Concern is One of the Fifteen Facets of Executive Presence

This article is one in a series focusing on Executive Presence and how leaders can meet their potential through improved communication. Executive Presence is defined by Suzanne Bates in her book “All the Leader You Can Be: The Science of Achieving Extraordinary Executive Presence” as “The qualities of a leader that engage, inspire, align, and move people to act… By understanding how your intentions as a leader match up with perceptions, you can learn how to flex your style to gain trust, build alignment, lead change, inspire performance, and drive executional excellence.”

This article focuses on Concern, one of the 15 facets that make up a 3-dimensional leader.

Click here to gain a greater understanding of (a) executive presence in general and (b) the other facets that make up a well-rounded leader.

What is Concern?

Bates describes Concern, one of the fifteen facets of executive presence, as “demonstrating interest in others, encouraging adaptive development, and promoting a healthy sustainable culture.” People with a high level of Concern are focused on the well-being of others. They help people in their careers. They are good listeners, patient, and sensitive to others’ feelings.

How Concern Makes People Feel

Someone with a healthy level of Concern is able to see other people as an important part of the organization and strives to help them succeed. As leaders, these people are not afraid to demonstrate genuine interest in the people they work with, on both personal and professional levels. The feelings these actions generate are

• I feel that you care about me and my career.
• I feel I can trust you.
• I feel that you hear me and care about my perspective.

Not Enough Concern

When someone lacks Concern, they may

• Seem cold and distant
• Listen poorly, interrupt, or constantly change the subject
• Make decisions that affect others negatively, and be unwilling to have a conversation about it

Specific Behaviors to Improve Perceptions of Concern

Here are some behaviors and techniques you can use to improve perceptions of your Concern.

• During meetings, create the conditions for a fruitful conversation
  • through a deep level of engagement
  • by communicating a strong listener-focused frame
  • by managing interactions efficiently and fairly
• Be curious about what others think and need
• Listen well
• Empathize with others
• Speak sincerely and with positive intent
• Nurture relationships through open, effective communication
• Edit your writing to remove possible confusion
• Avoid the assumption that messages sent and received during off-hours need to be addressed off-hours

Too Much Concern

When someone exhibits too much of a particular facet, it can become an overstrength. An overstrength often results in negative perceptions. While it would be easy to think it’s impossible to have too much Concern, it is possible. Here are some downsides of it:

• Being overly friendly or touchy-feely
• Expressing too much interest in another’s personal life, too early in the relationship with them
• Being unable to make difficult decisions when they may have a negative effect on others
• Being overly protective of the team

A Story About an Overstrength in Concern

Emily loved her new role as a manager. She had been promoted to lead a team she was previously a member of, which meant that her former peers were now her direct reports. Emily’s management style was friendly and supportive. She was always enthusiastic and happy.

Due to some reorganization and growth within the organization, Emily’s team grew from six to ten. In an attempt to make the new team members comfortable, Emily held informal one-to-one meetings with each of them. Her approach to each of these interactions was the same. She told each new report that she was excited to have them on the team and looked forward to getting to know each of them.

What Emily didn’t realize was that these meetings didn’t achieve her goal. She seemed overly friendly and much more interested in the new people’s personal lives than their new responsibilities. For example, if she saw that you wear a wedding ring, she asked about your spouse and then talked about hers. If she knew you had children, she asked about their ages and activities. This didn’t go over very well with everyone. For example, one of Emily’s new reports was gay, and another was recently separated from a spouse. They both found Emily’s interest in their personal lives and marital status uncomfortable and inappropriate.

To Emily’s team members, these conversations felt like something that would take place at a party between people who had just met, not an interaction between an employee and their manager. Emily’s overstrength in Concern contributed to the rocky start she had with her new team members. Eventually, she learned to tamp down her curiosity about others’ personal lives in favor of a more professional approach.

Some Facets Ride Together

Often, when we lean into particular facets (or pull back from them), other facets “come along for the ride.” When Emily learned to tap the brakes on the personal questions, what she was really doing was exercising Restraint. This simple-to-implement strategy will also show improvements in how people respond to her in terms of Resonance, Demeanor, Intentionality, and Interactivity.

Final Thoughts About Concern

Concern is in the Character dimension of the Bates model, which means that it is an aspect of our personalities developed early in life. Because it is a personality trait that seems to be built in from the very beginning, we sometimes don’t even think about it until someone points out that we’re particularly good at or lacking in it. This is why growing your self-awareness as you continue on your leadership journey is so important.

If you’d like to learn more or explore executive presence coaching options for yourself or your team, click here to schedule a call.