The 5-minute exercises to instantly increase your presence & impact at work

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A survey in 2013 of New York recruiters found that ‘executive presence’ accounts for 26% of what it takes to get promoted. Clearly then, there’s a lot riding on our abilities to portray ourselves as possessing those leadership traits that can be so hard to define.

The reason ‘executive presence’ is so hard to pin down is that its qualities are derived from a whole spectrum of verbal and visual clues. In our recent webinar, ‘Developing Your Executive Presence’, everywoman expert Kate Fletcher took us through the simple mental exercises you can squeeze into your day to strengthen your executive muscle, and become a more impactful version of yourself.

Exercise one: Define your personal brand

One way to think about personal brand is ‘what people say about us when we’re not in the room’. As terrifying as it may be, knowing what others take from how you look, speak and behave, is crucial to building your presence and impact. Make a list – it can be very top line or detailed – of all the ways you want to be perceived by others. Next to each point, note a behaviour you have or could authentically demonstrate to encourage that perception of you. Are there more ‘could dos’ than ‘have dones’? Once you know where gaps exist between your behaviours and your desired perceptions of you, you can work out a strategy for moving forward with a strong, authentic personal brand that will resonate with your key stakeholders. Once you implement your strategy, seek feedback from colleagues you trust, to measure its impact. 

Exercise two: Draw a mental picture of you at your very best

In a recent everywomanNetwork poll, only 4% of us said that we’re at our best most of the time, with most of us plumping for a lesser 50% as the amount of time we’re on top of our game. It’s common sense that in order to be our best in those crucial moments – in the presence of key decision makers or during an important presentation – we have to know what our ‘best’ looks like. Reflect on a time when you felt like you really nailed something – perhaps a presentation, report, difficult client meeting, 121 or negotiation. Now picture yourself in that moment. How were you sitting? What did you facial expression convey? How were you breathing? What did you say? Apply all five senses to your story, asking what that moment looked, sounded, felt and even tasted and smelled like? Finally, memorise three words that sum up that moment for you. Let this be your internal mantra for future moments you want to shine in.

Exercise three: Make friends with your gremlin

We all have it – that voice inside our heads that torments us with the belief that we’re not good enough. The first step to crushing your ‘gremlin’ into submission, says Kate Fletcher, is getting to know it. Think about a time when your gremlin became all-powerful. What did it say and what did it want you to think? The more you understand it, the better you can predict how your gremlin is likely to behave in a critical moment, giving you time to get strategies in place for shushing it when it pipes up. The second is to diminish its power even further. Give it a funny appearance or silly voice that undermines its control over you, and the next time it tells you that you aren’t funny/interesting/good enough to deliver a great presentation, it’s unlikely to have as much impact.

Exercise four: Reflect on your last workplace conversation and how much you were listening

We speak our opinions much more than we listen to those of others. That was the almost unanimous result of an everywomanNetwork poll, in which the majority of members confessed that we’re really listening to others for less than half the duration of our interactions. Think about a conversation you had when you felt listened to. Were there visual clues (nodding and smiling)? Did the other person ask for more information, showing just how interested they were? Did they demonstrate this even further by summarising what they’d heard from you? These three principles of ‘encouraging’, ‘extending’ and ‘reflecting’, are key to being both a good listener and demonstrating executive presence. ‘Impact and presence is not all about outward expression,’ says Kate Fletcher. ‘How you receive interaction and communication from others is the very beginning of that’.

 

 

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