23 Key Focus Areas To Demonstrate Your Next Level Leadership Readiness
There are 23 key areas you need to focus on to demonstrate your Next Level Leadership Readiness. In a previous article — Before you ask for a raise — I mentioned how perceptions affect your reality at work.
“Persuasion is clearly a sort of demonstration, since [people] are most fully persuaded when we consider a thing to have been demonstrated.” ~Aristotle
Here are the 23 key areas you need to focus on. Please note that capability is not enough, build the credibility you need by demonstrating your capability.
Demonstrate that you can:
Nurture positive relationships at work
Learn to look at relation before the transaction. When given a project to work on, focus on people. Before you can build positive relationships, you need to first improve your self-image, self-esteem, and self-confidence. Build your authority and establish your credibility while building trust with others.
Enhance Your Executive Presence
Higher the role, higher the expectations. The way you carry yourself and the way you carry conversations shapes perceptions. Enhance your executive presence so that you are seen as the leadership material ready for the next level role and more.
Build a personal rapport with influential stakeholders
Learn to understand human behaviour through body language, reading emotional cues, noticing behavioural patterns, understanding agendas, and discovering currencies. Build trust to be in the know, and stay alert to adapt to changing situations. (See section How well do you know your Team 1, 2, 3? in a previous article — Before Your Company Stops Loving You)
Master the Instruments of Influence to get ahead with least resistance
With specific strategies, you can increase your influence with your team, peers, superiors and other stakeholders. This can be done authentically without manipulation.
Develop your Executive Voice and speak like a leader
Learn the five vocal flavours that you can use to give life to your voice and use it to your advantage in conveying knowledge, sincerity, clarity, and conviction.
Be known as a high-impact communicator
Learn to speak up with purpose and impact. Learn to communicate effectively with or without preparation using specific strategies for all situations you encounter at work. Seize opportunities to present, speak and communicate.
Boost your Persuasion
For more than 2000 years researchers, academics and philosophers have been studying the art and science of persuasion. Still, most executives have not spent the time to learn how to get others on their side. In my book, The Mousetrap Way I say there are only three ways to communicate. You can tell, you can yell or you can sell. Learn the exact components of persuasion techniques used by leaders, speakers, lawyers, politicians and marketers to express YOUR ideas in a convincing manner. Speaking up is not enough. Learn how to provide velocity and momentum for your ideas!
Speaking up is not enough. Learn how to provide velocity and momentum for your ideas!
Handle conflicts and confrontations effectively
Learn to stay ready to have difficult conversations with others to resolve conflicts, handle disagreements and remove misunderstandings. Learn to manage your emotions and read your counterpart’s emotions, to avoid major mishaps and to steer conversations to create productive outcomes.
Boost your focus, productivity and build positive habits for leadership
Learn how to get more organised and productive by leveraging the power of daily routines. Build positive leadership habits that improve your focus, tenacity and productivity.
Build your network without drinking, bragging or golfing
Learn to expand your network through reciprocal relationships with more people without sacrificing your personal time, personal values and hobbies. Ensure that you are able to tap into your network for help when you need it the most. If you are spending too much time on networking, you are wasting your time. It is time to be more strategic.
If you are spending too much time on networking, you are wasting your time. It is time to be more strategic.
Develop a Growth Mindset
Learn the impact your mindset is having on your outcomes and know the exact steps you can follow to develop a Growth Mindset that prepares you to take on new challenges and bounce back quickly from every setback.
Manage Office Politics Better
Learn to understand the patterns, trends and ‘event-chains’ in office politics. Be aware of allies, lobbies and detractors and use the information to your advantage. Wherever humans congregate, politics and lobbying will emerge. Politics is unavoidable in almost all organisations. You can’t wish it away. Knowing the right strategies can help you to survive and thrive.
Wherever humans congregrate, politics and lobbying will emerge. Politics is unavoidable in almost all organisations. You can’t wish it away. Knowing the right strategies can help you to survive and thrive.
Build high-performing teams
Learn the exact steps you need to take to build high-performing teams that respond positively to your cues and works hard to make your vision a reality. When you master how to get more work done through others without supervision, your potential to achieve becomes unlimited.
When you master how to get more work done through others without supervision, your potential to achieve becomes unlimited.
Build confidence to ask for what you want
Learn to master the art of asking without fear of rejection. What you desire might be an ‘ask’ away. Rejection proof your life by building the confidence to ask for what you want.
What you desire might be an ‘ask’ away.
Deliver feedback without backfire
Learn how to express your feedback in a timely, efficient and effective way so that you can influence the behaviour of others and to resolve issues before it becomes a major problem for you or your organisation.
Influence without authority
Learn to advance your agenda, build stronger relationships, persuade decision-makers to champion your ideas and initiatives by knowing how to lead people who do not report to you. You need to influence key stakeholders because there is little point in convincing people who can’t help you.
You need to influence key stakeholders because there is little point in convincing people who can’t help you.
Use more leadership phrases that demonstrate ownership, competency and commitment
Learn to notice the impact of the phrases you use on the perceptions others have about you. Be more strategic in your endeavour to demonstrate ownership, competence and your commitment to the team and organisation.
Listen like a leader
Learn how to listen with three levels of listening that helps you to develop your EQ, demonstrate your empathy and boost your authority.
Discover your personal values that silently influence your behaviours and decisions
Learn to notice the impact of personal values on your behaviour and how to use that information to alter your responses to situations. While you do not need to change your personal values, having awareness of its influence will help you to identify triggers and reactions that make or break your career. Learn to identify value-violations early so that you can plan your response ahead.
Manage upwards better to perform better
Learn to get more support from your boss, manage your workload, develop your skills, resolve conflicts, remove roadblocks and get to do more work in the areas of your interest.
Build your personal brand and stand out from the rest
Learn to stand out by defining your personal brand clearly and positively influence perceptions about you so that you attract the right opportunities. When there is clarity in your personal branding, it becomes easier for others to refer you and vouch for you.
When there is clarity in your personal branding, it becomes easier for others to refer you and vouch for you.
Be even more effective during team meetings
Learn to get your ideas across during meetings, control the flow of meeting and influence decisions before decisions are made.
influence decisions before decisions are made.
Structure your conversations to suit the occasion
Learn to go prepared for catch-up conversations with peers, superiors and team members so that you know exactly what to say and what not to say. Schedule meetings regularly so that you are aware of emerging challenges and get the right support when you need it the most.
Call To Action
Here are two questions for you to reflect on:
- Which of the above focus areas are you great at?
- Which are the ones you need to improve a lot?
If you like to master these competencies in a systematic, structured, step-by-step process join LEAP — Next Level Leadership Readiness Program and breakthrough to the next level of your career, business, and life.
Manoj Vasudevan is an internationally renowned Next Level Leadership Readiness expert, management consultant, and the World Champion of Public Speaking. He helps executives and entrepreneurs to break through to the Next Level in career, business, and life. Manoj is known for his expertise in simplifying complex topics into practical strategies. He is the CEO of Thought Expressions and holds an MBA from Imperial College, London. His books include the international bestseller Mastering Leadership The Mousetrap Way. and How to become the World Champion of Public Speaking. He speaks at international conferences, multinational companies, universities, and around the world. As a coach, Manoj has proven track-record in personal transformation and breakthroughs. CEOs, Senior Executives, UN Diplomats, Celebrities & Professionals from over 50 nationalities have benefited from Manoj’s coaching. To contact the author’s team, click here.
