Early in your career, technical excellence is the differentiator.
Accuracy. Responsiveness. Knowing the law. Getting it right.
But at a certain point technical ability becomes assumed. It’s no longer the reason people trust you. Or promote you. Or choose you for complex, sensitive work.
What begins to matter more is something harder to measure:
The experience of working with you.
The Myth of Technical Delivery
Many high-performing professionals believe that if they continue to deliver excellent work, recognition and progression will naturally follow.
Sometimes it does, often it doesn’t.
Because once you reach a certain level, everyone is technically capable. The real distinction becomes relational rather than intellectual.
People start asking questions like:
- Do I feel calmer when this person is involved?
- Do they reduce friction or create it?
- Do they help me think more clearly under pressure?
- Would I trust them with something sensitive, unfinished, or uncertain?
This isn’t about likability.
It’s about impact.
The professionals who progress most sustainably are often those who create clarity where others create noise, and calm where others escalate stress.
The Pillars of Presence
Presence is not charisma.
Calm is not passivity.
They are practical leadership skills.
Presence shows up as:
- Listening fully, without rushing to solutions
- Being able to hold complexity without becoming reactive
- Responding thoughtfully rather than reflexively
Calm shows up as:
- Emotional steadiness under pressure
- Predictability in how you communicate
- The ability to regulate yourself so others don’t have to manage around your state
Teams unconsciously mirror the nervous system of the people around them.
When we are grounded, we lower the stress level of the room.
When we are scattered, defensive, or constantly urgent, we raise it.
Over time, people remember how they felt working with you, especially in moments of pressure.
Building the Bedrock of Trust: The CRC Framework
Trust is often spoken about as something abstract. In practice, it’s built through very small, very visible behaviours.
One simple way to think about it is the CRC Framework:
Consistency
Do your responses, standards, and behaviour feel stable over time, or unpredictable?
Reliability
If you say you’ll do something, does it happen when you said it would? And if it can’t, do you flag it early and honestly?
Communication
Do you close loops? Share context or background information? Manage and reset expectations when circumstances change?
Trust is a two-way street. It doesn’t require perfection but it does require follow-through and transparency.
One of the fastest ways trust erodes is silence when circumstances shift.
One of the fastest ways it builds is a simple message that says:
“This has changed. Here’s what that means. Here’s what I suggest instead.”
Conclusion: What are you known for?
Here’s a simple but powerful question to sit with:
If your team described you in one word or phrase, what would you want it to be?
Not your job title.
Not your billable hours.
But the experience of working with you.
Clear.
Steady.
Thoughtful.
Commercial.
Reliable under pressure.
You can use that word to guide your professional development because once technical skill is assumed, that is what can define your career.
I’ve put together a short companion guide: The Experience of Working With You, including some prompting questions to help you explore how you’re experienced by others, particularly in moments of pressure.
It’s there as a thinking partner, not a checklist.