How to step up to the Executive Suite

Monday February 3, 2014

“What do I have to do to be seen as senior executive material?” This is one of the questions asked most often of me in coaching sessions with those aspiring to executive leadership.

One of the biggest barriers I find to helping people with their reputation is the belief that if they have worked hard and well in their current position, particularly if it is a senior operations role, their good works should speak for themselves. This view is naïve. Doing well in your current role should be a given, and might help you to the starting gate, but the world of the big kids has complex, often invisible rules that have to be decoded and understood. And just asking a senior executive for the rules doesn’t always help – not because they are deliberatively hiding them, but because they after often tacit rather than explicit, and so they don’t know what they know to share it with you.

1. Who do you know, and who are you associated with? Do you have good strategic thinkers in your network who can talk to you at a systems level, and to you ask them the right questions to draw out their views?
2. What do you talk about? If you listen to your own conversations, do you talk only about the area of work you are currently managing, or do you have views and conversation about system wide issues, or questions of significance to the current executive team?
3. What do you sound like when you speak? Are you aware of the pace, music and emphasis in your voice? Generally speaking more slowly, lower in the register, and emphasizing key points with your voice can make you sound more intelligent.
4. What do you look like? Do your non verbals match your verbals when you speak, or do you have a range of habits and mannerisms that undermine your point. And let’s talk about the tricky stuff here – generally how do you present? Do you look like a senior corporate woman or man?
5. What questions do you ask? Are you skilled as asking a relevant question that adds value to the discussion, or draws out the views of others to help you reach your own conclusions?
6. Do you see yourself in that role or at that level? If you can’t see yourself in that role it is unlikely you will line up your presentation to look and sound the part.

Find someone you trust who understands the big kids’ rules, and ask them to help you use these questions to undertake a stocktake.

Author: Denise Picton