Watching the abc's Q&A last night got us thinking about gravitas and how it's created or destroyed through behaviour. The show's panel format lends itself beautifully to behavioural analysis and has many parallels with the boardroom environment. In both, people need to have impact in a group of intelligent, high-profile people. This involves creating opportunities to speak, communicating with impact on the spot, and handling disagreement with aplomb.
Last night's panel included feminist and academic Germaine Greer, newspaper columnist and blogger Joe Hildebrand, Liberal MP Barnaby Joyce, journalist Paul Barry and advocate for women and girls Melinda Tankard Reist. So who had gravitas? Why? And what lessons are there for executives who want increased gravitas in the boardroom?
Let's focus first on the formidable Germain Greer. Love her or hate her, her gravitas in undeniable. When she speaks she is heard. These are just some of the ways she captures attention and creates impact:
- she rarely uses soft language, qualifiers and fillers. This is particularly important when expressing opinions. Greer doesn't preface her opinions with 'I think...', she just states her view as though it's fact.
- she keeps her sentences short. This means messages have increased impact. Remember, when we speaking our sentences must be significantly shorter than when we write. The negative impact of long sentences was demonstrated by fellow panellist Tankard Reist whose arguments were consequently much more difficult to follow. Avoid run on sentences which use 'and' to connect separate thoughts.
- her posture is upright with hands above the table. This has the effect of making her seem physically bigger than she really is. In the boardroom, sit forward and use gestures when making an important point.
- she is not afraid to say things which she knows will be unpopular. She is unfazed when other panellists disagree with her and doesn't personalise the disagreement.
Less impactful was Joe Hildebrand. Instead of creating the impression of an intelligent, insightful social commentator, he came across as a petulant schoolboy. So what can we learn from him?
- avoid overusing humour. Too often, when Hildebrand spoke he used the opportunity to create a throwaway joke instead of saying something insightful. People laughed, but when the laughter stopped someone else would speak so any chance of contributing memorably to the debate was lost. In the boardroom particularly, overusing humour can create lead others to assume your don't take the issues seriously enough.
- Dress is important. Unshaven and lacking a tie, Hildebrand looked sloppy and when this was combined with his sniggering jokes the impression more schoolboy than statesman. Consider how you want others to perceive you and make sure you dress in a way that is cohesive with this. If you want increased gravitas in the boardroom, there are some simple ways to look the part. Men should wear a tie and keep the jacket on. Women should avoid frills or anything too 'girly' and keep jewellery simple (which means the dangly earrings are a definite no).
So gravitas is not some mysterious X factor; it is achieved through behaviour and is relatively simple to create or sabotage. To build your awareness of the impressions you create in the boardroom, nothing is better than seeing yourself on film. At Milan Partners, we often use this technique to help our clients identify ways to build their gravitas.
To view this episode of Q&A on abc iview click here