Charisma Masterclass
Case Study
Building confidence and charisma in a newly appointed leader
The Client
He attended Charisma: The Leadership Secret with Pinnacle Wellbeing Services’s CEO, psychologist Richard Reid. These open sessions run at the weekend and attract a lot of entrepreneurs who want to learn how to authentically influence, inspire and elevate others.
Through a combination of teaching and reflection, individuals are given the opportunity to put their learnings into practice in small groups. Delegates are then further supported with coaching around practical points. Every attendee receives an individualised action plan following the session, detailing the areas they need to focus on.
Charisma – a key skill all entrepreneurs must master
What makes a successful entrepreneur? From Mark Zuckerberg and Richard Branson to Oprah Winfrey and Kylie Jenner, entrepreneurs the world over share certain characteristics in common, chief among them being charisma.
Charisma is defined as “compelling attractiveness or charm that can inspire devotion in others”. It is about the positive feeling you engender in other people.
A true sign of charisma is being able to connect with someone on a deeper level. It allows you to be the best version of yourself, while also bringing out the best in those around you. This is an essential personal quality for business leaders, who must be able to inspire and influence others.
Engage and inspire with charisma
Charisma goes hand-in-hand with self-belief. When you believe that you can do something, your passion shines through and others will put their faith in you, too.
While some people are born with this skill, it doesn’t come naturally to most of us. The good news, however, is that charisma is a skill that can be taught. It is a set of simple, practical techniques and behaviours that can be learned and used in your everyday life to transform the way you communicate.
Knowing how important charisma is to success at work, we host regular charisma masterclasses, Charisma: The Leadership Secret, for those looking to take their career to the next level.
We often find the entrepreneurs who attend these one-off sessions go on to commission further coaching from Pinnacle Wellbeing Services for themselves and their wider team, such is the transformational impact the masterclass has on them.
One such entrepreneur was a data analyst from the south of England, whom we first encountered during a particularly challenging period of transition in his current role.
“Charisma goes hand-in-hand with self-belief. When you believe that you can do something, your passion shines through and others will put their faith in you, too.”
Richard Reid, CEO & Coaching Psychologist
Pinnacle Wellbeing Services
The Challenge
Our client’s new position as managing director of the software company at which he worked was quite a jump from his previous role as global sales director. He proactively wanted to improve himself to maximise his impact in that role.
As well as his own personal development, he needed to learn how to address conflicts within the business, which had come about as a result of his promotion. His appointment was the result of a full internal restructure within a fairly new company. This restructure had led to strained relationships between several senior members of staff.
Five senior employees were competing for just four senior roles, with one of them missing out completely. Our client secured the highest position, as managing director, but inevitably that led to resentment and divided loyalties among the wider team, who all had their own opinion on who would be best at the job.
Our client knew that he had to generate gravitas around his new position from the outset, deal with any resistance to his appointment, and make people feel that he was the right person for the job.
He also had to get his former peers onboard with what he was doing, despite the fact that they had missed out on the role themselves.
When he attended this masterclass in charisma he wanted to know how to position himself as a capable leader, while acknowledging all the change and difficulty that the restructure had caused.
Our Solution
Over the course of the weekend masterclass we looked at how this individual could:
Build rapport with his teams
Understand what motivated his people so he could align his purpose and vision with what they needed in order to help them grow
Generate more gravitas – through the words he chose, and how he used his body and voice
Internally manage his thoughts and emotions better. Going into a role in which he had to work closely with those whom he beat to the top position meant he had his own doubts and anxieties, but he had to project confidence nonetheless.
After attending Charisma: The Leadership Secret our client reported a substantial growth in his confidence in his new role as managing director. The quality of his relationships with other senior people in the company also improved markedly.
We followed up with this client three months later, when he asked Pinnacle Wellbeing Services to provide a half-day charisma workshop for the entire company.
He wanted the session to focus on helping his team:
Develop belief, purpose and confidence in what they are doing
Use body language to engage and influence
Adopt active listening and questioning as an approach to communication
Results:
Anonymous, Managing Director
