Working With Senior Leadership Survival Kit

As you move up the corporate ladder, less of your job will be task-oriented. You will spend more and more time interacting with senior leaders and raising up future leaders of the organization.

Interaction with senior leadership is different from daily interactions with your coworkers. There are three keys you must embrace:nn- Understand the senior leadership perspective
- Develop your Executive Presence
- Understand how to communicate with senior leadership

Understand the senior leadership perspective

First of all, you need to understand that senior leaders have numerous demands on their time. These demands are internal as well as external.

Therefore, when interacting with them, you need to perfect the rifle shoot method: get in, get it done, and get out.

Secondly, you must be aware of their expansive viewpoint. Senior leaders have a broad range of experience, having worked in various capacities in this organization and others.

As a result, they can quickly grasp the essence of the issues and look at them from different perspectives. Their focus is strategic. They are interested in the current bottom line and potential future implications (avoid the details).

They do not like surprises and your job is to help them make decisions by presenting all the facts along with your recommendations.

Moreover, senior leaders believe yes men/women don't add value. Have an opinion and be ready to argue your position, even if it differs from theirs.

Finally, the final point in understanding senior leadership is relationship building. As a recommendation, you should find every opportunity to interact and build relationships before working with them.

This can be done through meetings where you are a participant in the audience or social events outside the office.

What works well for me is to find out through my mentors what kind of off-site activities they are involved and ask if it would be possible to be invited as part of my development. Officers of the company get invited to prestigious and high-profile company functions. It is not rare to see senior executives at those functions.

Executive Presence

The first impression is critical. If you leave a bad first impression, it will be a tiring battle to regain the respect of senior leaders. And do not make the mistake to assume they will not remember you. Though there is a possibility they will not, always assume they will and carry yourself well every time.

Key factors to remember pertaining to executive presence:nn- Be one time: this means ten minutes early. Remember, senior leaders are extremely busy; it will be detrimental to your reputation to be late at a meeting where they are present. This shows you don't take your career seriously.nn- Connect with your audience. The use of eye contact is critical. Moreover, looking at your audience will help you gauge the level of engagement. You can then alter your ton of voice or the pace of the meeting if necessary. Making eye contact shows you have confidence. Of course, do not stare at one single individual for lengthy period of time. Instead, look at different part of the room and engage your audience.nn- Polish your presentation: the three keys elements of a polished presentation are posture, voice and dress.

First, work on your posture. Stand straight (do not slouch), shoulders back, head loose and straight (looking straight ahead). Your feet should be approximately six to ten inches apart.

Second, present with a strong, clear voice and talk slow. Nervousness can make the voice breathy, squeaky or too soft. Remember to breathe deeply and slowly. Your nervousness will go away as you gain more experience in presenting to senior leadership.

Lastly, the rule in terms of dress is to take it up a notch and dress above the audience. For example, if the dress code in your company is business casual, then wear a suit.

Keep in mind that you are dressing for your next job, not the one you are currently in. Invest money in a good quality suit that you can break out to make different outfits. Good quality pieces will take you a long way.

Understanding how to Communicate with Senior Leadership

Communication can take on two forms: oral (meetings or presentations) or written.

BE PREPARED. I cannot reiterate enough the importance of preparation. You need to develop a thorough knowledge of the topic and understanding of the issues at hand. In addition, anticipate questions and research them ahead of time.

When bringing a problem to senior leadership, don't just relate the facts, but also offer a recommendation on how to solve the problems and why you think this is the best solution. You will look more professional and credible if you think through the issues and come prepared with alternative scenarios.

Keep the language simple. Avoid acronyms. Some acronyms are specific to certain functional areas and using them can create confusion.

Make your point within the first minute or two. Make sure you do not go over your allotted time as senior leaders have very busy schedules.

The second form of communication is written communication. It is said that one's intelligence can be measured by their written communication skills. True or false, you need to accept that people form an opinion of you based on how you write.

Use the three-step approach: tell them what you're going to tell them, tell them, and tell them what you just told them. This format not only provides a logical progression, but the repetition ensures that your key points are remembered.

Use topic sentences to express your main ideas. The following sentences provide details to support your topic sentences. Headings and transitional words such as "moreover", "in addition" make the writing logical.

Use short and concise sentences. Keep the language simple.

Don't be afraid to draft and re-draft. Always ensure that every piece of correspondence coming from you is polished and professional. Use extra care for emails. Most people write emails and rush to hit the send button. Once an email is out, there is no saying where it will land.

I recommend you keep a journal of valuable lessons learned. Write in your journal any lessons learned from your interactions with senior leadership.

Reflect on the interactions, learn from them and learn from senior leadership. Refer back to your journal often so you can be better at the next interaction and personally grow and develop.

In review , we have discussed the key elements of working with senior leaders.nn- Understand the senior leadership perspectiven- Develop your Executive Presence
- Understand how to communicate with senior leadership

Master the techniques involved in interacting with senior leaders and you career will skyrocket.