Hi! Managers: Giving 'presence'

In the workplace, giving “presence” is important because employees do their best work, and make their best contributions, when they are truly respected, valued and involved. Such employees are also more productive and less likely to be absent from work. They are generally more creative, more willing to put in the extra effort and fully utilise their competencies, more willing to speak up and share opinions, or come up with the “out-of-the box” idea without fear of being embarrassed or ignored. A company with respected, valued and involved employees is generally a more attractive and happier place to work, and this, in turn, attracts talents.
Giving “presence” to business partners and customers is also very important. When interacting with others, we have a tendency to assess the situation from our own perspective. Even when we are discussing the other party’s interests, we often try and lead the conversation, or convince them of the benefits of our products and services or the correctness of our opinions, without really listening to what they want or the questions they have.
Giving good “presence” involves a multitude of factors.  Some important aspects are:

--Be authentic 
Being sincere and authentic is a crucial part of respecting and valuing your employees, business partners and customers. It is fundamental to building trustful relationships which are important for genuine engagement.

--Have an open and collaborative attitude 
It is difficult to be truly “present” if we come with prejudices, pre-conceived ideas and hidden agendas. Author Stephen Covey advised that we should “seek first to understand, then to be understood”. We should adopt an open mind and suspend our judgements, and try and understand not only the contents of the other person’s opinion, but also their feelings and frame of reference. Adopting a “how can I help?” approach is often more constructive than making assumptions about the situation.

--Feel empathy 
Often, we approach issues and situations as if they are series of factual puzzles or projects, and fail to recognise their emotional dimension. Covey says that “you listen with your ears, but you also, and more importantly, listen with your eyes and with your heart. You listen for feeling, for meaning, you listen for behaviour… You sense, you intuit, you feel”. Failing to understand the emotional aspects of a discussion may mean that crucial ideas or messages are missed or facts are misinterpreted. This may lead to the other party being frustrated, disillusioned or angered. In such cases, even if a resolution is reached, the underlying issues may linger.  

--Listen actively 
Carl Rogers laid the foundations of “active listening” with his theory of “client-centred” therapy. He said that “by consistently listening to a speaker, you are conveying the idea that: I am interested in you as a person, and I think what you feel is important. I respect your thoughts, and even if I don’t agree with them, I know that they are valid for you. I feel sure that you have a contribution to make…I just want to understand you. I think you are worth listening to”. 

--Active listening has two aspects:
-Hearing and understanding the content and feeling of the speaker’s statements
-Reflecting or communicating back to the speaker, in different words, what the listener has understood.  This reflection reassures the speaker that what he/she said was understood and allows for corrections and alignment if there is a misunderstanding. This process makes the speaker feel valued and heard, and promotes engagement and understanding.

--Value your counterparty: Regardless of whether the recipient of your “presence” is your employee, your business partner or customer, they should be treated respectfully and shown that they are valued. Lee Cockerell said, in “Creating Magic”, Disney employees are trained to deliver on the following four expectations for colleagues and customers:
-Make me feel special
-Treat me as an individual
-Respect me (and my children)
-Be knowledgeable/make me knowledgeable.
Giving good “presence” can make us better managers and more effective collaborators. It also promotes better understanding and engagement, thereby making us more valuable as a colleague and a business partner. Most importantly, it makes the recipient feel respected, valued and involved and that is the best gift of all.   

Celina Chew is senior Bayer representative for the Country Group North Asean and managing director of Bayer Thai.