he remained true to his natural style of leadership. In fact, when he freely expressed his own brand of leadership, others began to rely on him for his unique approach and often referred to him as “the voice of reason.”

The second part of authenticity involves encouraging others to follow you by playing up the parts of yourself they can most relate to and that meet the needs of a situation. In other words, you want to manage which face you put forward in a given group of people. This is not about acting in a fake way, but instead, about knowing which parts of yourself serve you best and which to play down in a given situation.

I'm reminded of a high octane, passionate sales V.P. whom I once coached. After learning that his intense approach made it difficult for colleagues to relate to him, my client found that by sharing his passion in measured doses, he motivated his people rather than overwhelmed them. He also channeled his passion into becoming a better listener and incorporating others' perspectives into his own view. This increased his credibility and allowed others to view him with a renewed level of respect.

Leadership presence comes about when individuals are able to elicit respect from colleagues at every level. When people don't take you seriously, they are much less inclined to follow your lead.

I recall another client, a director of operations, who shared feedback from his colleagues that the passion he expressed regarding the goals he was promoting sometimes led him to lose his objectivity in team discussions. As a result, his colleagues reported having lost some respect for him and even tuning him out when he tried to enlist them in supporting his goals.

Those with leadership presence have mastered the ability to deliver their message in a way that is in sync with their intentions and that ultimately elicits respect. Gathering feedback from those around you can be a great way to identify how you might want to adjust your style so that your intentions are aligned with what others perceive, thus generating more respect and creating the tremendous buy-in that truly great leaders are able to inspire.

Individuals who possess real leadership presence portray an air of confidence. Does this mean they never worry? No. But people with leadership presence know how to manage self-doubt behind the scenes, so they can promote a face of certainty to others.

If your confidence is lagging, consider how this ambiguity might affect people's comfort in following you. Finding a trusted confidant outside of work or hiring a coach can provide you with an opportunity to sort through your concerns and avoid de-motivating the very people you hope to lead.

The bottom line is, when you're busy running the organization it's easy to get caught up in your own agenda and forget that your colleagues and employees constantly pay close attention to your every move and to every word they hear you say. By being mindful of the leadership presence you create and by making and implementing intentional choices about your style, you can keep others invested in your mission and inspire them to be strong, engaged and effective contributors.

Some are born with the character that automatically commands an air of leadership presence in a group and others learn to develop this over time. Contact Link Resource Group to learn more about how to achieve this mindful shift in the way you communicate, in order to more effectively advance your agenda and lead your company into the future.

¹ “Managing Authenticity: The Paradox of Great Leadership” by Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones, Harvard Business Review, December 2005.

Note from the Coach

Did you know that Team Advantage: The Complete Coaching Guide for Team Transformation features a component not generally addressed in team coaching programs? This innovative program also provides one-on-one coaching to support the leader in making desired changes in his or her leadership style and communications, both verbal and non-verbal. Often, it is what is left unsaid, dissatisfactions that are not brought to the surface that bring an empire down. Don't let that happen to you. As an objective confidant and coach working with your organization, I can help remediate or avert problems well before they would normally come to light.

Created in collaboration with the coaches of the world-renowned Pyramid Resource Group, this robust action-learning program is based on proven strategies. I invite you to call or email me for more information about the Team Advantage program or other coaching or consulting opportunities to catapult your organization. If you would like to explore the program on your own, visit teamadvantageguide.com for all the details including information on how to order the materials for your organization.

Warm Regards,

Tim Link, MA, MCC

Link’s Links

Managing Authenticity — The Paradox of Great Leadership To attract followers, a leader has to be many things to many people. The trick is to pull that off while remaining true to your self. Try to lead like someone else—say, Jack Welch, Steve Jobs or Meg Whitman—and you will fail. People want to be led by someone “real.” Yet at the same time, great leaders know which part of their personality traits they should reveal to whom and when. They are like chameleons, capable of adapting to the demands of the situations they face and the people they lead, yet they do not lose their identities in the process. Read this article to learn more about how extraordinary leaders crack this seemingly paradoxical code.

Worth Reading

The Practice of Adaptive Leadership — Tools and Tactics for Changing Your Organization and the World
by Heifetz, Grashow, Linsky

I should first disclose that I have met and worked with Marty Linsky (one of the authors) so I may be a bit biased. Nonetheless, I find that the concepts illustrated in this book ring true time and time again. It is no longer enough to simply hunker down and wait for things to improve. Nor is it reasonable to expect sheer muscle and brute force to overcome the forces of our current economic environment.

Charles Darwin's concept of natural selection among species also applies to organizations and even to individuals within an organization. Those that do not adapt do not survive; only those that do adapt thrive. This book provides a set of elegant tools and approaches for leading the processes of individual, team and organizational adaptation.