Female Leader With Executive Presence

Women Leaders Mustn’t Sacrifice Authenticity

Many women leaders don’t fulfil their leadership potential, thinking they must trade their authenticity for executive presence and gravitas. Not true. In fact, you’ll only be successful if you develop your EP in your own authentic way. 

Remember what got you here, won’t necessarily get you there. Get your Executive Presence right and you’ll secure those leadership promotions, be accepted by your peers, influence senior leaders and achieve great work with your team.

As a specialist coach in EP and gravitas , my starting point is your values. The global EP research provides us with a useful framework, but you need to do it your way.  It’s the same for men. And it’s about encouraging diversity.

Below are some common mistakes which will stop you igniting your own leadership talent.

If you would like leadership or EP coaching one to one or as a team, do get in contact soon for a chat. You can apply it to your daily leadership, meetings & presentations.   Here are common EP mistakes.

  1. Not developing your own executive presence – it’s the water leaders swim in every day. Fellow leaders expect it. 
  2. Thinking this is just about ego power plays – it’s about getting great work done, solving problems and developing others
  3. Behaving like an old-style male leader – that’s a disaster, find your own path to maximise the benefits of your diversity
  4. Not realising how good you are, imposter syndrome or holding back until you are perfect (you’ll wait forever!)
  5. Expecting the world to adapt to your expectations rather than working with what is real today – you’ll need clever strategies, understanding of human dynamics (yes, politics too), resilience and the ability to read your own organisation 

KineticFuture can coach you to be a world-class communicator and leader. Coaching 1-2-1 and in groups. Clients include Abbvie, Amgen, Gilead, GSK, Novartis, Mars, Pladis, WPP and Barclays. We have six main areas of work: Time to Think™ coachingexecutive presencepresenting and storytellingtricky conversationsresilience and communicating purpose.

Business woman in leadership standing in busy street with executive presence and gravita

Can They Lead Without You?

Can your team lead key meetings without you? They have the technical expertise but well…  ‘they are not you’. Sadly, your bosses, clients and other key stakeholders recognise that they lack the confidence, gravitas and executive presence. The impact of having to be in each meeting on on your time and your team’s development is huge.

We coach Executive Presence. It really is the missing link between merit and success. We base our KineticFuture approach on solid global research and use theatre skills, real simulations, psychology and practice to ensure each person in the group can find their own authentic way forward. Contact us if you’d like to know about our group courses and one to one coaching.

It’s highly skilful coaching work but you can help your team right now with some quick tips and hints below. It’s worth it.

Quick Tips for Executive Presence, Confidence & Gravitas.

  1. Just do it – get them leading meetings without you. They will survive and grow with a bit of guidance. It’s worth the risk.
  2. Super prepare – some of your team will back off the prep because they are scared, others will spend too much time on the wrong things. Give them guidance on what to prepare and ensure they are clear on objectives, key messages and proof points. Can they answer the tough questions succinctly? Rehearse them through it.
  3. Physicality – they can make a huge difference just by rehearsing their physicality in a room. Ask them to walk in, sit down and start to explain the topic. Coach them to sit tall, open arms on the table, make good eye contact and stop any fiddling. Then maintain it come what may. Ask them too where they plan to sit – in easy eye-line of the key decision maker will help.

Does Negativity Drive You Mad?

Are some of your team consistently negative? It’s great to disagree with each other and healthy to have different points of views. I’m talking about the kind of behaviours that kill the energy in the team.

I’ve seen this from both points of view in my Time To Think™ coaching. From the people who are perceived to be negative (often wrongly) and from the leaders trying to engage and re-inspire a team. If this is something you’d like to tackle, do get in touch. There’s a great deal you can do to turn this around working 1-2-1 or we can create a bespoke group course.

7 TOP TIPS

  1. Be patient
  2. Show empathy and respect for the person and their point of view
  3. Remember you’re all ‘One Tribe’ – assume good intent and value
  4. Consider that they may not be negative, you are just not listening or you simply have a clash of communication styles
  5. Gently help them reframe and explore a different point of view
  6. Talk about impact of their behaviour on others – the phrase ‘when you do x, it can be perceived as…’ reduces defensiveness
  7. Give attention and reward the positive behaviours you want to see more of

KineticFuture can coach you to be a world-class communicator and leader. Coaching 1-2-1 and in groups. Clients include Abbvie, Amgen, Gilead, GSK, Novartis, Mars, Pladis, WPP and Barclays. We have six main areas of work: Time to Think™ coachingexecutive presencepresenting and storytellingtricky conversationsresilience and communicating purpose.

Contact us today to book a course or to find out more.

Words That Weaken You

There are words that sneak into your language and undermine your leadership and executive presence. You don’t need them, and you can get rid of them fast! 

They signal to your boss, your clients or your colleagues that you are not confident, like little negative beacons. On our executive presence and presentation courses, our clients identify them, ban them from the workshop and set forfeits for each other if they sneak back in. You can play this game with yourself or a friend. Have a go. It’ll drive you nuts!  

So, find out more about our executive presence and presentation courses and find below the most common words that weaken you.

Here are our top six undermining filler words. So small yet so significant. All you need to do is to catch yourself and stop saying them – your authority and presence will rise.  

Maybe

Perhaps

Sort of

Kind of

I’ll try

Sorry

(stop apologising for being in the room!)

KineticFuture can coach you to be a world-class leader and communicator. Coaching 1-2-1 and in groups. Clients include Abbvie, Amgen, Gilead, GSK, Novartis, Mars, Pladis, WPP and Barclays.

We have six main areas of work: Time to think coachingexecutive presencepresenting and storytellingtricky conversationsresilience and communicating purpose.

Contact us to find out more