If you want to be seen as a strong, efficient, and capable leader, it starts in the boardroom. Being able to have the personality and the aura to command the room and get everybody’s attention is not the easiest thing to do.
As a boardroom leader, you need to be able to capture everybody’s glance, and respect, and have everybody listening to what you say. It’s not possible for everybody on a board to get this, but you need to be able to show that you are a good leader for the boardroom to want to listen to you and pay attention. You need to make sure that the company that you are working for sees you as a leader, regardless of what women’s workwear you are wearing, what color your hair is, or how tall you are. People always judge leaders on appearances but is your command of the room and the way that you carry yourself that’s really going to show your leadership style. So, with this in mind, here are some of the ways that you could be a good boardroom leader.
Look to manage the dynamic of the boardroom
People are so different. Nature, nurture, interests, hobbies, and people are just different and you have to understand people to be able to manage them. Having emotional intelligence as a leader is so important, and the responsibility falls on you to ensure that while the board is composed of very different people it runs in harmony. You need to be creative, wise, and intelligent when it comes to managing people, and when you are in a boardroom space, you need to be able to lead a conversation and make a meeting feel harmonious. It’s not easy to do, but it’s a master.
Learn to listen
When you are putting board meetings on the calendar, you need to learn to listen to everybody in the room. A meeting is exactly that, it is not a dictated lecture, and it’s not about you speaking your opinion to everybody else. As the leader, you should be allowing the conversation to flourish and grow in the boardroom and you should be the one helping to guide the conversation to make decisions as a team rather than making everything fall on you. Other members of that meeting will be compelled to follow your example and respect everybody’s contribution, and that’s what you should be encouraging. Leaders lead, they don’t meddle and they don’t stamp down on anybody else’s creativity.
Stay as educated as possible
Not only do you need to have an in-depth knowledge of a business and its operations, but it’s also vital that you do as much research as possible into the trends coming up in the market. Importing all of this wisdom into your team is going to help you to manage people’s expectations and their responses in a meeting environment. It could also give you a good indication as to what kind of ideas may be right for your business. A board that is in constant pursuit of success is one that is educated, and as the leader, you should be the one to show not tell what you’re capable of doing.
