Never underestimate the power of “just enough”!

I believe that one of the reasons that people do not attempt to find their leadership voice is that they are afraid it will call upon them to do great things, big things, life changing things . . . . and sometimes that is true. But I was thinking out loud the other day that often it is the small things leaders do that make the biggest impact. The “just enough” things!

I have been blessed to have a career that allows me to work with and, hopefully, impact others in a very positive way. I will admit that I often get caught up in the “grand gesture” as a metric of leadership success. That time when I did that big thing, that life changing thing (and thankfully, there have been a few of those!). But more often than not, when I hear from a former or current student or client, they often refer to that small thing that made a big difference. A small favor here, some extra time there, a small inconvenience on my part or just a simple encouragement. To be honest I probably did not give it much further thought but the point is that I did just enough to help that individual get to the next level. Once there, another leader would do a little more to help that person keep moving on and up. See how this works? Your doing just what you can do is more than enough to help an individual reach their eventual goal or success!

Now you may be thinking, how could all these small things done by a number of people create such eventual impacts, that seems just so random? On the surface, you may be right but when you drill down on the following three-part equation, it makes sense.

Success is Collaborative – many of us have no idea as to the true reach of our leadership. A segment of Cheryl Bachelder’s great book, Dare to Serve, demonstrates this. These days, we spend more time with our work relationships than we do our own families. Think about the number of colleagues or direct reports you have and how many hours a week you spend with them. Then multiply that number by 50 weeks per year and you will be shocked. So. let’s say you have a team of 20 X 40 hours a week X 50 weeks per year, that gives you 40,000 hours of leadership reach!  That is a lot of time for collaboration. A lot of time to do small favors, quick guidance, an email of encouragement, or some just in time learning. ALL of this happens in the small day to day collaborations we experience but all that adds up to thousands of hours of direct assistance!

Success is Sequential – in the book, The One Thing, by Gary Keller (of Keller-Williamson Reality) and Jay Papasan, the authors propose that focusing on one thing at a time leads to big results because success is sequential. This is true for how we learn, grow, and succeed. We learn and are equipped by one leader that allows us to proceed to the next level. There, another leader further equips us for the next thing and so forth and so on. Your unique just enough contribution, doing what you could when you could, empowered someone else to proceed. I guarantee if you think about it, you can trace back your current success to a series of past events and people that enabled you to be where you are now!

Success is Cumulative – our success in life is made up of many different components. It was not just one person, or book, or class. Success is a cumulative combination of many things. A favor here, a small promotion there, or time with an encouraging person. It all starts to add up! We collect the skills, knowledge, and qualities that have been provided to us in some form or fashion. When all of that is combined, you get the capable person you are today! Even better this cycle of “just enough” leadership repeats itself time and time again.

You see, we are all part of each other’s success equation. Or at least we can be if we want to be. It does not take much, just enough to add to the progression of opportunities we gift to each other. I can honestly say that any success I have had in life is due to the help of other people. Some of their contributions were big and some were small but in the final analysis, it ALL mattered and it all made an impact. I encourage you to never doubt the power of just enough leadership. It will not take much, so what are you waiting for? Do you need my permission? Fine, you have it. I am licensed in Georgia, Florida, and North Carolina to provide such dispensations!

As always if I can help you and the people you associate with Get Better, Be Ready and LEAD OUT LOUD, I invite you to contact me.

Yours in leadership,

Bill Faulkner

Independent Coach, Speaker, and Trainer with the John Maxwell Team ^TM

Email = bill@outloudinc.com

Visit our website at: www.outloudinc.com

For more information on the John Maxwell Team, please visit

http://www.johncmaxwellgroup.com/williamfaulkner/

Feel free to “LIKE” our FB Page www.facebook.com/outloudinc

(Your Name Here) Inc. You already have a personal brand, but is it the one you want?

In my experience, I have never known of a business or university that does not obsess over its brand. The larger the organization, the more it spends on crafting, maintaining, and protecting its brand and reputation. In my training and coaching work, I certainly encourage an organization to pay attention to its brand, but you may have never considered that such strategies apply to you as an individual leader, contributor, or applicant. In other words, you already have a brand, whether you realize or not. What I am asking you to think out loud about is it the one you want?

In Robert Quinn’s great book, Building the Bridge As You Walk On It, he both reminds and challenges us that we are constantly communicating about ourselves. Everything we do, say, post, wear, etc. communicates volumes about who we are, what we can do, and what is important to us. Even if you do not fully realize or even want to believe it, you are your brand 24/7, 365 days a year. So, for (Your Name Here) Incorporated is the brand you projecting the one you want? Is it accurately capturing what you want others to know about you? Are you shaping and controlling your personal brand or are you leaving it to chance, the opinion of others, or the whims of social media? I can guarantee you a Fortune 500 company (or even a just fortunate to have the doors open business) is not leaving such an important element to chance, so why are you?

It is my belief that as leaders, solo/intra/entre/preneurs, or professionals ready for that next level, we have to think of ourselves as a corporate entity, in other words, (Your Name Here) Incorporated. And like any major corporation, you must be intentional about crafting and building your personal brand in three main arenas:

Brand Aspiration – Brand aspiration is the brand you want but may not necessarily have at the present time. Essentially, if you aspire to be something, it is because you are attempting to influence something (i.e. team members, potential clients, or prospective employers). To determine what you aspire to be or influence, reflect on the following questions:

• How are you attempting to influence your market?
• How do you know when you are successful?
• How can you expand your influence?

Once you know the answers to the above, you can start to expand your influence through my adaptation of the typical sales funnel. I use an inverted Pyramid of Influence to encourage you to start with networking and other efforts so that your targets even have KNOWLEDGE of you – just basic name recognition. Once they know of you, how can you demonstrate that you are RELEVANT to their needs or problems? Are you experienced in what a potential new employer is looking for? Do you offer a service or skill applicable to a particular industry? Next, how can you prove there is a direct ADVANTAGE to working with or hiring you? Do you post helpful information, are you recognized as an expert through internal and professional association presentations? Do current or former clients act as brand ambassadors for you by referring you to others? Finally, if you pay close attention to all the above, you should then be making critical CONNECTIONS that allow you to influence and impact others.

Brand Status (Identity) – there is a great deal of content out there related to strategies for discovering your Brand Identity. Brand Status or Identity is essentially a real-time snapshot of:

• What you KNOW
• What you can DO
• Who you ARE

as a leader, contributor, and/or potential applicant or provider. Time and space do not permit a deep dive as to how to craft an elevator pith or brand statement, but try this quick exercise to create your IMPACT STATEMENT. In other words, what is your personal/professional life intention?  

Provide at least 3 responses to the questions below. Next, within those responses, circle the BEST or MOST CONSISTENT answer.

• What do you VALUE?
• What do you do BEST?
• What do you want to be KNOWN FOR?

Using your answers, craft a short IMPACT STATEMENT that will provide a FOCUS to your powerful personal/professional intention. Just to provide an example, where I land on this exercise is a focus on Learning, Problem Solving, and Helping Others Be Successful; thus; my statement reads - “I learn and teach valuable lessons that help solve worthy problems so that others can be successful.”

Brand Affinity (Promise) – lastly, your Brand Affinity is your Brand Promise. What you commit and promise to BE, KNOW, and DO every day and all the time. This is a promise or collection of promises you keep for your team, your clients, and your current or future employer. A word of caution, you need to be confident and crystal clear on these promises because when you make a promise, you create an expectation. When you keep a promise, you solidify a powerful and influential brand for (Your Name Here) Incorporated! To help you identify those key commitments that will capture your Brand Affinity, wrap your thinking around the following and then consistently act upon the answers.

What do I have the “bandwidth” to do really well all the time?

What do other people come to me for time and again because they know I will always deliver?

What do people seek my counsel on or for?

What am I always asked about because I know a lot about it?

What can I do that not many others can?

What do you feel most responsible for?

What would help other do even if you never got paid for it?

Your personal brand shows up in a lot of places. It appears on your resume or CV, your LinkedIn or other social media pages, in what others say about you, and what you say about yourself. The way you control the message is based largely on how you carry yourself, how your treat others, how you approach your work, and how you invest in your continued personal and professional development.  

I understand that you may be uncomfortable promoting yourself, but this is not about shameless self-promotion. It is about serving others well and the only way they will know that you can, is to present a very accurate but visible message. It is you we are looking, hoping, and waiting for. All I am asking is that you make it easier for the rest of us to find you!

As always if I can help you and the people you associate with Get Better, Be Ready and LEAD OUT LOUD, I invite you to contact me.

Yours in leadership,

Bill Faulkner

Independent Coach, Speaker, and Trainer with the John Maxwell Team ^TM

Email = bill@outloudinc.com

Visit our website at: www.outloudinc.com

For more information on the John Maxwell Team, please visit

http://www.johncmaxwellgroup.com/williamfaulkner/

Feel free to “LIKE” our FB Page www.facebook.com/outloudinc

As a leader, your words are heavier (make sure they are worth their weight in gold!)

Sometimes I am just amazed by what I hear leaders say. Sometimes client will share with me an interaction and I am just incredulous that a grown-up person actually said that in their outside voice. I once heard that a leader’s words weigh a thousand pounds which has me thinking out loud that we need to make sure our words are leveraging people up and not weighing them down!

Let’s face it, whether you like it or not or whether you want to believe it or not, when you are in a leadership role, your words simply carry more weight. Our words and other communications have more influence and are amplified thus the whole premise of my theme of Leading Out Loud! We need to understand that often our teams have a difficult time distinguishing between a mandate or just a suggestion. This is why Jim Collins in his book Good to Great, encourages us to specifically state what is a “soft opinion” or a “hard statement”. Very often a leader may think they are just thinking out loud or brainstorming an idea all of sudden find their teams scrambling to implement an idea that was originally meant to be just an idle thought.

The simple fact is that leaders who are effective are so because they effective communicators – there is just now way to divorce the two. They communicate to their teams in both written and verbal formats in a way that allows their teams to not dread an email or voicemails from you. Crazy as it sounds, they actually look forward to interacting with you! There are thousands of books, articles, podcasts, etc. focused on executive communication but allow me to provide 3 simple rules of thumb:

KEEP IT CLEAN – now I am in no way advocating a “thought police” mentality but you have to admit that modern vernacular has gotten a bit casual these days. I believe that teams respect leaders who have the self-control and emotional maturity to not resort to four-letter words when things get tense, or they are frustrated. Further, such discipline can go a long way to insure and model appropriate team interactions so that there is never a question of harassment or bullying. Besides, you’re not twelve anymore. I think it is time for our words to evolve out of highschool.

KEEP IT NEUTRAL – this does not mean that you cannot have an opinion about work related matters. In fact, as a leader you should have some definitive thoughts about vision, strategy, and execution. When it comes to very personal issues such as religion or politics, however, this is a domain where you need to tread very carefully. These areas are very personal to individuals since they reflect their core values. As a leader you need to respect that and ensure team members respect their peers. We need to make sure that no one on a team is marginalized for their beliefs. All forms of diversity are important including the diversity of beliefs and the pluralism of ideas.

KEEP IT POSITIVE – as Kouzes and Posner share in their seminal work, The Leadership Challenge, one of the most important jobs of a leader is to create hope. There is nothing worse than having a leader who is constantly critical. They may think that is an effective strategy, but it really has just the opposite effect of discouraging team members from doing their best work because they nothing they do will ever be good enough. Granted, if a team member’s performance is suffering you need to address that, but you also need to make sure you are not the cause of it! Even on the organizational level, it is vital that leaders remain hopeful especially when challenges are mounting. It may not seem like much, but time and time again one of the key elements of victory or defeat is a hopeful and positive attitude. Hope can truly be an “odds beater”!

Even in today’s faster than light world of digital communications, words still matter. In fact, I would propose that they matter even more since now you can never take them back due to the fact they are stored indefinitely and shared instantaneously. How many times how you read that a celebrity or politician had to “walk back” a statement with a completely disingenuous “this was taken out of context” rationalization?

The point is as leaders, our words carry weight. Every moment of every day we therefore have a choice. We can intentionally use our words to weigh people down OR we can use them to leverage people up. In fact, I would go so far to say that if we are not doing one, we are doing the other because there is simply no such thing as a neutral interaction! I know that many of you have hearts of gold and you are leading for all the right reasons, now just make sure your words are too!

As always if I can help you and the people you associate with Get Better, Be Ready and LEAD OUT LOUD, I invite you to contact me.

Yours in leadership,

Bill Faulkner

Independent Coach, Speaker, and Trainer with the John Maxwell Team ^TM

Email = bill@outloudinc.com

Visit our website at: www.outloudinc.com

For more information on the John Maxwell Team, please visit

http://www.johncmaxwellgroup.com/williamfaulkner/

Feel free to “LIKE” our FB Page www.facebook.com/outloudinc

The 3 groups of people you are trying to lead (and who to focus on!).

I know you guys are probably tired of hearing me say this, but I truly value my work as a coach and trainer due to the sphere of people I get to do it with. The main reason is that they challenge me to always be thinking and learning based on their requests and questions they ask of me. Recently I was co-facilitating with my supervisor a Gallup StrengthsFinder workshop for a group of executive students and at the end, one of the participants asked us “Who is this content directed to or for?” WOW, what a great question so that got me thinking out loud about an answer!

I mean seriously, I (and I bet a number of leadership thought leaders and authors) have never considered that question before. We have more leadership speakers, coaches, books, videos, pod/vid casts, and curriculums than any other time in history yet I believe not many of us have considered who or for what audience is all this content directed toward or for what purpose.

As I was pondering the answer it occurred to me that the 20-60-20 Rule of organizations may apply here. This concept is loosely based on the Italian economist Pareto’s Principal of the 20-80 rule that postulates that 80% of our results are derived from the first 20% of our efforts. Such an idea has been extended to the idea that 20% of a workforce produces 80% of the results, revenue, etc. Therefore, in any given organization:

• The Top 20% of a team are the joiners, true believers, early adopters, and motivated.
• The Bottom 20% of a workforce are what I call C.A.V.E. Dwellers (colleagues against virtually everything!) and are negative, complacent, and non-productive.
• The Middle 60% constitutes the muddled-middle and are the untapped potential of an organization. They are ABLE but need to be well led in order to be WILLING!

This concept of the 20-60-20 rule has had some research validation and if you review Gallup’s research on workplace engagement, it aligns accordingly with 15% of employees very engaged, 15% of employees actively disengaged, and the remainder not as engaged.

With all the preceding being said, I believe most leadership content and training content for leaders and managers is directed toward helping them lead the middle 60%. If you look at the more recent leadership literature with its emphasis on vision, connecting, persuasion, including, coaching, and other high-touch management techniques and strategies, it is about moving the undecideds that have huge potential to the engaged or true believer side of the bell curve.

As leaders, we must be strategic in terms of where and how we direct our efforts in terms of our teams. If you think about it, such efforts such as motivation, work enhancement, and persuasion are not needed for your top 20%. We just need to maintain those relationships, because that group is so self-motivated that they do not need to be “supervised”. Inversely such high-tough leadership efforts are often wasted on the bottom 20% of team members since it does not matter what you do since they will still be unhappy and unproductive. This is where we need to bring resolution to the relationship by[WF1]  candid conversations focused on fit, attitude, and if the right person in wrong role scenario is at work.

This leaves the middle 60% to direct our efforts and such relationships need to be nurtured. In tech industry leader Kim Scott’s book Radical Candor, she classifies this large group of middle performers in two groups:

• Higher Growth/Lower Performance Trajectory
• Higher Performance/Lower Growth Trajectory

In other words, they are either performing very well but are not as deliberate in seeking growth or work enhancing opportunities OR they are focusing on high growth efforts, but their performance is not quite up to par. In either case, this is the sweet spot of most leadership content since the vast majority of it presents so many great strategies, mindsets, and techniques to address. Again, this is where “radical candor” becomes so important in helping move the middle to the positive side of the bell curve.

Let’s face it, as a leader you only have so much bandwidth to spend on leading. If you have read any of my previous blogs, I make it clear that effective, next level leadership is tough and requires an enormous amount of emotional and physical energy as well as time. Again, that is why we need to become more strategic in terms of how we spend it.

As leadership author and athletic performance expert Jim Loehr states, leadership success is more about energy management than time management. I truly want all people to be successful but the squeaky wheels in the bottom 20% can, if we let them, overwhelm our time and energy. Often, it is not that they are incompetent or ill intentioned, they are just not in the right field or role. We should do what we can to help them but eventually they have to make a choice as their fit and satisfaction in their current role. On the other hand, we need to make sure we are giving the top performers what they need but often they do not need much from us. They are so equipped and aligned in their roles they will continue to flourish where they are (if they are happy there then leave them there!) or they will eventually move on to other roles and challenges (and help them do that!).

The bottom line is this, decide who you need to invest in and use all the great advice, tools, strategies and your own great judgement available to you! I encourage to complete an “audit” of everyone on your team and decide where they line-up in the 20-60-20 categories. Then decide what action steps you need to take to maximize your team.

As always if I can help you and the people you associate with Get Better, Be Ready and LEAD OUT LOUD, I invite you to contact me.

Yours in leadership,

Bill Faulkner

Independent Coach, Speaker, and Trainer with the John Maxwell Team ^TM

Email = bill@outloudinc.com

Visit our website at: www.outloudinc.com

For more information on the John Maxwell Team, please visit

http://www.johncmaxwellgroup.com/williamfaulkner/

Feel free to “LIKE” our FB Page www.facebook.com/outloudinc

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 [WF1]

The ONE question you can NEVER stop asking!

If you ever read my blog, you know how frustrated I get for my clients when they describe far too often the dumpster fire that is their work environment. From toxic bosses to hyper competitive co-workers it seems to never end. This always has me thinking out loud that maybe if we constantly asked ourselves one key question, we can turn this around.

Prior to my more recent roles, I worked for a major university in South Florida. As a senior member of the leadership team, when faced with a difficult decision or an “undefined problem:” with no clear answer (a nod there to author Ron Heifetz) my supervisor would always ask us, “what is in the best interest of the student?” That very simple but transformative question was our magnetic north. It became the NEXUS of ultimate decision making. It mirrored the wisdom of author and faculty member John Schuh who would encourage student affairs professionals to always look out for the interest of the student because there would always be someone who would look after the interest of the institution. To this day I try to approach my work from this very principle. Whether it be an executive MBA student or a freshman, liberal arts major, we must always be asking what is in their (not mine or our) best interest!

As leaders, I encourage us to start asking this very question. When faced with a decision, an opportunity, a challenge, or a pivot, before ANY answer is offered, start with this question - What is in the best interest of _____________?

-       The student

-       The employees

-       The patient

-       The client

-       The customer

-       The constituent

-       The community

I know this is going to sound harsh but as every leadership or history book I ever read instructs us, the moment you stop asking that question, is the second you are no longer relevant as a business, school, hospital, government, agency, or organization. It may live on life-support for a while, but it will eventually entropy.

You might as well shut it down right then and there. You are though being of value. Close the door, turn out the lights and go do something where you are not going to bother anybody!

So why do we hesitate to ask this very basic question?

Cost – maybe the leader or the organization just is unwilling to pay the cost of the answer. Keep in mind the cost can but does not always means financial costs. It could mean the cost of our reputation, our pride, our status, our position, or our ranking in the marketplace.

Change – when we ask this critical question, the answer often requires us to change direction, change strategy, change our assumptions, change our beliefs, or change how we treat those in our charge.

Consciousness – it is hard thing to face that maybe we are not as good as we think we are as leaders and organizations. Often, we think we know what is best for others but unless we are constantly testing that “theory in use” we can quickly operate under old and/or incorrect information. It has become obvious to me that very few senior leaders at the highest levels of business, government, education, etc. have the moral and emotional bandwidth to face and then act upon an unpleasant reality. Ironically, it is those very leaders who we most want to follow!

Do me and, more importantly, you and your stakeholders a favor this week or the next time you find yourself around a conference table wrestling with a tough issue. Ask out loud, “what is in the best interest of _________________” Sure, you may get some blank stares but maybe, just maybe, you will open up an incredibly powerful conversation that will have important positive impacts.

As always if I can help you and the people you associate with Get Better, Be Ready and LEAD OUT LOUD, I invite you to contact me.

Yours in leadership,

Bill Faulkner

Independent Coach, Speaker, and Trainer with the John Maxwell Team ^TM

Email = bill@outloudinc.com

Visit our website at: www.outloudinc.com

For more information on the John Maxwell Team, please visit

http://www.johncmaxwellgroup.com/williamfaulkner/

Feel free to “LIKE” our FB Page www.facebook.com/outloudinc

LEVEL-UP your Career in 3 (not entirely easy!) Steps.

Professionals who want to “next level” their career trajectories will not do so unless you have a plan. It is just that simple and just that challenging at the same time! One of the many things I truly enjoy about coaching and training established professionals is that they often challenge me. Inevitably one will ask me the “how do I?” question which gets me thinking out loud about creating a tool or process that will be of value.

In John Maxwell’s great book, The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth, he makes the clear case that no one grows and improves by accident. It takes intention and strategy to do so. The problem is, however, that many are not willing to pay the price for growth and development for a variety of reasons:

Growth Takes Investment –

If you want to level-up, you are going to have to invest energy, effort, time, will, and sometimes money. Dreams can come true, but they do not come for free! If you are not willing to invest in yourself then why should you expect others to do so?

Growth Reveals Gaps –

None of us wants to feel we are inadequate or incompetent. The challenge, however, comes when we start taking a deep dive into our capabilities, we will experience some “ouch” moments. Just the other day I was reviewing the results of a 360 Maxwell Leadership Assessment that tracked my progress on the 5 Leadership Levels with a group of former team members. I appreciated the fact (eventually!) that they trusted me enough to be candid because they set me on a path of leadership improvement I never would have pursued if I had not been aware of some key blind spots!

Growth Requires Change –

As Maxwell often states, it is possible to change without growing but it is impossible to grow without changing! Herein lies the issue. We often concerned about the changes that will occur both within and around us when we start to improve. We are concerned about the reactions of those around us. Don’t be. As I once heard John Maxwell say, “when average people start to talk you out of something, you know you are on to something!” Further, leveling up requires that we become that person we aspire to be. That means we are going to have to start being the grown up in the room, exceed expectations, and perform at a higher level.

So back to one of my client’s questions. “Hey Bill, all this talk about professional development is great but how do I start and how do I know when I have got there?” First of all, start where you are. There will never be an ideal time to start any growth initiative so you might as well just jump in! I will provide a more detailed process below but a great place to start is to identify the leadership, organizational, and your industry-specific technical skills and qualities needed to get to the next level.

According to a study completed by the Business Higher Education Forum, the researchers identified that a skill such as Data Management appeared on over 3.5M positions announcements and Project Management appeared in over 2.3M. Just in case you believe you can skimp on the ‘soft” skills, Communication skills appeared in over 9.1M position announcements!

Again, it is difficult if not impossible to grow professionally unless you have a plan. In response to client needs, I developed an MSExcel based spreadsheet that allows clients to identify, operationalize, and track their progress on certain growth domains. I have attached a link below to the document and have provided a brief summary:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dWbg1WgNS966h6NDHzMmUyMCmXzbh_md/view?usp=sharing

Competency ID and Ranking – First, DEFINE what competency or skill you want to improve. This can be based upon prior assessments, work scenarios and/or personal aspirations. List no more than 15 key GROWTH AREAS or goals. To get started, Inventory what you already HAVE. List those Personal Qualities, Content Areas and Skills Sets that are SOLIDLY in your realm of expertise and mastery.

Gap Analysis – Next, identify the Growth Areas that you WANT or are Aspirational to obtain Next Level roles, opportunities, etc. Finally, the Gaps or Areas for Development are what you NEED.                                                                                               

Once NEEDS are identified, list your TOP 3 and ONLY attempt to develop 3 areas at any given time! Now you are ready to Design a Learning and Growth Strategy. For each competency identified, create three Learning and Development Strategies. These can include but not limited to: Books and Learning Systems, On-line or Continuing Ed Courses, Shadowing Opportunities, Seminars, Micro-Internships, Informational Interviews, Podcasts and Video Cast series and Webinars. Make sure to indicate DUE DATES for completion.                                                                                              

SUCCESS METRICS – Once you have developed a GROWTH STRATEGY, establish METRICS or INDICATORS for talent, skill, etc. obtainment on 3 PROGRESSIVE LEVELS                                                                               

• Foundational - what will base-line or FOUNDATIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENT look like?                                                                                      
• Intermediate - what will INTERMEDIATE PROGRESS look or sound like?                                                                                  
• Advanced - how will you know you have gained ADVANCED MASTERY?                                                                                                                                                                        

As you can see, this takes some effort, but the Return on Investment will make it more than worth it. A word of caution, once you open this door of development, there is no going back. What you were and did prior will no longer be sufficient for you. You will want to be the kind of person who wants to do and be more! Finally, I urge you to help others in their leveling up efforts. When God has given you the ability, experience, and dispositions to do something very well, it is not just a nice idea to teach others what you know, you have a solemn responsibility to do so!

As always if I can help you and the people you associate with Get Better, Be Ready and LEAD OUT LOUD, I invite you to contact me.

Yours in leadership,

Bill Faulkner

Independent Coach, Speaker, and Trainer with the John Maxwell Team ^TM

Email = bill@outloudinc.com

Visit our website at: www.outloudinc.com

For more information on the John Maxwell Team, please visit

http://www.johncmaxwellgroup.com/williamfaulkner/

Feel free to “LIKE” our FB Page www.facebook.com/outloudinc

Executive Presence: You have the SKILLS, now you need a STRATEGY!

I know you. You’re a go getter. You go get it and bring it back on a pallet. You bring home the bacon and the eggs with a side of mimosas! You are incredibly skilled and capable, however, too few people recognize you for such. This has me thinking out loud that it is time for a strategy!

Now I also know what you’re thinking. What has happened to Dr. “servant leadership is the only viable leadership strategy” Faulkner with all the trimmings of humility and being other-centric?!? Trust me, I am still here, and, by the way, it still is! That’s the point and perhaps my different take on establishing an executive presence strategy since in my version, it is predicated on the belief that if you focus on adding value FIRST, the recognition will follow!

As a review, what does it mean to have Executive Presence? According to Jun Medalla of Business Insider, these traits line up as:

• Composure – being self and other aware.
• Connection – the able to not just communicate but to connect with others.
• Charisma – the ability to influence others where you are!
• Confidence – in your abilities and comfort in your interactions.
• Credibility – simply knowing what you are talking about.
• Clarity – the ability to communicate purposes and passions so that everyone understands
• Consideration – for others and their perspectives.

ALL of the above can be learned and practiced and I would wager you got the basics covered! Remember, a confident presence is more about who you ARE versus what you DO or SAY. So far so good? Of course, and that is more than half the equation and as I often say, if you truly do your best, it will always be more than good enough!

But we still need a strategy to move forward. I recently reviewed a book by Paul Warriner called the Recognition Book: 50 ways to stand up, stand out, and get recognized. Combined with some of my own ideas, a strategy focused on building executive presence is built on 3 key foundations:

Who you ARE – I referenced this in the above discussion. Know who you ARE in terms of your unique personal brand which is made up of your style, personality, knowledge, expertise, etc. I often encourage individuals (and organizations) to create a unique and memorable brand by answer the following three questions.

• What do you VALUE?
• What do you DO BEST?
• What do you want to be KNOWN FOR?

How you treat OTHERS – treating others with courtesy and respect is an incredible impact multiplier. It’s just classy! I recognize that some ultra-competitive ladder climbers may experience short-term gains, but inevitably they will flame-out, mainly because their teams will leave them and no one wants to work with them. At the end of the day, it is the ladder builders who eventually get noticed and rewarded for their efforts. Always remember that no one is successful unless a lot of other people want them to be!

The VALUE YOU PROVIDE – this is where we really get into the “how to’s” of a strategy and Warriner provides some great ideas:

•        Take on organizational volunteer and community engagement roles
•       Meet an unmet need within your team. Some extra work that everyone knows needs to get done but no one has yet to step up for.
•       Represent and network on behalf of your organization – this can be at an event, presenting at a conference, serving on a board or community organization on behalf of your organization.
•        Mentor and help on-board others. Remember, executive presence is a 360 proposition, including not just senior leaders but peers, younger team members, and other stakeholders.
•        In turn, be willing to be mentored and coached. Many organizations have internal mentoring programs and spending time with a senior leader will provide invaluable insights.
•        Stay relevant and current by investing in your own professional and personal growth.
•        Be fully present in prepared for meetings giving everything and everyone the attention deserved.
•        Be constructive and positive when others are being negative, sarcastic and cynical. Trust me on this one, leaders worth following are looking for true believers!
•        Contribute to discussions and feedback forums in a solutions-oriented manner. Even if a good idea has been presented, add to it!
•        Walk through the room slowly. This is a habit proposed by author and leadership expert John Maxwell. Essentially, when he is about to speak in front of a large audience, instead of hiding out backstage somewhere, he walks around the crowd introducing himself and thanking them for attending. In a similar way, instead of just running into your office first thing in the morning or sitting down at a meeting, say hello to folks and introduce yourself to newcomers.
•        Present and carry yourself well. This speaks to the traits of what executive presence is but I often heard that you should dress and comport yourself for the job that you want not just the job you have!
•       Be punctual – these days one of our most valuable commodities is time and nothing lets someone know you value them as to when you value their time.
•        Share credit and take responsibility – how you handle yourself when things go well and even when things go bad will say a lot about you and people will notice.

Now you may be thinking, “hey, I do a lot of this already” and that’s the point. Building executive presence does involve a strategy but it is not one that is contrived and manipulative. It stems from who you are and what you do. The premise is along the same lines as John Maxwell’s book on Influencing Others. Essentially how we build influence is NOT by being manipulative or conniving, but by being just a really good person!

One final note about why you should focus on building executive presence – mainly because a lot of people need you to! Believe me, there are far too many ladder climbers out there being the squeaky wheel representing their own narrow interest. We need the ladder builders to have a seat at the table so that they can advocate for their teams, tell senior leaders what they need to hear, propose solutions that are right versus just expedient, and make things better because that is what leaders worth following do!

As always if I can help you and the people you associate with Get Better, Be Ready and LEAD OUT LOUD, I invite you to contact me.

Yours in leadership,

Bill Faulkner

Independent Coach, Speaker, and Trainer with the John Maxwell Team ^TM

Email = bill@outloudinc.com

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