More Presence Is Not Feedback You Can Use. Here Is How to Translate It.

Capable people are often passed over with feedback that is true but impossible to act on. A simple way to turn vague notes like "more presence" into specific behaviors you can practice.

You ask why you did not get the role, and the answer comes back kind and vague. "You are great at the work. We just need to see a bit more presence." Or more strategic thinking. Or more visibility.

Feedback like that is usually honest, and nearly impossible to act on, because it describes an impression rather than a behavior. You cannot practice presence on a Tuesday afternoon.

Part of the problem is how rarely anyone helps translate it. Only 30% of employees strongly agree that someone at work encourages their development, down from 36% in March 2020, according to Gallup. For many capable people, the vague note is all the guidance they get.

Vague feedback is a summary of moments

Whoever gave the note formed it from specific moments. A meeting where you deferred too quickly. An update that buried the decision. A question you answered with detail when they wanted a recommendation. The word presence is their shorthand for those moments.

Your job is to get back to the moments. Once you can name them, they are things you can change.

Three questions that translate it

Can you point me to a recent moment where I fell short of that?

Ask for one example, not a list. A single real meeting or email gives you something concrete. A person who cannot think of one is telling you something as well.

What would someone at the next level have done in that moment?

This turns the impression into a behavior. Give a recommendation first, then the detail. Push back when the timeline was unrealistic. Speak in the first ten minutes instead of the last.

Who does this well, in your view?

A named colleague gives you a working model. Watch what they actually do in meetings, how they open their updates, and when they speak. Copying a behavior is far easier than developing a quality.

Turn the answers into a short practice list

Pick two or three behaviors, no more, and practice them on purpose for a month. Lead with your recommendation. Say one sentence of disagreement out loud when you have it. Close your updates with the decision you need.

Then go back to the same person and ask whether they have noticed a difference. That conversation shows them you are working on exactly what they meant, and it changes how they read everything after it.

Getting an outside view

These notes can be hard to hear clearly when your career is on the line. A mentor outside your company can help you decode the feedback, rehearse the behaviors, and decide whether the role you were passed over for is still the one you want.

That is the kind of one-to-one mentorship Altvina offers professionals, with vetted, operator-led experts. You can see how it works on our page for individuals.

More from this week

This piece stands on its own. Here are this week's 5 pieces:

• Monday: If You Stepped Away for a Year, What Would Be Left to Sell?
• Tuesday: Losing the Room in the First Minute, and How to Keep It
• Wednesday: Your Managers Are Passing Your Decisions Along Without the Reasons
• Thursday: More Presence Is Not Feedback You Can Use. Here Is How to Translate It. (this post)
• Friday: Rejected Everywhere at Once: When the Same Filter Reads Every Application (coming Friday)

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