We’ve all experienced someone who has ‘presence’, a certain something that draws you to them and that commands attention and respect. Strong leaders are often referred to as having this intangible aura that commands respect and causes others to listen to and want to follow their lead. While we recognise this ‘presence’ and may wish we had it, we don’t necessarily understand it. We see it and feel it but the concept can seem fuzzy rather than tangible.  And often we assume you either have it or you don’t. So what is presence and can it be learned and developed?

Presence is a combination of skills and character – it is about values, personality, behaviours, performance, influence, inspiration, articulation, presentation, connection, drive and congruence between all of those factors. It is being authentic and comfortable in your own skin; secure and confident.  Presence goes beyond first impressions or physical attributes; it is your personal brand, the traits and values that define you and, importantly, how you communicate these to others. Presence is also the ability to be ‘in the moment’ and totally focussed, being ‘in the flow’ and having complete clarity. So, it is holistic, present in all of us and it can be enhanced.

Research also finds that presence changes over time and there are impression based characteristics that drive early impressions and evaluation based characteristics that determine presence in long term relationships. Clearly there is benefit in developing characteristics over both areas and it is crucial to develop sustainable presence in order to develop trust and relationships. It doesn’t take long for someone’s presence to shift if they look the part, or play the role yet this isn’t underpinned by substance and a strong set of values.

So why bother developing our personal presence? For a start it is often considered to be a key contributor to leadership effectiveness, along with the ability to deliver results and to shape and communicate purpose and direction. Fundamentally it enables us to exert influence beyond authority, causing people to listen as well as act. Relationships are strengthened, engagement raised, trust built and results achieved. Importantly though, it’s not about others, it’s about you, how you feel, your sense of self and comfort in your own skin. And this is what gives you strength, assuredness and the presence which others are reading.

Developing your personal or executive presence is certainly not ‘one size fits all’ or a magic formula; its unique to the individual and made up of a range of factors. Because it is innate in all of us, it can be learned by drawing out what makes us ‘us’ and exploring how we communicate and have contact with the world. It’s not about being flashy or having charisma, or having to be an extravert, or just making strong impressions; we’re talking about sustained presence which is about substance, self confidence and authenticity.

When actors develop a character they look at the physical, emotional, intellectual and psychological parts of the person and the corresponding behaviour. As a director assists the actor in developing these parts and making it authentic to the audience, so too can coaches when we work on our own ‘parts’, behaviours and interactions with our ‘audience’. We each have a fundamental character based on our personality and values. But we also adapt and change, put on different hats, different ‘characters’ depending on who we are interacting with and the situation we are in and behave in different ways. These require adjustments to the parts of character. When an actor plays a character it is still the person, the actor playing the role. In fact actors bring themselves to a role to make it authentic and real, otherwise it just comes across as fake, put on. There needs to be congruence between the lines (words) and the parts of the character given the script, scene and entire play. And this rings true for ‘real life’ as well.

Working on your executive presence shows a commitment to personal and professional development and to stronger outcomes with your interactions with others. That in itself attracts people and followers. Whether it is gravitas, confidence, poise under pressure, demeanour, communication, behaviour, speaking skills, assertiveness, ability to read an audience or situation or even appearance, take the time to be present with yourself, revisit leadership and presence through a deeply personal lens and most importantly to ACT REAL.