Executive presence has long been considered the intangible gift of outstanding business leaders, inspiring confidence in other colleagues and perpetuating their success. All professionals can benefit from a greater sense of executive presence but it’s particularly important if you are aiming for a c-suite role.

Executive presence is more than physical, outer components that people can see. It also translates to others through inner components. The main inner components are confidence, credibility, and self-control. Humble confidence is an ability to communicate a deep level of knowledge clearly, without being arrogant. Credibility is the ability to communicate deep layers of your knowledge and convey your point of view in a way that creates buy-in. And the third part is self-control; the ability to manage yourself and your emotions in all circumstances.

Even if all of this seems like it would be difficult to master, anyone can level up their executive presence if they follow a framework. There are five steps in this framework to be able to convey executive presence to colleagues.

When an executive communicates with authority, it means they speak to command the room, give insight and persuade others. Communicating with authority means you’re able to connect with your audience through what you say. For some great ideas on speaking intelligently in the workplace, this video might be helpful. Other things to consider are how you bring your presence into a room when you’re with colleagues: how you walk, move, and what tone of voice you use. All of these elements are part of communication and all of these can work to your advantage to convey authority.

Building a connection is key to earning your co-workers’ trust. And trust is earned within the first few moments of meeting your audience. So it’s key to set that intention from the outset. One way to do this is to connect on a face-to-face level and to use and maintain eye contact. This indicates that you’re present and you want to engage in a dialogue. Keeping eye contact lets others know that you’re sharing ideas that are important to you and that their attention is valuable to you.

Poise is physical composure and a way of projecting natural self-confidence. Poise helps a person convey gravitas or personal power. When we have an awareness of what’s going on around us and are in tune with our audience, we project poise. This also means being self-aware about our reactions to others. Being mindful of facial expressions, beliefs, and the way you convey your opinions will help you develop poise and gain more executive presence.

We live in a fast environment where snap judgments are made within seconds of meeting another colleague. Your colleagues will intuitively decide your trustworthiness, competence, morality, and friendliness as soon as they meet you. A polished image precedes anything you might say verbally and can give others the idea you know what you’re talking about. Image is not only about fashion or style, but it’s about paying attention to the details of your appearance and optimizing what you have.

Lastly, to really cultivate an executive presence, you must believe it is possible. A person must first know within themselves that they do deserve to be in authority at work, or it will be a challenge to demonstrate this to others. We can only change our identity if we truly understand within ourselves that it’s attainable. It’s often said that we don’t achieve our wildest dreams, we achieve our lowest standards. So, instead of allowing others to shape our identity, and live life by default, it is up to us to shape our intentions in our career and life as a whole. By deciding intentionally how to speak, how to show up, and how you’d like others to perceive you, you can design your own identity and determine the future influence you’re going to have as an executive.

If you’d love to learn how to put the principles covered in this article into action to develop executive presence, join me in my executive coaching program where I’ll introduce you to a powerful self- and career-development process.

This is an implementation-to-results program for growth-oriented executives who seek greater career fulfillment through becoming a more skilled version of themselves. It is designed to help you master your mind, develop deeper insights, elevate your communication skills, and become inspired in your career growth.

If you’d love to find out how my methodology can help you with your career goals, apply HEREfor an opportunity to work with me.