Presence Principle #1: Presence is rational, emotional, and physical
All humans think, feel, and act. Noticing that triad of human experience is essential to presence.
Daniel Goleman, in Vital Lies, Simple Truths, wrote, “The range of what we think and do is limited by what we fail to notice.” If you want to strengthen presence, start by noticing thoughts, emotions, and body movement. Notice your own experience, and notice others’. This deceptively simple practice of awareness improves insight and action, while lack of awareness assures that you are not fully connected to yourself or to others—dangerous territory for a leader.
We sponsor an executive development program called “Credibility, Influence, and Impact.” Leaders from organizations around the world participate, and most report that the work on presence is one of the most valuable parts of the experience. Here is what two of them have to say.
Roger Henderson was a successful senior engineering manager at Ball Aerospace when his career took a turn. Roger’s interest in the design principles underlying human performance led him to become a director of talent development and a valued coach for senior executives at Ball. He says:
I now see the mental, emotional, and physical components of presence as fundamental to personnel development. These three pinpoint precise aspects of the human experience and allow for focused attention. Leaving even one of these areas unattended hampers growth. The development process accelerates simply by having people go from unaware to aware in all three areas. We discover thoughts, moods, and physical habits that impede progress. We easily identify useful actions to take because an aware leader sees things an unaware leader cannot. Many of the people I coach are very talented, very successful, and all it takes is an increase in this triple awareness for performance to improve.
An executive in charge of corporate affairs in a Fortune Global 500 company told us what he thinks about the three parts of presence:
Working from the components of presence has changed how we manage media relations, investor relations, all internal and external communication. We were unaware of how unbalanced our approach was—mainly intellectual and very little emotional and physical. No wonder we got unsatisfactory results: we were only connecting to one-third of how people receive a communication. We still make sure the logic is clear. Now, we also research the emotions important to us and our audience, plus the impact on the physical circumstances in which people live and work. When we weave all that in, our communication is less formal, more human, and produces more of the results we want.
To echo Daniel Goleman, if you notice what you previously failed to notice, you will think and do things you could never do before. When you notice thoughts, emotions, and physical activity, you start the presence improvement journey.
Presence Principle #2: The first act of leadership is presence
Presence is where leadership begins. The present is the only place we envision the future, learn from the past, and cause progress. When our presence is compromised, so is our leadership.
“Back when I did not have a senior executive position, I found out that many people thought of me as introverted. Since I became CEO that now is interpreted as aloof,” one CEO told us. “Also, before people thought of me as someone who asked challenging questions. Now I hear that I’m intimidating. I know my ability to lead is damaged if people think I’m aloof and intimidating.”
Near the launch of his tenure, our friend made a simple change to fix this perception: whenever he’s in the elevator or moving through the office, he puts his smartphone away and greets anyone he sees.
“Really being with people is something I’ve had to cultivate because it is more comfortable and automatic for me to be with the smartphone and answer a few messages,” he said. “The results have been encouraging. I hear that people actually think of me as a colleague who cares about who they are, not just what they do. Also, people open up more and tell me things I did not know—very useful.”
When someone is headfirst in their smartphone, answering a text, or otherwise distracted while you’re speaking to them, what thoughts do you have? How do you feel? How does your body react?
Now, compare your reactions to a time when someone was devoted to and focused on understanding you. What were your thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations?
This reveals a simple truth: When you are fully present in a conversation, people feel honored by your attention, relationships are strengthened, and candor is increased. The faith people have in your judgment improves, too.
Much is written about trust in organizations. To build trust, start by giving someone your wholehearted, undivided attention. Pick someone today, and give it a try. Make being fully present in this moment your first act of leadership.
Presence Principle #3: All improvement begins with what is present
An executive in the restaurant business once told us, “You know how you can waste a lot of food? Just add ingredients to a dish without knowing what is already in it.”
If you want to improve a strategy, a process, or any kind of performance, first understand how the work is currently done. You will discover that it rarely, if ever, fits your preconceptions. Be present, be curious, and be ready for surprise. Whatever you do, don’t try to fix the dish until you know what is in it.
Jim Reinhart is the chief operating officer at QTS, a fast-growing, world-class leader in data center management. We first experienced Jim’s commitment to starting with what is present when he was an executive at Capital One sponsoring supply-chain improvements involving internal and supplier processes. When Jim announced workshops to map out how the supply chain was already functioning, many thought that was a waste of time.
Jim heard the fears and criticisms and made a simple request: “Let’s try one workshop and see what we get. We need unprecedented results, so I think we need to try something unprecedented. If we get no value, we will rethink the approach.” Jim’s credibility was sufficient for the many skeptics to give it a try.
In that first workshop, a group representing the whole supply chain, many of whom compete with one another, convened to map out how the work gets done. Reinhart did not want to “fix the dish” until everyone understood what was in it already. The only assignment was to carefully document the process of work entering the system and moving to successful execution. This was the first time all these citizens of the Capital One system were present simultaneously, and they got to see the work through each other’s eyes.
As everyone became mutually aware of how the work was done, the workshop facilitators asked people to report what they saw, how they felt, and what they thought about the emerging picture. They were coached to listen, learn, and let go of prejudice.
One of the people who originally doubted the value of the workshop said, “I was surprised by how open and honest people became and how much people cared about their work. We never had those kinds of conversations, and we never had results like that either.”
Defensiveness disappeared, and people came together to get more done with less.
According to Reinhart, the workshops initially produced more than $200 million in improvements and the highly present, highly collaborative approach ultimately led to over $1 billion in savings.
Curious
