Leadership Presence-Do You Have It?

Have you ever tried to follow someone who lacked a sense of authority and direction and needed to fit in with everyone else? Perhaps you have had leaders who shied away from the risks and challenges of leading. It is difficult to follow someone who does not want the responsibilities of leadership and is not inspiring. 

One of the attributes of a strong leader that we usually recognize right away is what we call “leadership presence”. Leadership presence is someones:

• self-confidence

• sense of authority

• appearance of competence

• ability to enjoy being in charge

These leaders inspire people to follow them and they lead by example. This attribute is important.  People in positions of influence need to own and show a presence of competence and confidence. When other leaders and followers do not see these traits, it can lead to mistrust, fear, frustration, and confusion.

To develop into a strong leader, there are some desired Behaviors. Strong leaders:

• Possess and show a sense of authority and direction

• Attract and inspire people to follow them

• Like the risks and challenges of leading

• Understand and own the responsibility of leading well

• Have a way about them that others recognize as leadership

These are all attributes that we can and need to develop if we either want to lead. They are important if we want the kind of success in life that requires being able to lead.

If you have low levels of this skill, then your leadership success will suffer. So will and the performance of any group you lead. If you want to be a great or even good leader, you need to be skilled in this area.

Leadership presence is one of the attributes included in The Lions Leader Manager Assessment. Ray Hoskins and Associates uses this assessment. It helps our clients assess their leadership competencies. We then work with clients to help them identify which changes they can make to lead, and indeed, live more effectively.

Hiring the Right Leadership

I have recently observed the struggles of two nonprofits. While they work in two different service areas, they have similar struggles. Both agencies have hired, for leadership positions, people who lack crucial leadership skills.

In over 20 years of consulting to nonprofits, I find this to be a recurring and all too frequent issue. As a friend of mine is fond of saying, “there are lots of people in leadership positions, but there are few leaders in leadership positions.” That is true in both of these agencies. It is an area in which improvement is relatively simple. Here are some guidelines for nonprofits in addressing this issue.

First, develop a set of standardized interview questions about how people lead. Include how they handle leadership scenarios. Work with your best existing leadership to develop the questions and scenarios. This will make the interview more realistic.

Second, develop a series of leadership-related questions to send to references. The fact that someone is a reliable worker in one situation doesn’t mean they can lead in another.

Third, have final interviews be with a team of existing leaders, who need to have a consensus before you hire.

Finally, use a leadership assessment like those used by Ray Hoskins and Associates. Our behavior and competency-based assessments can help you identify leadership strengths and challenges. Then you can develop custom staff development strategies to develop your best leaders.

So You Want to Have Your Own Company-Learn to Lead First!

We have frequent conversations with people who want to own their own companies.  Younger generations have a high percentage of people for whom this is a dream.

Regardless of the practicality or viability of a business idea, one of the best pieces of advice we can give to aspiring entrepreneurs is to learn to lead first.  We frequently consult to small business owners who are incredibly frustrated with trying to go from being the business to owning a business in which others deliver the services, sell products, and make money for the enterprise in a number of ways.  Most of the time, when we ask them about their preparation for leadership, they look puzzled.

They might have studied their craft, accounting, marketing, sales, and other skills they needed to succeed.  But they were facing difficulties primarily because people didn’t want to work for them.  Sadly, they usually believe the problem was in others, rather in themselves.  Our Leadership Advising helps with accurate assessment and skill development.

We frequently help people start identifying their leadership competencies starting in the ninth grade.  We help educators and youth programs develop basic skills, and work with adults to refine their skills to succeed even at the highest leadership levels.

So, if you ever think you want to be in a leadership position, whether as an entrepreneur or leading in an established organization, let us help you assess and develop the competencies you will need.