How to Develop an Executive Presence (Remotely and In Office)

What does it mean to have an executive presence? Gerry Valentine, in a Forbes article, described executive presence as the “ability to inspire confidence — inspiring confidence in your subordinates that you’re the leader they want to follow, inspiring confidence among peers that you’re capable and reliable and, most importantly, inspiring confidence among senior leaders that you have the potential for great achievements.”

If you lead a team, it is important to develop and tune your executive presence so you can inspire your employees regardless of whether you are in the office or working remotely. If you are looking for ways to develop your executive presence, here are four tips to consider.

1. Build your communication skills

Great leaders know how to communicate with their employees. They are confident in finding the right words to inspire and motivate their team.

But great communication requires more than just knowing what to say. You also must know when to say it and how to say it. In the modern environment, leaders must become just as proficient at in-person communication as speaking over the phone or by video chat. Lastly, never forget that communication is a two-way street: make time to actively listen to your team and acknowledge their thoughts.

2. Build and sell your vision

What does success look like for your team? Great leaders have a clear vision for their team and a strategy on what it will take to succeed. Make sure you are taking the time to understand your vision for success and the steps you think you need to take to get there.

Once you know the details of the strategy and the big picture of the vision, you must be able to articulate that to your team and get them to buy into your thoughts. While selling your vision will certainly require your communication skills, it will also require a vision you have thought-through and refined.

3. Understand how others perceive you

Be honest, what do your employees think of you? Do they respect you? Fear you? Only follow your instructions because they have to? If you do not know how others perceive you, that is a problem you need to remedy as soon as possible.

Great leaders have a pulse on what their employees think of them. It is vital that your employees not only respect you, but also trust that your vision is the correct one for the team.

Take the time to speak with individual team members and other leaders to get a sense of how you are perceived. If you are managing your team remotely, this may be even more challenging, as it can be hard to have an opinion of someone you rarely interact with.

4. Learn to operate under stress

Your ability to handle stress will tie directly to the strength of your executive presence. It is difficult to inspire confidence in your team if you are unable to cope with stress and rise to the occasion when things are challenging.

If you are in the office, make sure that tough times do not cause you to appear rushed or flustered. If speaking with your team remotely, make sure your temper is controlled and you do not use remote work as an excuse to not check in with your team. Are you looking for work? See who is hiring at CyberCoders.com.