Leadership Presence Series – Post 14 of 16: Benefits of Presence

Ever wondered, “What’s so great about executive presence? What are the benefits of presence? Why can’t we concentrate on gaining the essential leadership knowhow and skills and leave it at that?” If so, read on…

Introduction

If leadership presence is a key to leading successfully – and it is – we need to understand it. So what is it? What’s so great about it? How does it show itself? What’s the source of presence? How do you develop it? That’s what we’re covering in this 16-part series.

Welcome to part 14: Benefits of Presence.

What Are The Benefits of Presence?

I’ll answer this question from two angles:

1. Your personal gains as leader.
2. Your relationship with those you lead.

My answers are founded not on opinion, but on personal experience and coaching client case histories.

Benefits To You (Leader)

As you express the seven qualities more:

• You can expect to feel greater resilience, meaning you’ll handle stress and adversity with more composure and humour.
• Your behavioural flexibility should increase, meaning you’ll connect and influence better.
• Your wisdom and creativity may improve.
• You’ll most likely develop a measure of what I call 21st century gravitas – an aura of easy, relaxed, self-assured but approachable (not sombre) power and significance. That will help you stand out and be heard without straining.

For leaders these are priceless assets, but take note: you won’t acquire these assets through knowhow and skills alone. They come from working on your leadership presence.

Benefits To Those You Lead

The second benefit of leadership presence is a stronger, more durable emotional bond with co-leaders and so-called followers. A bond that sustains the group through good and bad times. A bond built on trust.

Leaders with well-developed presence are more likely to win people’s trust because:

• They serve the collective purpose; they don’t secretly put their personal interests ahead of those they lead.
• They’re not afraid to tell the truth about the group or organisation’s issues and the progress it’s making. They won’t hide or misrepresent important information.
• They’re committed to the mission so they walk the talk, setting an example by the way they behave.
• That same commitment means they follow through – they consistently do what they said they would do.

Key Takeway

Presence brings what knowhow and skills alone cannot – priceless personal and relational payoffs that usually result in higher group and organisational performance.

Questions for Reflection

1. How does my presence impact those I lead?
2. What benefits have I noticed when I’m fully present?
3. How can I cultivate more consistent presence to amplify these benefits?

Next post in the series: Research On Presence

[This post uses content from my 2016 book, The Three Levels of Leadership.]

Are you a visual or audio-orientated person? If so, you might prefer to see and hear me talking about leadership presence in my eleven-episode video series on YouTube at my YT channel, The Leadership Mastery Suite. When you arrive at the channel page, scroll down until you come to Created Playlists and there you’ll find the series, “On Leadership Presence”.