Discovery leadership masterclass series with Frank Adu Anim: Executive presence (2)

…unlocking gravitas for leadership impact  

Have you experienced the challenge of being unable to express yourself effectively? That annoying feeling when a group ignores your suggestion but accepts it when it’s suggested by someone else? People who ignite ideas, inspire action and command respect, while appearing calm and in control of their surroundings, are said to have gravitas. It’s likely they have learnt the secret of gravitas – the elusive leadership ingredient that everyone wants but few know how to get.

Again, are you the real deal, a heavyweight in your field and in your organization – someone worthy of being heard and followed? How many times have individuals been told to improve their capabilities if they wish to lead, be better leaders and significantly impact their teams and organisations? Though people are inspired to want to lead, how they get there and sustainably impact performance is what matters.

You may be a leader, but you cannot rely on your title alone. Gravitas will help you increase your visibility, command respect, inspire people to follow you, lead better, build stronger relationships and communicate better. Gravitas comes from both nature and nurture; and by this while some people develop gravitas over time, others have it naturally. The good news is gravitas is a business skill one can develop.

Let me state that gravitas, which connotes seriousness of purpose, solemn and dignified behavior, is a compelling factor for defining one’s style of leadership and the substance for accomplishment. Most importantly, knowing how to develop and portray oneself with gravitas in a global environment, where individuals are required to make an impact, communicate effectively and influence decision-making across different groups and cultures is highly important. Here, gravitas is seen as the combined effect of variables which make it possible for leaders to lead better, manage, present and network better in difficult, unprecedented situations with their ability to read and handle various stakeholders and make tough decisions.

Pursuant to quality leadership and impact performance in any work-related environment is the gravitas of grace under fire, emotional intelligence, decisiveness, integrity, the ability by the leader to read the room, a vision that inspires others and the character for stellar reputation which ought to remain pivotal to unlocking ones executive presence for leadership achievement and success. Besides, in a competitive environment, leaders who have gravitas are those who could build stronger relationships, win more businesses, get promoted more quickly and get better results.

Much more, having gravitas at work means one is taken seriously, your contributions are considered important, and you are trusted and respected. It increases one’s ability to persuade and influence and is likely to fuel the extent to which one rises in an organisation. Gravitas is as vital quality that individuals need to have if they want to move up the career ladder and maintain their position at the top. Therefore, with gravitas, one is able demonstrate his executive presence to champion and manage crucial task for leadership success.

Understanding gravitas?

Have you ever met a leader who can’t communicate clearly or get their ideas across; who fails to command the respect of others; who lacks leadership skills; or who seems out of their depth? That’s because having people at the ‘top table’ who speak with gravitas plays a key role in business success. Those people who seem to have a natural ability to command the room, captivate an audience and have listeners hanging off their every word have gravitas.

Gravitas is a vital leadership skill, particularly in a competitive and fast-moving environment. In a world full of change, instability and uncertainty, people turn to trusted leaders for guidance. Gravitas gives the leader credibility, keeps him calm and in control to inspire them to follow his lead. It’s, indeed, with gravitas one can effectively communicate, collaborate, influence and develop meaningful relationships.

Gravitas is associated with influence, importance, authority and seriousness or composure of conduct. With gravitas means one’s ideas and voice are taken seriously, input is sought out and valued, and the individual is more likely to gain the trust and respect of those around him/her.

Not only that, but leaders who know or have learned how to speak with gravitas are more likely to inspire and motivate employees, increase staff engagement and drive company productivity. So, it’s not surprising that when companies are seeking to fill management positions, being able to communicate with executive presence is usually a non-negotiable but ‘must have’ skill.

Elements of gravitas

It’s natural, particularly when awed or even intimidated by the intellects or accomplishments of others around you, to devalue or marginalise yourself in subtle but noticeable ways. Don’t give in to such fear, but simply notice it in the moment and dismiss it without reacting to it. Your value to the discussion remains constant no matter who else is in the room.

The combining elements that convey to those around you that you have what it takes to be a leader speaks about gravitas. Gravitas requires you remaining calm, even under fire, and finding within yourself the assurance that your value at the table is constant and worthwhile, without having to prove it.

Research buttresses this and suggests that authenticity in understanding your real self, including your deep-level and conscious thought, emotions, beliefs and values, and acting in a way that reflects these may be one of the strongest predictors of well-being and knowledge of self which form the basis for enhancing gravitas.

Gravitas is about having a vision

It is important for leadership to inspire vision and influence others with certainty about the future, the realistic and relevant image of the desired state.

Gravitas is the confidence, poise & grace under fire 

Showing that you believe in yourself so others too will, especially under pressure; keeping your cool, even during times of stress, is what shows that the leader has gravitas.

Gravitas means being decisive

Having the courage and confidence to make decisions and take responsibility for them.

Gravitas will require you develop emotional intelligence 

With internal quality awareness, one recognises his abilities and grows his self-awareness and self-worth. This self-possession increases one’s ability to master his passions and to discover his internal power. That said, demonstrating empathy for others and being accountable for actions and their impact, particularly in tough and stressful situations, is gravitas. Maintaining emotional intelligence enables one to easily and strongly connect with and influence others effectively.

Gravitas will demand integrity 

Research has suggested that in addition to courage, integrity is one of the strongest predictors of leadership effectiveness. It further shows that integrity actually fuels courage; and as we commit to integrity, we ignite our ability to speak up when it’s not comfortable and to share our views that might be different and therefore, risky. Having a set of values and standards and sticking to them, even when they may not be the most popular, is integrity in display.

Why is gravitas important for leadership success?

Gravitas is translated as weight, seriousness, solemnity, dignity and importance. It denotes a certain substance or depth of personality that elicits a feeling of respect and trust in others. The word is also linked to the force that keeps you grounded and an energy that attracts people to you.

Gravitas is an imperative skill for leadership success because it seeks to unravel one’s values, beliefs, identity and purpose and recognises the strengths and limitations, the unique knowledge, experience and capabilities to drive for self-development toward maintaining an excellent personality and achievement.

It remains a desirous leadership tool to elicit energy and ability from a person to attract attention and make an impact through physical appearance, body language and voice to build networks and relationships for influence, leading to effectiveness and impact performance.

Impacting leadership performance through gravitas

There are a number of techniques that can help you to understand how to speak and act with gravitas to improve your executive presence when in leadership. Speaking slowly will actually help you to feel more relaxed and appear more poised. It also provides the opportunity to add more weight, more gravitas, to each word. It allows you to emphasise keywords, add emotion to particular messages, and keep in time with your thoughts.

Watch your body language

About 80 percent or more of our communication is non-verbal; and while that’s a common statistic, it’s often underplayed or disregarded. How you show up physically – arms crossed or not, sitting back or forward, how stressed you seem, how fast you walk in and out of the room –all shape or limit one’s impact. Noticing your own body language is critical to establishing a strong executive presence.

Develop self -awareness and observe situations as you participate

The leader needs to be aware of himself and others as he manages the team or organisation. Obviously, the questions will be what is my role as the leader? Which part of my mandates are unspoken? Where should the organisation be headed and how is my leadership helping to create pathways and direction? These are some self-monitoring questions that can help the leader adjust to create an impact and lead better. When done right, gravitas is effectively adding a unique value to important decisions of the leader to shape the course of the organisation.

Develop a sense of presentation – Moving with purpose

Leaders who move naturally and are in control immediately appear to have more gravitas. It’s as if they’re physically ‘owning the room’. With movement, the leader controls the team’s attention; so they concentrate on what he/she is says or away from him toward a specific point.

Remember that if you are at the front of the room or stage, the focus will be entirely on you. So, consider how with your executive presence, you can manage the engagement of your team and enhance your leadership gravitas.

Eye contact

Ask anyone what they notice when in the presence of a great leader and they will invariably say that they feel really important even if for just a moment because their eye contact was so strong and sincere. As another important non-verbal cue, your eyes can convey so many things; integrity, interest, empathy, hostility or aggression, surprise and affection. While leading and engaging, remember to make positive and genuine eye contact or what we call eye connection with individuals within your team.

Let others share the workload

Some leaders have the tendency for doing everything themselves. There are always several reasons why some leaders fail to delegate or share task with their team. Sometimes it’s because they don’t want to burden their teams; but sometimes, they don’t have confidence that anyone else can do it as well as they do. Whatever the reason, it can really hurt the leader’s gravitas. The more the leader empowers his team to do the work, the more likely he will be perceived as a leader. Start developing your team and enable them to share the workload; it helps you expand your capacity as a leader and shows you can share the limelight.

Create time for broader conversations.

It’s easy to rush from meeting to meeting and agenda to agenda. The danger is that some leaders miss what’s going on with the people they are working with. As a leader, we must be concerned about what matters most to our team, what they are excited about, what opportunities they see and what they are concerned about. Choosing curiosity over efficiency gives the leader stronger connections and information he can use to have a bigger impact. 

Believe in yourself as a leader

If the leader does not have belief or confidence in himself, then this will leak out through his body language, words and voice. Therefore, an important factor in having gravitas is to really believe in yourself as a leader, your abilities, your self-worth, your subject and what you are saying.

Prepare before key meetings or conversations

If you want to have more gravitas and increase your executive presence, it may be a good idea to really prepare before key meetings or conversations. Not everyone is great at thinking on their feet. In fact, many people prefer to have the time to think before answering a question or entering into a conversation. In today’s business world, this isn’t always possible. And if this is you, you need to develop how to be more confident, charismatic or have more authority in meetings.

In summary, gravitas, confidence, executive presence…whatever you want to call it – you can get it. Sure, some people are naturally better at projecting confidence than others, but this is definitely a skill that can be learnt. The best kind of gravitas comes from authenticity, deep interpersonal trust that you build by being clear about the impact you want to make on others, empathising and finding out about the people you work with and adhering to your sense of integrity.

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