Quick Take | Tips to Help Executives and Leaders Grow
The Quick Take podcast provides concise and actionable tips to help executives and leaders, like you, tackle the thorny and complex challenges that affect us daily. By leveraging their experience and relationship with other global leaders, our hosts provide suggestions that are based on their deep experience as leaders and coaches but also pressure tested in boardrooms everywhere because they asked their friends….(almost). Hosted by James Capps and Susie Tomenchok. Episodes release weekly on Thursdays.
Quick Take | Tips to Help Executives and Leaders Grow
Level up Your Virtual Presence with Tracy Phillips
Can your virtual presence make or break your executive success? Tracy Phillips, an expert in online presence and video production quality, joins us today to uncover essential strategies to elevate your executive presence in virtual settings. This episode promises to transform the way you present yourself on screen, from mastering eye contact and using professional virtual backgrounds to practicing and recording your presentations for self-improvement. Discover why even seasoned executives often miss the mark in virtual settings and how you can stand out with small but impactful changes.
In this episode, we discuss the following:
1. Importance of executive presence in virtual settings and how it impacts perceptions.
2. Tips for improving your virtual presence, including framing, lighting, and attire.
3. Nonverbal communication techniques to enhance engagement and connection in online meetings.
CONNECT WITH TRACY:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracy-phillips-538125b1/
CONNECT WITH SUSIE:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/susietomenchok/
CONNECT WITH JAMES:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/capps/
Welcome to the Quick Take Podcast, the show where you get targeted advice and coaching for executives by executives. I'm Suzy Tominchuk.
Speaker 2:And I'm James Capps. Give us 15 minutes and we'll give you three secrets to address the complex topic of issues that are challenging executives like you today.
Speaker 1:Hey, welcome to Quick Take. I'm your host, susie, along with my very great, gracious and humble co-host, james. How are you, james?
Speaker 2:I am all those things and more. Well, what can I?
Speaker 1:say to that I know You're going to be quiet now.
Speaker 2:I don't know that's happened once. I don't even think we published that episode, so I think we're all right.
Speaker 1:And you're welcome because I brought a friend with me.
Speaker 2:So exciting.
Speaker 1:You just met Tracy Phillips. Tracy has been working with me on my presence online and at my video productions quality, all of those things and so we're really excited to have you here, Tracy.
Speaker 3:Thanks, I'm super excited to be here, especially that pre the pre-conversation was amazing, so I think this is going to be just as good.
Speaker 2:I know we do that all the time where we're like stop, stop talking. We have to hit record. This conversation is way too good already.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because we were talking about how we have been on video for so long and yet we still see people executives that don't have a great visual presence. So interesting, don't you see that too?
Speaker 3:I see it all the time and again. I'm astounded sometimes because this is someone who is high up in the company. Other people are looking at them for guidance and what to do, and if they are not caring about their virtual presence, then down the line I see also that people are just not taught to. They're not taught though you don't know what you don't know and you know some of the biggest ahas are silly little things. But I think you know it is really important to think about your virtual presence, especially if you're the type of person you're like. It doesn't really matter, it matters.
Speaker 2:I think that when you talk to executives about some of the fundamentals of being an articulate speaker, talking to people and making eye contact, having a cohesive thought, just in a regular presentation style, everyone appreciates that those things are important. But when we add this element to it it becomes that much more complicated and so many executives haven't had the training, the peer group perhaps, or even the mentors, to say hey, you know what?
Speaker 1:this is a critical part of being seen as a leader is a critical part of being seen as a leader, yeah, and even as a coach for some. I'm trying to help people understand that. It's that connection, it's building trust, it's being able to have difficult conversations. So I say what Tracy always tells me look at the green light. That's the person feeling like you're looking at them and don't look at their picture. That was the other thing. People don't realize that that's where you look to make them feel seen.
Speaker 3:Yes, and that takes practice. So, again, like everything we talk about today especially is you know, you don't know what you don't know. And so when you, when, when you learn the thing, you have to practice the thing. I would say test it out, record yourself and look where where was I looking? You know it's. I think if you're in a group setting, it's okay to kind of look around the room, but when you are the one speaking, like right now I am looking into my dot, why? Because the audience is on the other side of that dot, right. So and that is really important for you being memorable and impactful, and these are all the things you want to be, especially because you're not live, you're, you know, you have this separation and you're in your tiny little box. Within that tiny little box, we need you to pop, we need you to show up and we need to make an impression, a positive one.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that, at the end of the day, these this I think that it matters.
Speaker 2:It just comes down to the that this stuff matters, and I think that's what I think we want our folks to hear is that there is an importance to this.
Speaker 2:You know one of the great examples, and I know a few of our listeners will know who I'm talking about. We had a leader who was in in Baltimore and she cleverly had a screen background that was the Black Rock New York office, with a chair, a jacket slung over the chair and a purse in the background, and she, while I knew she was in Baltimore and never in New York, there was still that feeling that she was in the office and you would hear me say things like have you seen so-and-so today or did you go by down and do this? Of course she didn't, and it wasn't intentionally a lie or trying to be a subterfuge, it was really just a fine background, but it did create a belief that she was being part of the New York team and I think that, while we can say none of these things are really that important, they do matter as a whole and we consciously and subconsciously observe them, and I think we need to remember that.
Speaker 3:It's a feeling, right? So the feeling for you was she is a professional in her professional setting and you know things about that setting, and so everything and all of our decisions are first based on a feeling, and so creating that feeling in your virtual space of I'm a professional, I should be taken seriously. Again, if you're not taking yourself seriously, then the people on the other side of that lens certainly aren't going to take you seriously. And so, yeah, there are just so many little things that you can, I mean, and there are quick fixes, uh, but again, I'm just going to keep saying you don't know what you don't know.
Speaker 1:People don't tell you in your everyday, like people also can notice some of these things. I've talked to people and I'm like how did you not know that you're looking this way? I had one person say I'm looking at you, you're right there.
Speaker 2:And I was like no, but don't you understand.
Speaker 1:They're smart people. I'm not on your other stream. Or I had somebody that was like this in their really low down and I was like why don't people tell you to move up or look at them, and people just don't take that next step? It's not their place, they're not the expert in it. Why should I say something?
Speaker 3:They don't think about it, though that's not like unless you come. I mean, I have a 23 year pro video background Right and so so it's like people will send me little little messages and like, oh my gosh, this person showing up like that. Can you tell them? Like people will send me little little messages and like, oh my gosh, this person showing up like that. Can you tell them like no, they're not a client of mine. I can't just like go out of the blue and be like, hey, you're terrible.
Speaker 3:But, I love that you mentioned the framing, because I'm going to take that as a great segue into talking about your framing, because it is probably one of the easiest things to fix and one the most important and we won't get into the psychology and the science behind it but where you are in the frame and what I mean by frame is you know where are you in your little virtual box is your framing and how close you are to the screen or far away really does dictate how people perceive you, and so a lot of it is perception, and so what we want is for you to be close up, because video is a close up medium. I can't remember what is the. It's a wired magazine and the CEO always comes and he's so far away and it's audio sounds echoey and I thought I know they have a production team that could be helping him. I think he's just putting his phone down, but if you think about where I am now right, I'm visible, you're looking at me you're like, oh, yes, okay, she's well lit, I see her, I can connect with her, but if I'm here, I'm just lost in my background and I see it all the time, and so what you really want to do is fill the frame, and so I like to say no more than an internet inch above your head, and you do want to see some of your, your chest, because I could fill the frame. You know, like this that's no good, nobody wants to see that, but again.
Speaker 3:So there's a couple of things with the framing. Stay in the middle. You know it used to be in the olden days. We do like the rule of threes, where it's like you can be in the middle, right, you're not you're, you're virtual, stay in the middle. And then you want the internet inch above and you want to have pockets up. So, pockets up, so we see a little bit of your chest, so it's not just an immaculate floating head. And you're connecting again.
Speaker 3:And we'll go into the other important thing about your framing and Susie mentioned it is your eye line. So when you're trying to figure out your framing, so you're not looking up or down at the camera, your camera, my camera right now, is directly in line with my eye. So when I am talking to you and again I'm not looking around the room at Susie or James, I am looking into my camera, talking about all of these things, because my audience is on the other side of that camera, this thing, these things, because my audience is on the other side of that camera, and so, and so those are. Those are two just very easily fixable things that can be done within a minute, and play with it right.
Speaker 2:Play around, see where you look.
Speaker 3:I just adjusted my camera, my internet inch was was too much headroom, but but again, yeah, so and then and then. I think when we're talking about framing and standing out in I know you didn't ask this, but we were talking about it before and I would love everybody. If you're looking around this room at the three of us who pops right, who do you notice? First Probably me, because I'm wearing bright yellow, then Susie could, because she's wearing a beautiful maroon color, and then James, and he's wearing a paler color. And so what you wear online also matters, and this is where I usually tell people stick to jewel tones. Sometimes my Jersey accent comes out. That's a jewel, and so these are your blues, greens, yellows.
Speaker 3:Again, I never would wear this out in public because I don't really like yellow. However, it pops online. I do a lot of thrift shop shopping. I have things that I only wear online. But again, if you're presenting online a global meeting, you have a sales meeting, you want to pop, you want the attention on you. And again, other global meeting. You have a sales meeting, you want to pop, you want the attention on you, and again other little things. This is mostly for women, but if you are going to wear something, you know a nice color. You must wear white or black, because that's just what you wear. Have a pop of color by your face, so it's bringing everything up to your face.
Speaker 2:See, I tend to wear muted colors because I'm just so attractive. It makes it hard for people to focus so I want to give Susie a chance.
Speaker 1:You're like a pop of color yourself, is what you're saying?
Speaker 2:pop of color myself. It is just uh, it's, it's. It's been a difficult burden to carry for a long time, so I feel.
Speaker 1:But I'll work on the violence, yeah it's a humble brag, i'll'll admit.
Speaker 2:So yes, I love that. I love the color, I love the idea of having a thrift pile of clothes sitting next to the camera here. That fits for the video but not for public consumption. So, yeah, that's great.
Speaker 1:You know, I also when you were talking. There was a couple things from an influence perspective because I talk about corporate politics and those kind of things. From an influence perspective, because I talk about corporate politics and those kinds of things, having a color, even in a big meeting, makes you pop, even if you're not the one that's speaking. So thinking about that and the other thing is I'm using my hands, because I always do is people trust your hands. So having a good frame that you from time to time see your hands also is a way to communicate trust and connection. So there's also the idea of how can we take some of the nonverbal cues that are great and powerful in real life and use them not inauthentically. If you're not, you don't use your hands to talk. You don't want to be, like you know, trying to. But how do you naturally communicate over video more of you?
Speaker 3:Well, and I think I love again. You're like the queen of transitions. That's a great segue into talking about nonverbal, and the nonverbal sometimes can be even more impactful than what is coming out of your mouth. And they've done studies and and 7% of what's memorable and what people connect to is your spoken word. What is coming out of your mouth.
Speaker 3:Wow, that's incredible yeah 38% is your tone of voice and 55% is the body language. It's called the 7, 38, 55 rule, and so body language really is so important. I am an effusive speaker, right? I also like you, susie. I am energetic, I use my hands, but you don't want to be an animated bunny rabbit, or I forget, is it Grover, right? You don't want to be like moving around so much that it becomes a distraction, but you also don't want to be so stiff that you feel it's like watching a robot, and so here's a couple things that you can practice with the body language is, if someone else is speaking, nod and smile.
Speaker 1:These are just nice things to do Doesn't have to be a cheesy smile.
Speaker 2:It can just be soft. That was a scary smile. That wasn't cheesy at all. That frightened me a little bit yeah.
Speaker 3:But these are little things, right. So. So I noticed and Susie and James, you both do so well when I was speaking, I noticed you're both nodding right, nodding, smiling as the speaker. That makes me feel good because I'm like okay, I'm connecting right. So you know that you're connecting. But it's also important because I okay, I'm being understood. Sometimes important because I okay, I'm being understood. Sometimes I use my eyebrows. I'll use facial expressions. You know, I can't remember the statistic. I should have looked it up. But when you use your hands, you are perceived as smarter than someone who doesn't use their hands, and that is a funny thing.
Speaker 3:So if you're talking, about the length of something. Right, if you're talking about the length of something and you do this, that really connects with people. Or if you mentioned a number and you hold up three. You know Susie was prompting us in and we did the five, four, three, two, one, and it also is just a little bit of a reset If you're in a longer meeting and someone's just droning on and droning on and droning on, you know you really like how do you keep people engaged with the nonverbal?
Speaker 3:And so you know, again, working on your tone of voice is a lot harder and that's where coaching comes in. Then simply adding arms or like a tilt, a head nod, these are things we do. You know from my pro production days is we did a lot of doctors on green screen type things and they would get into their script and we'd say every once in a while, just tilt your head, just tilt your head while you're talking, and it's such a little teleprompter trick but it works and because someone tilts their head is interested or paying attention well, I really love the, the, the energy that comes with that.
Speaker 2:I think a lot of the way that that now I'm very self-conscious about my hands, of course, and I'll probably poke my own eye out, but I love the energy that I get from people when they respond nonverbally and so I tend to to over index on that, so they know that I am getting that Well. They may not get the energy from it. I want them to know that if that's what I want from them, I am trying to to uh, you know, give the positive reinforcement if you will. And I do find that in a meeting where the energy is low, if I am getting more animated, I can bring the room up, um, and I can get people to nod. I can get people to do that, and it's fascinating how a leader can, with nonverbal cues, really create a different energy, even when you're on the Zoom.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I mean you can even adding humor. That's more of the tone. But adding humor, like I said, I will, sometimes, if I'm teaching or I'm in a group of people and I want them to pay attention, I will actually use the camera and say, like you may want to write this down, right? And I make my voice lower because they will lean in to listen, Like what did she just say? And her face is really close. But those types of things are just to keep the engagement going. Again, you really do lose a lot online, but you don't have to lose everything, right. I think it's a lot easier to engage someone in person because they're feeling your actual energy and you're interacting with them. But what I try and do is translate that to an online space. Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know, what's really interesting is that there's research that says that we listen the least to the people we know the best because we get so used to their, their, what they say and their cadence and everything. So when you disrupt that with silence or you change that and that's what made me think of it when you get close up, is it when you change that you make you force people to pay attention.
Speaker 3:Correct, you're disrupting, and that's exactly the right word. You're disrupting. And then it also you can amplify your message that way. And so again, you know, going back to the first thing, which is it matters how you show up. I think about when I am hired by corporate leaders. They're like, you know, people come on and they don't even have their camera on online training for folks and I'm like turn your camera on. It matters, because when you're being thought of for the next promotion or project or anything and people haven't seen you, they can't connect. You may not say a word in that meeting, but if you show up in a jewel tone, well-framed, smiling, nodding, paying attention, you're memorable. And again, we want you to be memorable. Yeah.
Speaker 2:So do you think that it's important? You know I've been working with a company and we've been talking about that, how it matters, and and just the criticality of of creating a code of conduct, if you will, whether it's a specific or, you know, whether it's a documented or or more of a informal one about things like that. Is that something that that you'd recommend? A?
Speaker 3:standard of procedure for showing up. I do think that's really important, because if you have salespeople showing up and this is an important meeting you want to know that they are representing you in the best way possible. We talked a little bit about this in the beginning, which is you don't really have control whether they show up with pants or with a messy bed in the background. So I would absolutely almost templatize that and say here's how we expect you to show up on Zoom calls meaning whatever you're using for the virtual calls so that everybody is looking their best.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and when I want to hold people responsible for a certain behavior or an outcome, I feel much better holding them accountable. If I've made it very clear, upfront and as a leader, that's what you want to do. Like, look, we have these guidelines and here's the rules and it's all very clear here. You are not doing that. It's more difficult for me to come on and say you know what? You just weren't professional, it just didn't feel right. That's harder when I haven't given them the rules by which I'm going to measure that.
Speaker 3:Correct and also like professional, especially, you know, when we're we're hiring a younger generation professional to them. And I will like I laughed because I was supposed to do an interview with someone yesterday and they texted me and said yo, being here, not going to be able to make it, and I thought I've never met this person and they're yo-ing me Like. I immediately knew how old he was. I immediately I thought there's a level of friendship here that has does not exist yet, of friendship here that has does not exist yet. But also that, like, no one has probably taught this person how to communicate and part of communication is again showing up and being virtual. So I I love the idea of really saying here here's, here's our expectations. That way, if they don't meet those expectations, you have somewhere to go, because it doesn't feel good to say you're not professional, because they may think no, I'm like I had a great sales call while my cat and dog were laying on the couch a really messy couch behind me, and again, these are distractions that a lot of people don't think about. If there's stuff going on in that background, they are not paying attention to you, which is, again, I have a little pet peeve of blurred backgrounds, because I noticed a lot of people do the blurred backgrounds. Well, I don't want people to see my home or I don't want people to see this, and I understand that.
Speaker 3:However, when I see a blurred background, I think what are you hiding? So I'm not even paying attention anymore. What are you hiding? Right, and sometimes they're hiding like a horrific mess and sometimes they just don't want. It feels invasive for someone to be in their home in that way. So in that case, james, like having like, here's what we recommend and we'll send you a, you know chair green screen and here's the background, every call that you have that you put on there. If you need setting that up, we'll, we'll have a tech person come. You know, like help, you do that, it's so easy. And that way everybody is showing up in a way that makes you feel good about the people that are representing you.
Speaker 2:Well, I think it's about brand right. For me, it's the thought that, look, we have a brand that we want to represent, we have dozens of people talking to dozens of clients and we'd like to have a consistency in the value proposition that we bring to the table. We are charging you a premium for the quality product and we want that to be perceived that way, and that happens in lots of things the software we build, the representation we are on a video call, the mail that we send you, the billing, whatever it ends up being, they all should be on brand, and I think this is a big part that people aren't thinking through.
Speaker 3:You use the word perception, though, and that's the biggest thing to think about Like they think you're doing, like it's the perception, and so when you're talking about brand sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt, but the perception is really, really important.
Speaker 2:No, I think that's a lot of this for sure.
Speaker 1:Before you go through your, I want you to give us your, your top tips. Uh, tracy, and I had a very senior person tell me that his people can you tell them don't just show up, be seen, and what you're saying is you have permission to have a conversation with your people. That says this is how you have to be seen, and what I keep hearing you guys say is we're afraid to. But I think it is really important to have the conversation and say these are the, these are the things, these are the standard that we want to have, and I think that's okay to do. So, tracy, can you give us your top tips so people can like really Are we like recapping?
Speaker 3:Like are we doing the recap part?
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:I'm prepared. I'm prepared for this. The first one is it matters and I think we've all said like it matters how you show up in a virtual space. Even if you're tired of showing up in that virtual space, even if you're a little burnt out from it, it still matters. So every time you show up, think of how am I being perceived? Regardless of whether it's an internal meeting or an external meeting, I put the effort in, regardless of the meeting. The second one is really about like your room, your framing, your background, your eyeline. All of these things are really important and easy to fix so that you are perceived as the expert you are. And then the third one is really those nonverbal, the nonverbal cues of getting comfortable with the nodding, the looking at the camera, the listening, being an active listener. And again, if you're a hand talker, don't be afraid of using your hands. And if you're not, then try and integrate something you know like a little bit of a head nod, head tilt or just using your hands to express important moments.
Speaker 2:Enjoy that. Let's all do the head nod.
Speaker 1:So good and share this with people that need to hear it. This is a really important episode for people to understand, and people can find you on LinkedIn. Yes, tracy Phillips. Okay, awesome, and people should watch this on YouTube, because we talk about the framing and the non-verbals here, so feel free to also catch this on our YouTube channel as well. Thank you, tracy, this has been so helpful.
Speaker 3:So much fun. Thank you both for having me on.
Speaker 2:Take care. If money was not a consideration what would you do for a living Juggle? No, I'm just kidding, okay, no, I can't.
Speaker 1:You could learn.
Speaker 2:I could learn, I, I, yeah, that's not that interesting. Money was not consideration, um, um. You know I've often thought about, I've often wanted to teach, um, I think, I think I would teach and probably find it really disappointing after a year. Um, but I'm going to go with teaching. I would always wanted to teach.
Speaker 2:I always felt like high school physics was the beginning of all fun science, where you get to do all the really understandable scientific, uh, um, experiments to kids to help them realize how the universe works. And and I, I had a great physics teacher in high school that you know. He actually had a slide rule on his on his wall and but, and could do math on the slide rule faster than anybody could do it on a calculator. He was the last of a dying breed, but he made science fun and I and I've known science teachers here in Denver that are just like that, that are you know, into it and love it, and I just think that that's a really fun window to introduce people to technology and science and I think teaching that would be really a lot of fun people to technology and science and I think teaching that would be really a lot of fun.
Speaker 1:That's cool. It's kind of sad that you have to pick that when you consider when money is not something you know, that that makes me sad to think that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, but that's uh, that's the world we live in, unfortunately, and a job is a job.
Speaker 1:You know a job is a job, so anything is going to.
Speaker 2:If you have to find the reward in it, you have to find the thing Absolutely yeah, yeah, and I think that that's the blessing of teaching. I think there's a lot of people who get the reward out of it because it certainly is a monetary yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, thanks for listening to this week's episode of quick take, where we talk about the questions that are on the mind of executives everywhere. Connect with us and share what's on your mind.
Speaker 2:You can find us on LinkedIn, youtube or whatever nerdy place on the internet. You find your podcasts. Our links to the show are in the show notes. We appreciate you.
