5 Tips to Confidently and Authentically Communicate with Executive Leadership
Have you entered the phase of your career where you're starting to interact with executive leadership? Exciting! Nerve-wracking! How do you prepare?
Unless you work in an incredibly collaborative and flat hierarchy organization, there is likely a level of nervousness, power dynamics, and rigid energy that can make interacting with c-level leaders difficult.
It’s possible you work with executives who present themselves as busy, stressed, or worse – angry. Unless you have a close-knit relationship with every member of your c-suite leadership team, you are likely to come up against scenarios where you need some extra guidance in your interactions.
For example, if you are called into a planning meeting with executive leadership, how do you come prepared? If you prefer to fly under the radar at work but the c-suite team is interested in the work you do, how do you hold yourself authentically? If leadership is wanting more out of you/your team, how do you present yourself?
Exposure to executive leadership can be a good or bad thing, depending on your career goals and how you handle each interaction. If you are looking for upward growth, more pay, and a seat at the table, executive visibility can be a good thing. If you are tired of the corporate games, the lack of transparency, and burnout, this exposure could be a bad thing.
Either way, it’s never easy being thrown into the deep end. It can be helpful to know what to do when you are meeting with executive leadership. The goal of today’s blog post is to give you structure when preparing for any interactions with c-level leaders.
5 tips to keep in mind when presenting to executive leadership -
Know your worth
Half of the battle when meeting with people who spark nerves is getting in the right headspace. Take a minute to recognize the fact that you are more than deserving of being in the room with executive leadership. You earned the right. Acknowledge the value you bring (and have brought to the team) and step into your worth! You deserve to be there.
2. Prepare
“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail” and this is especially when the stakes are (as when meeting with executive leadership). Come prepared to the meeting with as much information as possible. Do some research on the people who will be involved in the meeting. Research their roles, responsibilities, and tenure. Look to see if there was an agenda provided for the meeting. If so, bring supporting documentation (data, updates, etc) that aligns with the goal of the meeting. Seek to understand your role and how it relates to what leadership is looking to accomplish, and prepare to contribute to the discussion accordingly.
3. Build Rapport
Here’s the tricky part about working with executives that they won’t tell you - there is a level of ego involved in building professional relationships with senior leaders. When working with executives (no matter how cringe this may feel), it is important to do your research. Know their titles, their responsibilities, their tenure, and their background. And then… once you feel prepared in their background… It's ok to remember that executives are people too.
Two things can be true at once - executives are important and they are human - just like you and me. It’s ok to communicate with executives as you would with other managers, clients, and coworkers. Strike the balance of building professional rapport using your authentic communication style. When engaging in conversations with executives, specifically during the beginning and the end of meeting small talk, it’s ok to be curious! You can seek conversation around their schedule, workload, and priorities at work. Mostly important, use your listening skills to learn more about who they are and what they care about.
4. Keep Material Relevant to the Goals of the Business
When working with and presenting to executive leadership, keep the information succinct and relevant to the needs of the business. For example, if you are being brought into a meeting because the exec team wants to an update on your progress, only provide the data relevant to the overall goal of your job/team as it relates to the business. It can look like this,
“This quarter, the business is focused on [insert KPI here]. In the last 2 months, our efforts [insert the work you are doing] have resulted in [insert data here]. This means we are [x%] to our goal. We are working on [abc] to continue to refine and improve.”
5. Ask “How can I help you and/or the business be successful moving forward?”
Lastly, this tip is your secret weapon (with anyone you work with to be honest). Always end by asking “how can I help you and/or the business be successful moving forward?” This will position you as a helpful resource to the executive team. You might be surprised at what insights and information they offer!
Gaining access to the executive team means three things -
1) you have been doing something right,
2) you have an opportunity to grow and gain influence in your position and,
3) it’s time to double down on your worth and your boundaries so you can be sure to take advantage of the visibility versus the executive team taking advantage of you.
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