Defining YOUR Leadership Presence
I was watching old episodes of Grey’s Anatomy. There is one scene where Amelia, a brilliant brain surgeon with some deep wounds, is preparing for a high risk surgery. She places her hands on her hips, spreads her feet, tilts her head back, closes her eyes, and extends her solar plexus outward. She requests that everyone in the operating room do the same. A moment of silence to embody the energy. A moment to call up the needed resolve. She establishes herself as the leader.
I love this.
As she is facing a high-risk, never-before-tried surgery, she is taking on the persona she wants to feel. Strong, confident, powerful, and capable. She is embodying how she wants to show up. Even if a few nerves or questions are nagging at her, she fills her body up with the energy she wants. She leaves no space for doubt.
When clients come to me for help with their confidence as a leader, I ask them to consider who, real or fantasy, is their leadership role model. What do you notice about how they walk? How do they use language? How do they hold their body in meetings? How do they place their feet and hands? Are their eyes soft or hard? Is their jaw slack or tight? Is their demeanor predictable and steady or inconsistent?
Create a picture of them in your mind’s eye and then replicate what you sense it feels like to be them in your own body.
It may seem silly, but here’s the truth.
Even if you aren’t in a leadership position, you have a leadership presence. You get to choose what that leadership presence is. So why not choose a presence that instills confidence?
Here is an activity to get you started building leadership presence.
Every night for a week before you fall asleep, embody the leadership presence that you admire. Feel it in your bones, in your heart, and in your mind. During the day, call that energy up. Begin to wear it.
Notice what changes.
Are you being seen and heard more? Are you being asked to participate and collaborate? What shifts for you?
True story!
I had a client who wanted to be promoted to a director’s position. She had been passed over several times. I asked her to do this exercise for a week. On the fourth day, her boss stopped her in the hall and said, “I watched you in the meeting today. I think you are ready for that promotion.”