The idea of working from home is not a new one. In fact, many organizations have allowed it earlier as well as definitely during the COVID-19 pandemic.

And while many workers have had to return to the workplace because their employers have insisted, or they’re doing a hybrid model, one question that often comes up is, if I choose to work from home, how am I going to ensure that my promotion prospects don’t get affected?

In this video I am going to share with you 2 effective strategies which will help you improve your promotion prospects while you continue to work from home as well as the 12 tactics you need in order to make it work.

Prefer reading? Here’s the transcript with the 2 strategies and 12 tactics

First a few points.

Telecommuters are 50% less likely to get promoted

A Stanford University study actually indicated that Telecommuters are 50% less likely to get promoted. I’m going to share more about this study with you in a while.

But I also want to tell you other research has shown that this happens due to the assumptions that your colleagues make when they don’t see you around the office on a regular basis. They may think that you’re playing hooky when in fact you are actually working.

Another point is that this problem of inequity in promotions between remote and in-person workers has existed since well before the pandemic forced many people into home-work situations.

In fact, the Stanford Study that I was referring to earlier was actually done in 2015 and was conducted in China by researchers from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. And what they found was that people working from home were actually more productive. In fact 13% more to be exact. But – they weren’t rewarded with promotions at nearly the same rate as their in-office colleagues.

And according to Nicholas Bloom who was the study’s lead author and a professor of economics at Stanford, he said that it was striking that promotion rates plummeted. It was roughly half the promotion rate, compared to those in the office.

Now, if you do choose to work from home and you are concerned about your promotion prospects, let me tell you one thing. This can be overcome but you have to ensure that you raise your visibility and you’re able to demonstrate your reliability.

And for that I’ve got 2 strategies. The first is to increase your face time and the other one is to prove that you are reliable.  So, let’s have a closer look at the first one which is to increase your face time.

How to Increase Your Face Time

Now this is very important because as I had told you earlier that research has shown that people assume that others are not working. And managing your face time is a very big point in how your colleagues view you.

Because just seeing you around tends to create an impression that you’re actually a committed as a team player. If you are working remotely then you just simply have to make an extra effort.

1. Attend meetings

The first tactic is attend meetings. Now what I mean by that is occasionally do come into the office even if your presence isn’t required to attend meetings. And make sure you actually network with your colleagues. Talk to them. Share your ideas.

But definitely make sure you’re putting in some physical appearance. If location-wise that’s not possible then make you’re online with them so that you increase your face time.

2. Participate in social events

 The other one is to participate in social events. Now if your office is organizing an outing or a retreat or if your department is doing something, make sure that you participate in those events and in fact even volunteer to help out with it. All these little, little things can help people to know you, to recognize you and they will realize that no, this person is working, is very much a part of the team.

3. Throw a party

Now the third if you are up to it, is actually to throw a party. Now it doesn’t mean that you throw a wild party or something, but you can invite your colleagues over to your house for potluck dinner or you may invite them for cocktails or just generally, you know get together with them even outside the workplace so that they know that you are around.

4. Travel together

The other ways to increase your face time is, like I said, if your company is going on a retreat then try to book your tickets so that you’re travelling along with the rest of your colleagues in a group. That makes a very, very big difference.

5. Volunteer as a group

You can also volunteer as a group.  If there is a project that your organization does as a Corporate Social Responsibility one, then you can volunteer your time in there. And also try to help out with the logistics. All these things make sure that people know that you are very much around.

6. Join a Committee

You can join a committee if there’s one in your organization that looks at different matters or something which is of personal interest to you. In other words, volunteer. Working from home doesn’t mean you don’t step out of your home or come into the office. What it means is you work from home, but you make sure that other aspects are covered.

7. Share photos

And then, share photos. And when I’m saying share photos, I’m not saying share photos of your dog or of your cat playing office assistant and things like that. Keep that for social media if you want.

But the kind of photos I am telling you is that if you are going on site visits or if you are going for client meetings then take photographs and share with your boss so that he knows that yes, this person is stepping out.

This person is doing their work and in general this is going to help you because you also have to show that you want to get that promotion that you have good people skills and that you know how to deal with customers and clients and even vendors if required.

How to Prove Your Reliability

Now, the second strategy is you have to prove your reliability. And by here, what I mean is your boss has to know that you can be depended upon.

In fact, funnily enough that Stanford study showed that employees who work at home were happier and more productive. The facts are on your side.

1. Share your Personal Office Hours

You just need to let your colleagues know what you’re doing. So, when I say share your personal office hours, have it up in the system, the intranet of your organization so that your colleagues know when to contact you and when to follow up with you on different tasks or projects that you guys are doing.

2. Meet deadlines

The deadlines are very important. Make sure you are committed to them. No slacking off. In fact produce high quality work and try to exceed your boss’s expectations.  Just don’t do enough to be a 3 on a Bell Curve.

3. Exceed expectations

Make sure that you keep exceeding expectations and that you can be relied upon.  Keep your boss in the know about what all you are doing. Give regular feedback also and in general make sure that you keep others in the loop and you stay in the loop.

Now these 2 are very important when we’re talking about promotions and career prospects. Apart from doing everything to show that you’re reliable and people get to see your face and they know who you are, these 2 things are critical.

4. Track accomplishments

You have to track your accomplishments. In other words, you have to keep track because you’re not in the office and you’re going to have to provide evidence. So keep detailed records if you’re working independently most of the time.

And I suggest you take the last few minutes of the day to jot down what all you have achieved and then you can tell your boss about your success stories.

5. Prepare for evaluations

Likewise, prepare for evaluations and if possible, encourage your employer to actually base your promotion on key visible deliverables that you have done and on the outcomes you have produced.

In fact, present your accomplishments and suggest any broader issues that you want to discuss. You could talk about any other professional development that you may have or ask your boss about it. And all of this is basically indicate that you are serious about your career.

It will also help you to demonstrate your Executive Presence and also that you understand the dynamics of your workplace and that you are very much a team member even if you are working from home.

Final Words of Wisdom

So, my final words of wisdom are that you have to create more face time and you also have to show your boss that you’re indispensable.

These are the first 2 things you need to do. But also remember that you have to ask for what you want, whether it’s a raise or a new position or a project because your boss is not a mind reader.

You have to ask for what you want, and you have to demonstrate you are up to it.

And if you put all of this together, you’re going to be well on your way to a successful career while you work from home. And everyone’s going to be happy.

Now I have mentioned earlier about Executive Presence. Some people think that in order to show Executive Presence you actually have to be in the office. That’s not quite true.

You can also demonstrate Executive Presence on the phone. You can demonstrate Executive Presence on video calls. It’s just that you have to change certain ways of doing it.

And I invite you to download for free, my Executive Presence Checklist and see where you are actually measuring up.

Along with that checklist you also get a series of emails where I am going to be pointing out the areas you need to focus on.

Just because you’re working from home doesn’t mean you cannot develop or demonstrate your Executive Presence. So please go ahead and download this checklist and see where you stand. And that’s a wrap.

My question to you or rather my parting question to you is, which of these tactics are you going to try first for maximum results? Go ahead and do it and then come back and share your results with me.

This is Vatsala Shukla from Karmic Ally Coaching signing off. All the best. Let’s rock your career!

Do strong emotions affect the way you manage conflicts whether in the workplace or at home?

If you nodded in agreement, then take heart.

Even for the most seasoned pros, resolving conflict can still bring up some powerful emotions.

Have you ever wondered why this happens and how you can avoid getting sucker-punched by your feelings while you are trying to fix a tricky situation?

Hi, I’m Vatsala Shukla, Chief Encouragement Officer at Karmic Ally Coaching. In this presentation, I’ll be discussing how to manage strong emotions when dealing with conflict.

Your composure or lack of it impacts people’s perception of your having Gravitas and a level of Emotional Intelligence. These in turn impact how others perceive your Executive Presence.

Strong Emotions & Conflict Resolution: Prefer to read? Here’s the transcript

Conflicts inherently come from an emotional place. It is vital you practice self-awareness, know how to control your feelings and resolve them successfully.

Understanding Conflict

To begin with, let us try to understand conflict is.

Conflicts come from differences between two or more people. You may disagree over goals, perceptions, needs, ideas, or values, and this rift triggers an emotional response because the other person is threatening something we hold very dear to us.

It may not even be the differing ideas or goals that are the real source of the problem; instead, it is about what these differences mean to having your need for safety, understanding, respect, acceptance, or another emotional requirement fulfilled.

These unmet needs are the real source of conflict, and because they are connected to our emotional health, we feel them very strongly when they are under threat.

The most common emotions that are activated during a conflict are anger and fear, which can manifest in many different ways.

It could be your body language sending out combat signals, that knee jerk email that you can’t recall. Or even shouting at the other person which goes against you even though you may be right about the issue. Think about it. Has this ever happened to you?

When you’re in the middle of a conflict, it’s common to automatically enter into a “fight or flight” mentality.

You experience an adrenalin rush. If you’re not able to control it or aren’t aware of what’s happening to you, you end up reacting rather than responding in an emotionally intelligent manner.

So let’s first understand and then manage our emotions during conflict.

Understanding and Managing Emotions during Conflict

In my blog post Conflict Management can be easy and without losing one’s mind, I recommended focusing on the issue.

It’s easier said than done when our emotions come into the picture.

One of the most important steps in managing your emotions to resolve a conflict is first identifying them and understanding their source.

Getting in touch with your anger or fear (or sadness or whatever else you are feeling) is vital.

Until you know what you are feeling and why, you cannot possibly hope to get your feelings under control. Doing this outside of the conflict situation is imperative.

You cannot rationally discuss a problem with someone else while simultaneously trying to work out why you are feeling the way you do.

It is also helpful to look at how this emotion has influenced you in the past, and if those actions were productive.

When you’ve been angry before, did you lash out physically or use your words to demean someone else?

What were the consequences of your hostile actions, and why would you have or rather what would you have done differently?

Recognizing the emotions of the other person’s also essential. Why do they feel the way they do, and how are their emotions influencing their actions?

Use the exercise of perceptual positions to get a feel of the other person’s point of view. And above all, don’t let your emotions feed the other person’s emotions. Maintain composure and don’t allow the other person know how you’re getting upset.

This will help you to find a win-win solution.

Understand your Emotional Buttons

Understanding your emotional “buttons” is crucial to making sure that your emotions do not take over when you are trying to resolve your problem.

What are the issues, comments, or actions that are most likely to make you upset or feel frustrated? When you hear or see these things, what can you do instead to minimize your emotional response to them?

Once you know your trigger points, it’s easier to manage your response to them and not feel blindsided when they come up during conflict.

In fact, I usually ask my clients about the trigger points when they mention that they got upset or they lost their cool. And normally, it turns out that there is something else going on in the background.

Acknowledge and Label your Feelings

I recommend that you acknowledge and label your feelings.

And this comes from Susan David, who’s the author of Emotional Agility, who points out that when you’re feeling emotional, the attention you give your thoughts and feelings crowd your mind and there’s no room to examine them. And you have to distance yourself from the feeling and label it. Call a thought a thought and an emotion an emotion.

You see, labelling allows you to see your thoughts and feelings for what they are: the transient sources of data that may or may not prove helpful. And when  you put that space between these emotions and you, it’s easier to let them go — and not bury them or let them explode.

What’s Your physical response?

Becoming more aware of your physical response to emotions can also help you get a handle on them in times of stress. When you are upset or angry, what happens to your pulse? How does your stomach feel? What sensations do you notice in other parts of your body?

The more you are aware of these responses, the better you will be able to recognize them as they are starting to build up rather than waiting until you are in full-blown reaction to begin to de-escalate.

Other ideas to handle strong Emotions

I have some other ideas that can help you to handle strong emotions. Mindfulness and breathing strategies can help to calm you when your emotional response kicks in.

You can use the power of mantras or affirmations to calm yourself down. You can try saying ‘all is well’ or ‘this is not me/ about me’. Or anything else that can help you to calm down in the moment. You can also try tapping your collar bone just below the neck to release any pent up emotion.

Learning how to talk about your feelings and the unmet needs can help you to resolve your problems.

And, without blaming, you should be able to express to the other person how their actions or beliefs are actually making you feel, and you should also practice listening to their responses, which can give insight into the situation.

If nothing else, request a break and stretch your body or simply stand up and walk a bit.

Another technique that I find works well is to touch each finger with the thumb until one feels calm. And this is one that I have actually tried before and I suggest it. Nobody would even know what’s going on.

Extra Resource: Having Tough Conversations Tipsheet

I have an extra resource that will help you, especially when you’re having tough conversations and can help you to avoid conflict. The link to my special report Having Tough Conversations is given below this video.

So having shared all of that, I’d like to leave you with a quote and a question.

The quote is from Frederick Lenz and it’s very true.

“Learn to control your emotions. Be able to glide through them. By practicing concentration exercises and meditation, you will find that when strong emotions strike, you will gain the ability to not be swayed by them.”

And overall, becoming more emotionally aware will help you avoid feeling ambushed by your feelings while also learning to channel them productively into finding a resolution to your source of conflict.

That’s all from me for now but I’d like to leave you with a question, for you to consider and perhaps even leave me with a reply.

That is, which tip will you apply first the next time you’re experiencing strong emotions during a conflict situation?

With that, I leave you to reflect on this question. I’m Vatsala Shukla from Karmic Ally Coaching signing off. Bye for now.

Every professional worth his or her salt knows that demonstrating Executive Presence is important for their career, especially if they are aiming at a Leadership position.

But what about toxic behaviour? Did you know that toxic behaviour can actually ruin your efforts to show Executive Presence?

Resources mentioned in video blog

Blog Post: How to Peacefully Handle Toxic People with Grace

Free Emotional Intelligence Traits Checklist

Course: Detox Your Toxic Workplace (click here or on the image below for details)

Update April 2024: This course is now available at Karmic Ally Coaching’s Success Solutions

Prefer reading about how Toxic behaviour ruins our Executive Presence? Transcript below:

Hi, I’m Vatsala Shukla, Chief Encouragement Officer at Karmic Ally Coaching and in this presentation, I want to discuss toxic behaviour and its impact on Executive Presence.

The topic came about while I was preparing my micro course on handling toxic workplace culture. And then it struck me that, what if, we ourselves are the toxic person in question.

But first things first, let’s have a look at something else.

And that is, a question about, what does executive presence mean to you?

Now the reason I’m asking this is I’m not looking for a textbook explanation or something you may have read in an article, but what does it actually mean to you?

And that it can mean different things to different people and it is quite a difficult concept to explain at times.

When I asked a couple of people what Executive Presence meant to them, I came up with a couple of answers and the 5 main ones were that they wanted to walk into a room and command attention.

In other words, command the place.

They wanted to be charming enough compared to others to compete with others for a prestigious promotion.

They wanted to demonstrate gravitas and wow people even if they didn’t know how to make it work. Or they wanted to impress with their expertise.

But most of them felt the following two. And that is, they wanted, desired more respect and they wanted to have their voice, recommendations and ideas heard and to be taken more seriously.

So that is fine. They understood what Executive Presence is.

But where do we go wrong in understanding Executive Presence?

It’s all about how you come across to others & present yourself.

Basically, Executive Presence is a soft skillset, it’s a behaviour or competency that a professional can develop provided they’re willing to put in consistent practice.

In other words, it’s not just for a presentation or for a meeting, but it has to be done consistently throughout.

And most importantly, it’s not about you!

It is about how those who you are presenting before or working with experience you. So, I also noticed there are certain behaviours which show that you do not have Executive Presence or that you are lacking in it which are also quite similar to toxic behaviour.

The 3 that I have identified are, that you speak too much and you dominate the conversation. Now it could be that you are eager to impress and you don’t realize that your behaviour may be seen as lacking Executive Presence.

You struggle to moderate your emotions or struggle to adjust to others’ emotions. In other words, your emotional intelligence is low.

And much worse, you are prone to outbursts and emotional outbursts will definitely make sure that nobody considers you for the next position.

Now here’s a short case study of my own

If you remember, in my blog post on How to Peacefully Handle Toxic People with Grace, I spoke about a new boss who had come in, who wanted his own team and he set about making sure that those of us who were still there had a hard time.

He wasn’t in the mood to fire but he definitely wanted us out.

And, apart from being a bully, his actions actually ruined the ambiance in the department and all of us who had been working quite well with each other suddenly became backstabbers and because our team actually interacted with people outside of the department, their activities were noticed by everyone.

Suddenly all of us started to lose what we had as Executive Presence.

The question is, how did we become so toxic?

The truth is we became fixated with the wishes of the boss.

We were under psychological distress and our organization didn’t bother to either acknowledge or address the powerful communicator and we continued that way.

Instead of focusing on the mission of the organization we started focusing on what the boss wanted so that we wouldn’t get targeted by this boss, who made sure that the targeting was done in open space.

Everything became urgent. In other words, we stopped looking at tasks or prioritizing them, looking at urgent and not urgent.

The Covey quadrant went out of the window, everything was urgent and our patience threshold started to decrease which meant we were all snappy at each other and cranky.

And we drove each other to exhaustion but we didn’t reach out for help because by that time we were completely intimidated by the behaviour of the boss.

The truth is, that, no one is born toxic. But toxicity not only hurts the other person but it also takes away a lot from us.

According to experts, stress and undue pressure inculcates this toxic side in people, who more often than not are not even aware of their toxic behaviours.

Maybe that was the situation with our boss also who had been brought in to achieve a certain goal and he needed to deliver. So toxic behaviour could be situational.

Now, coming back to you, do you think you’re toxic?

Here are 9 signs that I’d like you to consider and see if any of them resonates with you.

Firstly, you criticize others for no rhyme or reason and you blame them for delays or lapses.

You squeal about others to your boss in order to earn brownie points.

And this is something that happened to me with that same toxic boss because one of my assistants was so scared of losing his job he started speaking ill about me to the boss who was more than happy to get notes on what all I was upto whether it was true or false.

You start to look for the negative in every situation or proposal and beat down people if they come up with an idea.

You talk more than using the skill of active listening and you end up micro-managing your team and keeping checks on them. In other words, you don’t really let them function.

You’re so scared, you’re so stressed out that you don’t want a mistake so you don’t let them do their work.

You tend to react aggressively when someone confronts you and you insult others in public instead of having private conversations behind closed doors. In other words, you hit at the other person’s self-respect and self-esteem.

And you simply need to have the last word in any conversation or disagreement. That is the power of being or becoming toxic. So my question to you is

Considering what I’ve spoken about earlier, are you lacking Executive Presence or are you toxic?

And if you feel you have become toxic,

Here are the 3 steps that I can suggest to reclaim your Executive Presence and reduce that toxic behaviour.

Firstly, start with reviewing your behaviour and making the changes required.

You’ve already got 9 signs of toxic behaviour. You’ve got 3 places where people lack Executive Presence and show toxicity. Make the required changes.

Secondly, stop handing out permission slips to others who provoke your toxic reactions because it could be that you’re responding to them in the wrong way.

And thirdly, use the guidance and actions that I’ve put in my new course Detox Your Toxic Workplace.

This course will show you exactly what is toxic behaviour. It will help you identify and manage toxic relationships, a toxic boss and also toxic colleagues.

On top of it, I’ve also included certain other resources that will help you to build your resilience so that you stop being toxic and start focusing more on demonstrating true Executive Presence. As a final word,

I’d like to leave you with this beautiful quote from Osho which I think sums up what you really need to do and that is  to remain in the world, act in the world, do whatsoever is needful, and yet remain transcendental, aloof, detached, a lotus flower in the pond.

That’s all from me. This is Vatsala Shukla signing off. See you next time.

High Performance doesn’t necessarily mean High Potential. Both traits aren’t mutually exclusive and why confusion sometimes happens during appraisal time.

Performance reviews use the spectrum of delivery based on the level of the employee and what is expected of them in their job role.

So the markers start with ‘doesn’t meet expectation’ all the way to ‘exceeds expectations’ and even being identified as a leadership candidate.

That’s when the problem starts. A High Potential employee will naturally be a High Performer but it’s possible the High Performer won’t have High Potential.

The number of times I’ve heard of professionals being promoted to management roles and then becoming failures in the new role can’t be counted.

These high performing professionals failed at taking their teams along with them to the kind of results that they had in their individual capacity.

They lacked the leadership qualities required for the next rung up the corporate ladder. Yet they were promoted based on individual performance.

I worked with a young professional way in my Big Four days on a complex assignment involving multi-location client sites.

To top it, there was a mercurial Chief Financial Officer whose temper literally sat on his nose. He was new to India and still adjusting to our culture. The Audit Partner and I had to treat him with kid gloves.

The young professional was an Audit Executive and performed well. He got a 5 on the Bell Curve annual appraisal and  promoted to Senior Executive. Going forward he would lead a small team for the location audits.

The following year he got the job done but required a lot of supervision from myself and other Senior Executives on the job.

Forget about High Potential he didn’t even demonstrate High Performance!

I gave him a 3 for the assignment marking. When the annual appraisal time rolled in, the Audit Partner wanted to rank him a 2, one number short of asking the person to leave or get fired.

After consulting the other Senior Manager, I requested to at least mark him a 3 as he had delivered on other audit assignments.

I also suggested  counselling him about applying his potential and being able to manage a team even when under pressure.

I left the organization a few months later but kept in touch with some colleagues. I learned afterwards that counselling was ineffective and this professional was unable to perform at the new level.

He was subsequently placed at a client’s place in a low pressure job. It was a dignified exit. One hoped he was able to apply himself and achieve success.

Call it the Peter’s Principle if you want, which refers to a person reaching their own level of incompetence.

I’d prefer to consider whether the person really possesses the aptitude and potential to be a leader. Or even wants to be a leader. Perhaps they are motivated by other elements of their lives.

One can’t blame organizations either, because performance is visible, tangible and measurable.

Potential is more subjective, method of measurement used and depends upon the end goals of the organization.

Unless qualities like leadership aptitude and change management are included in appraisals, they will remain hidden factors for identifying the potential of the employee.

Identifying High Potential Employees

As I mentioned earlier, the idea of a high potential employee depends upon the employer’s end goals and what they identify as HiPo or High Potential.

In an interesting article that I read some time back there is a clear pattern common across all industries when identifying high potential employees.

That is, the payoff from employing top talent – defined as the vital few who account for the biggest chunk of organizational output — increases as a function of job complexity.

The article noted that talented employees are “force multipliers”, raising the performance bar for their colleagues, and particularly for their direct reports.

By word and deed, they model and teach winning behaviors that shape high-performing cultures. Adding a star performer to a team boosts the effectiveness of other team members by 5-15%.

No wonder studies show that companies making proportionally greater investments in identifying and developing top talent show stronger financial performance.

Identifying these talented individuals becomes important for the organization. They also need to ensure that the employee being identified as high potential does possess that potential.

Progressive organizations often establish their own benchmarks and normally look for professionals who

• Will perform well in a senior management role
• Have the ability to improve performance within their business sector
• Have the drive and determination to move to the top of the career ladder within the company

These benchmarks are communicated to their employees and you would recognize them as criterion in your annual performance plans.

These include key performance indicators, achievements and behaviours that are likely to make somebody suitable for promotion.

There are numerous tools used including 360 degree appraisal systems and even personality profiling.

A Harvard survey found that 98% of companies have some sort of system to identify high performers, a select group that represents only about 3 to 5% of the workforce.

Meanwhile, staying in those elite ranks is almost as challenging as getting there. The same survey found that up to 20% of these rising stars drop off the list each year.

How to demonstrate your High Potential to the Boss

Whether you want to climb up the ladder to senior management or be picked for interesting projects you need to be proactive.

Your boss needs to see your high potential and performance to champion you.

Your organization might have its benchmarks and criterion but that doesn’t mean you can’t take the initiative to stand out and be visible.

Competence at your current job and achieving targets is a starting point, but it takes more than that to advance. This is true for any stage of your career.

Displaying Your Potential Early in Your Career

When you’re new on the job, focus on fitting in and making connections. That groundwork will build a stable foundation for your future.

1. Deliver results on time. Track and document your accomplishments. Develop a reputation for exceeding expectations and completing assignments on time. Identify challenges where you can propose solutions.
2. Support your boss and strive to make your boss look good. Study their priorities so you know where to devote your efforts.
3. Focus on learning. Keep the big picture in mind as you find out all you can about your company and your industry. Ask lots of questions, be observant, and read the latest news. Be proactive in your professional development.
4. Be open to receiving feedback. Learn about yourself too. Invite others to let you know what they think about your work. Be open to criticism and thank your colleagues for their comments.
5. Apply your knowledge. For your lessons to have an impact, you need to translate them into action. Analyze information to discover its practical applications. Make a list of takeaways each time you pick a coworker’s brain or attend a training or conference.
6. Be humble. Let your actions speak for themselves. Contribute to the team and share credit with others. Develop your Emotional Intelligence.

Displaying Your Potential Later in Your Career

By the time you’re in mid or senior stages of your career, your competence tends to be taken for granted.

Now, you’re more likely to be appreciated and marked against intangibles like leadership, vision, emotional and social intelligence.

1. Develop a specialty. Be prepared to let go of some responsibilities so you can leverage your strengths. Identify what you’re good at and what you like to do.
2. Provide a role model and be a mentor. Think about the qualities you admire in your own role models and adapt them to suit your style. Reach out to new hires and offer constructive feedback to your peers.

3. Motivate others. Encourage others to pursue their passions too. Provide the employees you manage with opportunities to learn and grow. Empower them with meaningful work. In other words, be an influential leader.
4. Serve as a brand ambassador. Your behavior reflects on your company as you deal with clients or the general public. Ensure you understand the mission statement so you can put those values into action.
5. Take risks. You can act like an entrepreneur even if someone else owns the company. Take sensible risks that will allow you to stretch your skills and enhance your company’s position. Start off small and learn from experience so you can fine tune your judgement over time.

Demonstrating your potential to your boss will help you gain recognition and promotions. You will find a mentor and champion as you aim for the higher rungs of the corporate ladder.

Position yourself for success by strengthening your performance at the early stages of your career.

Later, you can count on your business savvy and close relationships to help you excel as a leader.

So you’ve got great Executive Presence and people experience it when you’re in the room but what about after you’ve left? Are you memorable?

Now this is coming out of a communication that I had with a subscriber of mine who had tried the Karmic Ally Coaching Executive Presence Checklist and she told me that people told her she had Executive Presence, she felt she had it and YET she was also told she wasn’t memorable!

Prefer to read? Here’s the transcript

Now I don’t think that’s a very good thing because when you are trying to build up your career and go places, then you shouldn’t be like a one hit wonder on the Top of the Pops List but more like an evergreen song.

So are you?

Hi, I’m Vatsala Shukla, Chief Encouragement Officer at Karmic Ally Coaching and today I’m going to be looking at how to become memorable when you’ve got great Executive Presence.

But first things first. Do you believe you’re memorable? Hold that thought and let us go through this and then of course, we’ll come back to this question.

But first things first let’s get on the same page.

And that is, what’s being memorable?

Now there’re lots of definitions in the dictionary and the one that I’ve chosen comes from the Cambridge Dictionary, which defines Memorable as being “likely to be remembered or worth remembering”.

So it’s not just that, there are a lot of other things that are involved in being memorable.

And that is,

Are you memorable for the right or the wrong reasons?

Now let me give you an example. On the left hand side, there’s this lovely Chinese restaurant and in fact, when this lady had written to me, I told her it could be a matter of communication and that of course its better not to be remembered than to be memorable for all the wrong reasons.

It immediately took me back to a restaurant that I used to frequent as a student days in my London days in the late 1980s called Wong Kei. And it was famous for all the wrong reasons.

The biggest one being the waiters were very, very, very rude. You know they’d shout at you to Sit down, shout at you if you asked for a fork and knife, shout at you and run after you if you did not give a suitable tip. The food was divine.

And I suspect all of us went there more for the experience of rude waiters rather than anything else. Of course the management changed I believe in the early 2000’s and after that the waiters became friendlier.

But even today, 30 odd years later, I remember Wong Kei as much for the food, as much for the rude waiters and the way they slammed stuff on the table.

On the right hand side we’ve got this really nice, three course meal dinner table and that one is related to another story that I remember about Dale Carnegie, the one who wrote about how to win friends and influence people.

He actually tells a story about how he got a great sales opportunity at a dinner table party where he sat next to a man who spoke for 4 hours non-stop allowing Carnegie to only speak for about two minutes.

But, at the end of all of it, this man declared that “Dale Carnegie is the best conversationalist I’ve ever met”. I mean, when you’ve only spoken for 2 minutes?

Well here’s the deal. Mr Carnegie used active listening and showed he was interested in this gentleman. And the rewards were that he was remembered and he was given an awesome sales opportunity.

Now given a choice, which one would you want? Would you want to be memorable for the right or the wrong reasons?

Adopt a positive body language

So here’s a quick tip also inspired by the Carnegie story and that is to adopt a positive body language because that is a silent but powerful communicator.

In other words, your posture, facial expressions, your gestures, they all convey volumes about your Executive Presence.

And I’ve actually got a blog post that goes deeper into the posture for Executive Presence, but in the coming slide there are some quick wins.

Firstly, there are 3 keys to positive body language.

The first is of course good posture where you stand tall, shoulders back, straight back.

You know, when you stand tall, people tend to remember you more than a slouchy person. Unless you’re the hunchback of Notre Dame, which I know you are not.

The other one is holding an open position, you know, a relaxed look with arms and legs uncrossed, fists unclenched, open palms, you’re inviting people to converse with you.

And thirdly is just smile and maintain good eye contact because that also indicates receptivity and it creates trust.

So based again on our story and a few other things, here are some more quick wins that you can use to become memorable.

Firstly, you need to make an extra effort to remember people’s names. Mr Carnegie has gone as far as to say the sweetest sound to anybody’s ears is the sound of his own name.

Make everyone feel important by paying full attention to him or her. Make them feel like they’re the only person in the room and that they’re the only people who matter even if you don’t feel so but you know building trust with the other person.

Show curiosity and interest in others and develop the skill of active listening. You know, there’s too much hearing going on in the world right now and not enough listening. So if you can develop this skill, you’re much ahead of others.

Of course display a sense of humor and become a good conversationalist by keeping abreast of current events. At least listen to the news if not read the daily papers and know what’s going on in your industry.

Most importantly, please don’t drone away and bore people to sleep. You know, speak concisely short to the point. Nobody has time to hear a whole story before you get to the point.

And always ask people for their opinions. I mean, people love the sound of their own voice. They like to feel heard.

Do not interrupt when someone’s talking and most importantly give compliments.

Be genuine when giving compliments. Just make sure you’re not coming across as being insincere.

And if you also need to develop some Executive Presence AND be memorable, here are 5 ways you can do it.

Firstly, create a great first impression. You know your first impression is critical and once its done its done.

You won’t be able to take it back even if turns out you’re the best person to help the other person across you, for a very important job interview as well as for a very important promotion if there is somebody who doesn’t know you who’s doing the interviewing. I’ve also got a blog post on that. I’ll share the link with you.

The second one is own your uniqueness.  I’d love to say take ownership of your quirks but maybe your uniqueness is the better way to put it across because when you blend in, nobody remembers you but if you actually differentiate yourself for all the right reasons, now remember you’re not going to want to be remembered like the rude waiters at Wong Kei restaurant.

Instead, you’ll want people to remember you for something better. So own up to your uniqueness.  Use it.

Practice the Law of Giving. The world nowadays is so full of me, me, me. People are always trying to take and not give. Be generous. Give things. If you can add value to someone’s life, do it. If you know somebody who’s a good fit, use your network skill to connect people.

All of that comes under the Law of Giving and again I’ve got a blog post and I’ll give you a link for that.

And fourthly work on developing your expertise.  In other words, don’t try to be a jack of all trades. People remember things that are superlative.

So you need to first find out your superpowers then integrate it into everything you do. Be consistent about it. Let people remember you for all the right reasons.

If you’re great at storytelling, use storytelling tell anecdotes in your conversations with people. They will remember you for it.

Or if you’ve got a special style of doing things, stick to it. If you’re great, good at giving presentations, stick to the presentation giving in the office rather than trying to be at the back-end of things.

And most importantly, always keep a positive optimistic attitude. You know, there’s enough negativity going around you. You don’t want to be memorable for all the wrong reasons.

You don’t want someone saying if there’s an opportunity coming up for you for a leadership role or something that’s a task or a project that can take your career places, you don’t want to be shut off from that just because someone says ‘oh you know, this person has a negative attitude or this person is very difficult to work with.”

Instead, optimistic positive people keep brightening up the room wherever they go and that too is a part of Executive Presence. It’s part of your WOW factor. So keep a positive attitude. Work on it.

And if you’re feeling curious then this is the exact Executive Presence Checklist that my subscriber used in order to determine if she had Executive Presence and as it turned out she did but she wasn’t memorable.

So now that I’ve told you how to be memorable why not also check out whether you have all these 15 professional habits that indicate Leadership Presence and your Executive Presence of course.

Besides its free. So you have nothing to lose. Other than pay with your email address and download it and there’s a lot more that goes along with this.

So coming back full circle, try the suggestions that I gave you for improving your memorability and then let me know, are you being memorable for all the right reasons?

I look forward to reading your comments. And that’s all for now. See you soon in my next set of Executive Presence Tips. This is Vatsala Shukla signing off. Bye.

Composure is an important characteristic of Gravitas and Executive Presence. It requires the skill of Anger Management.

Think back to your early corporate world days and tell me, which boss was the one you wanted to emulate as you progressed up the career ladder?

The one who maintained his composure and knew how to control his temper during crisis?

The one who used to keep shouting and screaming like a mad person and intimidating you and your colleagues?

Click here for the Developing Your Self-Awareness Bundle

You can continue reading the transcript below:

Hi, my name is Vatsala Shukla and I’m the Chief Encouragement Officer of Karmic Ally Coaching and we’re continuing on our series of quick wins with Executive Presence Tips.

Now the question I asked you, you must consider because the mad mind, mad cap manager most probably didn’t get very far with his career and if he’s the role model you chose, then I’m sure you’ve had enough issues with your career.

If you went, if you chose to emulate the one who managed to keep calm and composed during crisis time, then I’m sure that by now you really don’t need to listen or watch this tutorial.

It reminds me of the time when as a Senior Audit Manager, I was working for a client who was highly strung to say the least and had a serious anger management issue.

In fact, there was one time when for no rhyme or reason he decided to take out his temper on me in front of his staff as well as my audit team.

He literally had me in tears. I phoned my boss and I told him what had happened.

And the boss simply said to get out of there for the day which I did and later on I told my boss that I was not going back in until this person gave me an unconditional apology which of course didn’t happen because this was a very important client and my boss, the Partner of the firm decided to go with the client.

That’s fine because a few months later I quit the firm because as far as I was concerned, an employer who does not value my dignity as a professional and as a lady, and who is willing to allow the client to misbehave with me in front of my team and put down my credibility, I didn’t want to work with such a company. And I soon after forgot about it and I moved on.

Come six months later and I got a couple of calls from my former audit team members telling me about an incident that had taken place recently when the audit, final audit was taking place.

This time round, my boss, the Partner was there for the finalization of the audit and this same client screamed and shouted at HIM in front of the team and of course my boss had to take it with a pinch of salt because this was a high paying client, very important client but it made an impact on my team members and soon after that they also moved on to companies where they were valued and they were respected because they felt that a boss who cannot stand up for himself or a lady manager was not worth working for.

About a few weeks after that, I got another call and this time it was from somebody at the client whom I had known quite well and whom I’d continued to stay in touch with and it seems that particular man had been fired because having gotten away with insulting me and then my boss, he took it one step too far and in a fit of anger he assaulted the Head of IT.

After that there was no turning back.

A person who had spent 25 years of his career with an organization in different countries was asked to leave because they could not have him assaulting people just because something was going wrong.

And all of that, an entire career went down the drain.

So you might be asking me now,

What’s Anger Management got to do with Leadership or Executive Presence?

But here’s the thing, the reason I shared this little story with you was because there are some severe effects of anger in the workplace and one of the most prevalent problems that employees say they face in the workplace is a leader prone to anger.

In this particular case, I have seen it with the audit client whose staff had also seen it and it went too far. And as you’d have guessed by now, anger is the most destructive emotion that a leader can exhibit.

And in fact, each year, millions of employees they either disengage from their jobs or leave them entirely due to their inability to endure their leader’s anger.

Now before you think that these are one-off incidents, anger at the leadership level is actually an old issue.

It’s one that has improved a little despite a greater focus in recent years on self-assessment, workplace behavior and anger management.

In fact, I’d go as far as to say, that Leaders who have learned to control their anger experience amazing responses from their people, as efficiencies, morale and engagement climb significantly.

And I have seen that too with leaders who knew how to maintain their composure in trying times and lead from the front rather than taking out their frustrations on their team.

4 Characteristics that impact Gravitas

So, when we think about Gravitas, there are actually 4 characteristics. If you’d like to learn more about what Gravitas is, then there is a link to a post where I explain it further but for now, there are 4 characteristics that impact Gravitas, which is your WOW factor, the one which makes people actually notice you when you walk into the room and know that there is something different about this person.

One is the Reputation, the other one is the Signature Voice. Then there is Composure that we’re talking about and Competence. Now today we’re going to focus on the composure element.

Composure means that you embrace challenges with vigor, seeing them as a call to do your best. It’s composure that calms fears and diffuses tension.

It clarifies thinking and focuses energy on solving the problem at hand which unfortunately my audit client didn’t seem to know how to handle. And this composure actually comes from exercising Emotional Intelligence.

It encompasses a leader’s ability to communicate and align with people and to align those people. Think back again to the question I had asked you.

If you had a choice between a leader who screamed and shouted and one who remained calm during crisis or under pressure, who would you prefer to emulate?

Which brings me to the question that, how could we avoid becoming a Leader turned Hulk like the client had and I’m sure many of you have your own personal examples of your workplace.

Well, I’ve got a couple of tips to help you with that. To maintain, control your anger and also to be able to present or demonstrate Executive Presence. But it all begins with you.

Allow Yourself to Feel Anger – For a Moment

And the first one is you’ve got to allow yourself to feel the anger but only for a moment. Because anger is actually a very natural emotion. And if you’re going to try to pretend that you don’t feel it, it’s only going to prevent you from processing those emotions in a natural way.

So understand that you’re human and give yourself a moment to allow yourself to feel angry. And then find a way to let the anger out. You can ask yourself what’s happened and why did it anger you?

And once you have a firm grasp on your thought process, then you have to ask yourself whether it is helpful? If it is helpful, then learn what you can from it. And if it isn’t helpful, then you’ve got to stop thinking about the problem and start thinking about what you need to do next.

Look at the Future instead of Dwelling on the Past

Another thing you should do is start looking at the future instead of dwelling on the past. In other words focus on solutions instead of on the setbacks because anger is never productive.

It is a waste of time and energy that could go into finding a solution to the problem.

So when the servers down and you’ve got a deadline, instead of shouting and screaming all around and getting angry, how about trying to figure out how to get the server up again or is there a backup you can use?

You can tell yourself, “it is what it is,” and then just keep moving forward.

Focusing on what to do next isn’t just productive, it also helps you to feel better after a setback. And looking for a solution helps to get your mind off of the setback by distracting you from what just went wrong.

In fact this is something I’ve seen with a lot of people.

They seem to keep thinking about what went wrong, what went wrong, they missed a promotion, this happened, that happened and I keep telling them, “Okay, what’s happened is in the past and you can’t really return or remove it but how about looking forward and seeing if there is something better that you can do or something better aligned to what is good for you?”.

Look at Things as Challenges instead of Problems

And then the third one is look at things as challenges instead of problems. If you can just do that, then it will actually help you to move forward faster. It will also stop you from getting so angry that you lose your composure.

In fact, reframe and think of the setback as a challenge. This is a mindset thing. Because most advancement and recognition in this world comes from overcoming challenges.

And if you could just for a moment stop griping about what went wrong, look at the situation as, okay, this is a challenge, how am I going to fix it because everything that goes wrong is actually an opportunity for those of us who can find a way to correct it.

What if another person upsets you?

Now you might ask me, what if another person upsets you? What then? Well, I’d like you to then think about it.

Did this person actually mean to upset you? Or is it something else that is going on inside you that makes you feel that the person deliberately tried to upset you or you got upset?

Remember the times when you have also done things inadvertently and managed to upset someone else. Did you mean it? Was it intentional?

Sometimes it’s better when someone has upset you to just calmly talk to them. Tell them what they did that hurt you or upset you and give the other person the chance to explain.

For all you know they wouldn’t even have known they have gone and upset you. You know getting upset is also a very personal thing.

So I have a quote from Mark Twain that I’d like to share with you which ties up with what I was saying about anger being so destructive and that is that anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than on anyone (to anything) on which it is poured.

In other words change the way you look at things, change your mindset, change your attitude, don’t let anger get the better of you.

Now to understand better about what triggers you, you need to have a higher level of Emotional Intelligence.

And the first thing you have to do to develop that Emotional Intelligence is to become more self-aware of what you’re all about, how you feel, what your triggers are, how do you react or respond to situations and for that I’ve got a wonderful self-study bundle.

It’s a self-awareness guide along with a workbook to help you and it’s not very expensive. But it will help you a lot in developing your own Emotional Intelligence and what sets you off.

To Recap our Anger Management Tips

So to recap, leaders with anger issues affect employee morale and productivity. You don’t want to be seen as that kind of a leader.

Instead you want to be seen as a calm, collected and composed person because composure impacts Gravitas which is one of the biggest elements when you’re trying to demonstrate Executive Presence.

High Emotional Intelligence is important for composure and managing anger and your mindset and perspective enables you to manage anger and demonstrate Executive Presence.

So as always, I have a question for you.

Do you find it easy to control your temper, manage anger and maintain composure?

If yes, then do tell me your little tips that I can share with others and if not, maybe its time for you to sit down and think about it as to where do you need to improve on it.

And do let me know in the comments. Bye for now.

Are you concerned you might not be making a good first impression when it matters or demonstrating Executive Presence?

If yes, then I’ve got 3 rules for you which will make positive impact.

Watch the video below or read on and take action today.

There’s a lot more that goes into Executive Presence than simply showing up and wowing everybody in the corporate workplace. In fact, it starts much earlier.

In a previous video, I showed you how to use your posture to position yourself for success.

And as we continue on this series of Executive Presence Tips, today we’re going to look at a situation where you have to wow a person on a one-to-one basis or a one-to-many basis and not just, you know, have an aura full of Executive Presence.

Click here for Karmic Ally Coaching’s Executive Presence Special Offer

You can continue reading the transcript below

Hi, my name is Vatsala Shukla and I’m the Chief Encouragement Officer at Karmic Ally Coaching. And today I’m going to be looking at how you can create a great first impression.

But first, I have a question for you.

Do you feel like this when thinking of making the right first impression?

If you answered yes, then I’m not surprised. Most of us are scared that we may make the wrong first impression.

Now this goes back to our lizard brain and prehistoric times when survival required we be in a group and we wanted the other person to like us.

So if you get nervous about whether you will make a right first impression at an important meeting or in a job interview don’t worry. Welcome to the club. All of us have that feeling from time to time.

But the good news is that while making a great first impression isn’t always easy, it’s well worth a try.

And in this training, I’m going to be sharing with you 3 simple rules that you should always follow.

Whether it’s in the corporate world, whether it’s in your personal life, these 3 simple rules will make sure that you will always create a good first impression.

Rule #1 Dress To Impress

So my first rule is to always dress to impress. In other words, pay attention to what you’re wearing. Because, the first thing a person will notice about you is how you are appearing and your clothes.

Now if you’re going in for an important meeting make sure you know that you’re dressed appropriately for the meeting. The hair must be in place, the shoes must be correct, the dress should suit the occasion.

If it’s a very important first meeting you may want to overdress just a little but whatever you do, just make sure it’s neat and flattering.

As you can see in this image, this lady is all dressed to impress. Everything about her is coordinated.

The only thing I would say for her is that if she was smiling a little instead of looking so ambivalent, perhaps she’d make an even better first impression.

So the bonus tip is – have a gentle smile. And of course you can always let your personality shine after you’ve made that great first impression

Rule #2 Be On Time

The second rule which is a very important one is to be on time. In other words, be punctual because that makes you look prepared and reliable.

And in fact a lot of people get very irritated when others are late for meetings.

I remember when I was working in the corporate world you could actually tell the interviewer or senior at a meeting was irritated or not depending on whether on how you sauntered in late for the meeting or whether you were actually seen ready to go in to the meeting and in today’s day and age, that also works for your online conference meeting.

So be prepared, make sure you get there on time or even a little early because even if the other person is casual and relaxed about timing,  it will still make you look good and it will still give a very good first impression that yes, this person is serious.

Rule #3 Think Before You Speak

And then the third rule which I’m sure you have heard even as a child is to always think before you speak.

You know, you may be nervous or may be wanting to create a great impression but if you’re going to start prattling away about everything and anything, it’s not going to make a very good impression.

In fact the other person might just wonder, hey, who is this person? And also, if you don’t think before you talk, it’s very easy to put your foot in your mouth. And it’s not a good feeling and definitely it ruins that first impression.

And this is important even when you’re having discussions with your boss or in a meeting where you are supposed to be making a contribution or adding value to the team, always think first, and then formulate your thoughts and put it across.

This holds when you’re in a job interview or in an interview for a senior position because it shows that you are reflecting and then giving a solid answer.

Now if you want more quick win actions, then you’d like to have a look at this particular ebook of mine where we’re actually going to assess your strengths against the 3 Pillars of Executive Presence.

I’ll be showing you 2 ways to showcase your Gravitas or WOW Factor and also again, how to use your body to convey confidence and subtly hint your IT Factor. A link to this ebook is given below this video.

Click here for Karmic Ally Coaching’s Executive Presence Workbook.

Recap of Great First Impression Rules

So just to recap, the first rule is you’re going to dress to impress. The second rule is you’re going to be on time and the third rule is that you’re going to think before you speak.

Now there are many other rules but if you can master these three, you’re going to be much ahead of the competition.

And in fact, I’ve got a little homework for you.

Use these three rules the next time you meet a new person and then let me know, did the other person get a great first impression of you? In fact if you feel that something went wrong, then you might want to ponder, where did I get it wrong?

So enjoy applying these three rules and all the best in showing that you’ve got Executive Presence the next time you meet someone in a corporate setting and for the first time and you need to make that great first impression.

Resource mentioned in training video

Have you ever wondered why there are some people who the minute they walk into the room, all eyes turn on them as if, you know, they’ve got this aura and are attracted to them?

That’s what Executive Presence is all about and the good news is that through a series of Executive Presence Tips, I’m going to show you how to get a few quick wins while you actually work on developing your Executive Presence.

Click here for Karmic Ally Coaching’s Executive Presence Special Offer

You can continue reading the transcript below:

Hi, my name is Vatsala Shukla and I’m the Chief Encouragement Officer at Karmic Ally Coaching. Today’s tip is about posture to promote powerful presence.

But before I get into this tip, I want to ask you a quick question.

Is your posture powerful?

Now think about it and let me know because you can be one of two.

Now there is a cat, there are a couple of cat pictures in this presentation but that is only to prove a point.

Would you say you’re a cat face palm? Or would you say you’re the cool cat on the right side?

The point is the cool cat on the right side has Executive Presence.

So if you’re not aware of Executive Presence. Or you’ve heard the word being bandied about but aren’t quite sure what it means, here’s a quick and short explanation.

It’s basically trying to define the undefinable.

It’s that certain something that makes people take notice of you like I was telling you earlier about walking, a person walking into a room and all eyes turning on them.

It’s actually a quality   that creates a memorable impact.

And it’s the ability to exude confidence, make your presence felt and that is often called Charisma.

In fact, in all the definitions that I went researching about Executive Presence and Leadership, one common thread that I found in all of them was that it is the ability of an effective leader to motivate group action in a particular direction, irrespective of the means.

Here is the statistics from a particular survey done by The Center for Talent Innovation where they actually surveyed 268 senior executives and findings indicated:

Executive Presence accounts for 26% of what’s required to be promoted and it also depended on getting 3 things right:

• Gravitas, which is that unexplainable WOW factor
• Communication, which will mean both overt and covert meaning what you’re saying as well as how you’re communicating it and
• Your Appearance.

Now the good news is that the posture part is going to help you with both the communication part as well as appearance.

And here’s a quick tip. If you want a quick win and start demonstrating Executive Presence, while at least from the body part, it is to adopt positive body language because your body language is a silent but powerful communicator.

In other words, your posture, facial expressions, and gestures convey volumes about your Executive Presence.

So, what does positive body language look like?

Before I give you that answer, I want you to have a thorough look at this photograph where this lecturer or presenter is talking to an audience. He is actually exuding Executive Presence through his posture.

What 3 things or 4 things can you think about that is demonstrating what I am talking about?

If you want, you can stop this video right now, think about it and then resume to get the answer.

3 Keys to positive Body Language

These are the 3 things I have found you will find, and they are also the 3 keys to positive body language.

Firstly, it was good posture. You’ll notice the presenter is standing tall, he’s got his shoulders back and the back is very straight.

Also, he’s got an open position. There’s a relaxed look about his arms, his legs are uncrossed, and his palms are open. They are not fists and on top of it. He is smiling and maintaining good eye contact thus he is indicating that while he is talking, he is also open to receptivity, and he is building trust.

I am going to be forever grateful to my class, one of my class teachers back in boarding school who used to walk around while all of us were having our meals in the Mess. And if she saw any girl slouching or bending, she would immediately say, ‘straight backs, straight backs, straight backs’.

And that is in fact one of the tips I’m going to give you in order to develop a good posture.

First one as I said is to sit straight. In fact when you keep your back straight, you’re reducing any kind of pressure that you’re putting on your spinal cord and your entire body actually functions better. In fact it’s also good in case you’re getting a flabby tummy from a sedentary lifestyle at the desk.

So sit straight.

Also walk with your back straight. In other words, when you’re walking, your hips are aligned with your legs, your shoulders are back and your chin is lifted upwards a bit so that everything is in line.

And if you want to test if you’re walking with your back a straight back, then you can do one thing that we were taught to do.

It is, put a heavy book on your head. Not so heavy that you crash, but heavy enough that you are required to balance it as you walk up and down and turn around.

That is going to show you a) can you walk straight? And b) whether you are walking with your back straight because if you start to slouch, that book is going to fall.

So 3 things – sit straight, walk with your back straight and stop slouching.

Now let’s have a look at another image.

This presenter who’s lecturing.

He’s got the attention of his audience. Again, what are you seeing?

He’s got a straight back. You can see he’s maintaining eye contact with the audience in front of him and his hands are open.

He’s using his body to communicate his message.

And that is what you are also required to do if you want a quick win to start exuding Executive Presence.

It’s all in the posture.

Now, if you want some more quick wins, then of course you can get my short but very important book on 5 actions that you can use to raise your Executive Presence and demonstrate to your employers your leadership potential.

The link to this ebook is going to be given below this video and you can check it out and see if that’s what you want and need.

Click here to see the Executive Presence workbook

But for now and for this moment I would like you to try out the tips I’ve given you for size and then let me know in the comments that did your changing your posture actually make you feel powerful?

Go one step further and do it when you’re in the presence of others and then observe their reactions and their comments and do let me know.

Practice it every day until it becomes a habit and go for gold.

Resource mentioned in training video

Based in India? Use the Let’s Talk Contact Form with the Subject Executive Presence Power Coaching Session and I’ll forward the next step.  

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If for some reason you’re not redirected, please send me an email at vatsala(at)karmicallycoaching(dot)com with details of your purchase and I’ll get a link to you asap.

Since Karmic Ally Coaching is offering non-tangible irrevocable goods, we do not issue refunds once the order is accomplished and access is granted to the product. As a customer, you are responsible for understanding this upon purchasing any item from this website.

If you have any questions or concerns, please ask in advance of purchase at vatsala(at)karmicallycoaching(dot)com.

I’ve always maintained we all need to develop our own leadership style applying our power base for maximum leverage and avoid becoming authoritarian or relying solely on the power our position gives us.

While there are many skills that a good leader needs to possess, the ability to command presence in a room is a skill that can be immensely useful for anyone in a leadership position.

If you can command a room, then you can get people to listen to your instructions, you can build respect, and you can help to establish calm when there is a panicked atmosphere.

Commanding a room doesn’t mean a booming voice or high energy. It means playing to your innate strengths and knowing how to get a message across.

Many years ago I worked as the CFO of an insurance company and witnessed the transfer of Country Manager and 2 different working styles emerge.

The first Country Manager was an energetic type who would walk into the meeting room on a Monday morning full of cheer and would get us all into a high vibe mood before starting the meeting.

The other Country Manager was a quiet person in general but we knew when he had entered the room and hung to his every word contributing our ideas when required.

The thing is, both Country Managers were great leaders with different styles.

The first one was a specialist in starting regional offices in the CE & CIS region post the collapse of USSR and knew how to take his multi-cultural team with him. The second one was a sales specialist who was into strategies and then tactics.

The common factor between both was that we met our sales targets every year and were the envy of the region.

Another common factor between both men was that they stood tall, made sure they greeted everyone with a smile when they walked into the room, made eye contact while speaking to a team member and leaned forward when someone was speaking so the other person felt their opinion or idea was important.

If they could do it, we can do it too.

So how can you become a commanding presence in the room too?

You have to develop your own style.

Here are 3 ways you can do it without being noisy or creating a nuisance like the person who keeps jumping up at every point to add to the conversation simply because they want to be visible.

Use Your Body Language

In my blog post Want to be Successful? First Build Your Positive Reflex, I mentioned the results of a study done by The Center for Talent Innovation to get at the essence of executive presence and how 67% of the respondents felt Gravitas (itself a set of behaviors) was the core characteristic followed by Communication (28%).

Body language is important for both these elements of executive presence.

In another study, participants were asked to rate speakers who they thought were highly charismatic.

In almost every case, those participants rated the people who spoke with the broadest gestures and most movement as being the ones who were truly charismatic.

This is because we actually use body language for the lion’s share of our communication. Therefore, when you gesticulate and move around the room, it ensures that your body seems congruent with what you are saying.

This in turn makes you seem much more interested in what you are saying, and much more genuine in it.

At the same time, taking up more space makes you appear more confident and dominant. Moving around more will make you easier to pay attention to.

If you want to exude Executive Presence using your body, there are 2 easy techniques that I’ve seen used to good effect. One is using your eyebrows along with your eyes to convey confidence and the other is using your feet to show gravitas. 

Speak From a Place of Genuine Emotion

The mistake many people will make is to try and “fake” charisma by forcing themselves to move unnaturally. Unsurprisingly, this seldom works and instead only makes you appear more insecure.

That’s why the best way to be more charismatic and to use your body language correctly, is to truly believe in what you’re saying.

Moreover, you need to really believe in what you’re saying.

One way you can do this is to tap into a powerful emotion whenever you speak.

When you think about how important, exciting, infuriating, or endearing something is, you will be able to convey that same emotion to your audience.

One non-corporate example that comes to my mind is the final scenes of the Liam Neesom movie The Grey. After surviving an air crash in Alaksa and timber wolves who have killed his co-survivors, he realizes he has literally walked into the wolves’ den and is facing the Alpha Wolf.

As he prepares for the final fight, we see his hands and expression and understand a deep emotion that doesn’t leave us even after the movie is over.

I was so affected by these last scenes I had to google it to learn more about the movie.

The power of that last scene lay in the fact that the director had asked Liam to “channel his grief” over the death of his late wife Natasha Richardson.

While I’m not in the least suggesting you recall a traumatic situation to emote at work what I am pointing out is that great communication is about transmitting emotion as much as it is about transmitting words.

Use the Power of Silence

While pacing and gesturing can get you a long way, you can also command a room with the power of silence.

Next time the office is raucous, and you want attention, try standing silently in the corner of the room with your arms crossed.

That’s a technique my 5^th Grade Class Teacher Mrs. Shrivastava used to get the entire class to go into pin drop silence.

When you apply this in the workplace, it will have an unsettling impact on the team and slowly they will become silent and pay attention too.

I’ve done it in the past while conducting training sessions in huge halls by standing on the stage and simply smiling at the audience until the noise levels went down.

It takes a huge amount of presence to be able to silence a room this way, and huge confidence to do so without opening your mouth.

How do you command the room?

As young professionals, encouragement and guidance from a good boss makes a world of difference to our future career path.

I found a great boss in my first job who used to spend time with his department members and aligning the company’s goals with theirs.

Later in my career, I went on to become one of the youngest Finance Directors of a leading international Insurance company in their then biggest office in Poland. The one constant in both positions was having a male boss who was also my mentor.

I continued to be in touch with the first one until his death. He was truly grieved for. A great man, he’d mentored many of us and in his death, he reunited many of us who are now scattered all over the world.

I’m still in touch with the second one and enjoy watching the photos of his grandchildren and his pet dog on Facebook. He and his wife are family for me.

That’s why I was disturbed to read the findings in a recent survey on the workplace that indicated a backlash after the MeToo campaigns.

• 60% of managers who are men are uncomfortable participating in a common work activity with a woman, such as mentoring, working alone, or socializing together. That’s a 32% jump from a year ago.
• Senior-level men are now far more hesitant to spend time with junior women than junior men across a range of basic work activities such as 1-on-1 meetings, travel, and work dinners.

Without the mentoring of these 2 bosses at different stages of my career, I would have taken longer to achieve what I did.

I firmly believe that women professionals need mentors, sponsors and even champions at work.

Mentoring helps create a sacred space where professionals can work towards achieving their potential while adding value to their organization.

Investing in Emotional Capital is important

In the good old days when I was serving my articleship in London with a respected mid-tier Accounting Firm, in addition to the Principal under whom we did our training, my employer also had another program where a senior manager or Partner was also appointed as their mentor.

I thought it was a normal practice. That was until I worked for a firm where they were the best paymasters in the industry and recruited amazing talent. Yet they had one of the highest attrition rates. Part of our mandate as senior managers was to reduce the attrition rate.

For sure they had a buddy system for new employees for their first 6 months of employment. Most times the buddy and the employee hardly met and there was no accountability.

So, it didn’t come as a surprise when a young newly qualified professional of high caliber told me he had quit.

One can imagine how he felt because he told me he had stated in his exit interview that the firm knew how to recruit talent but needed to work on retaining them!

What a contrast to my experience and his! In fact, my Mentor showed me how to handle tricky situations at work. My Principal’s final guidance before I left the firm and embarked on my professional journey was to always find a good mentor even in an unofficial capacity.

Here’s the deal.

Progressive companies and organizations understand the simple fact that focusing on their financial capital and intellectual capital is not enough to be successful.

They also have to invest in human capital and treat ‘emotional capital’ as another vital asset necessary to recruit, nurture, motivate and above all, retain good people.

In fact, many of my clients come to me for help in managing their careers in an environment where there is inadequate emotional capital.

They don’t use those words specifically, but they talk about emotionally cold bosses, poor staff relations and an HR Team that seems to only train and deal with salary issues. They find client relations feel like walking on eggshells. It’s clear what they’re dealing with.

On the other hand, a company that values good emotional capital and encourages people to achieve their potential sees an increase in return in all forms of capital.

It’s an opportunity for Human Resource, which is often criticized for not doing enough for employees to show their skills by promoting Company Mentorship programs. And also encouraging professionals at all levels to mentor their direct reports and even peers.

But first we need to appreciate why Emotional Capital is so important.

In today’s pressure filled world, organizations need to be more sensitive to the needs of their employees to prevent burnout and make sure that their productivity isn’t compromised.

The cost to company of training an employee who is then poached away by a competitor is all too common. Therefore, it’s important to engage the employee intellectually, offer career prospects and also touch their emotions in order to build loyalty to the organization.

It’s equally important to build the employees emotional intelligence levels.

This is possible if the employer understands and manages the company’s emotional capital.

There are many tools and strategies out there that can help the company achieve its goal.

One of the simplest and most effective ones that can provide employees with the right level of support and guidance enabling them to achieve their potential and prevent attrition, is mentoring.

That’s why there is an increase in organizations, whether small or large starting to run in-house mentoring programs and employees are encouraged to consider mentoring roles in their performance evaluations.

If you want to raise your Executive Presence at work, becoming an informal mentor is worth considering. Especially if there is no formal procedure in place.

In fact, most of the time professionals who want to be seen as leaders mentor their colleagues and teams using their referent power base.

How Mentoring creates a win-win situation

There are many benefits for organizations who implement mentoring programs, namely,

Mentors can assist employees cope with changes within the organization (especially during restructuring and reorganizations) as well as facilitate their learning and development needs.

Mentoring helps build trust and respect for the organization and shows that the employer is serious about the career development path of its employees which helps reduce the incidents of attrition.

There are times when going the normal HR route might not help resolve a conflict or issue whereas a good mentoring partnership can help solve issues, both career and personal by finding ways to counteract stress and pressure.

It isn’t just the organization that benefits from the mentor-mentee relationship.

This is a powerful personal and professional development tool that makes people feel more empowered and confident.

Mentoring also plays a role in building the emotional intelligence of individuals thus contributing to the emotional capital of the organization.

An emotionally intelligent mentor can draw from his or her own experience to guide the mentee on matters that might not be directly related to work, but which impact the mentee’s productivity and performance.

I still remember the time when an hour before I was to drive my car from Minsk to Warsaw, my father’s driver managed to smash my beloved Honda Prelude, He had taken to get the vehicle fueled up but damaged the vehicle at a nasty blind spot with another driver hitting it.

What made it worse was that despite my having asked for a comprehensive insurance, my father had only arranged a Third Party one because we only required the insurance for the journey. After that, I would have gotten new insurance. It was done in good faith but this insurance didn’t cover the bill for $3,000!

Back at work, my boss cum mentor knew I was upset and displayed empathy with a story.

As a newly married person he had smashed his wife’s car while reversing. Insurance didn’t cover it because he had a learner’s permit at the time.

He shared how he had felt and what he did.

Coming from a person whom I admired and who could never do anything wrong, I definitely felt better and took decisive action. This included getting the car repaired and extracting the payment from the other driver who was at fault.

In later years, I’ve noticed my own mentoring style includes stories of similar experiences to help my mentees.

How could it not? After all, both my mentors were also role models for me.

A good mentor will always aim to help explore and improve the emotional intelligence of the individuals they are mentoring.

They understand how to boost the mentees existing skills and experience, training instead of simply relying on the mentees technical and intellectual abilities.

They understand that there is a human being working at the office who needs to be nurtured in order to bring out the best in them.

That’s why current survey results make me wonder.

If managers are not willing to mentor female colleagues, then what will be the impact on the emotional capital of the organization?

For sure female mentors could do the job but that would defeat the purpose of having an authentic mentoring program. We’d be looking at exclusions instead of a whole.

One hopes this is a temporary situation and ambivalence to mentor gender diverse colleagues will soon recede.  There is much to be gained through the medium of mentorship.

Have you ever been a mentor? How do you add value to the emotional capital of your organization?

PS. If this post has inspired you to find a mentor to help you advance your career, then you want to check out this resource.

Click here or on the image below to get Karmic Ally Coaching’s Complete Mentor Toolkit for Professionals.