PRESENCE IN COACHING

“Presence of mind in all things, I counsel.

Be aware of thyself before all else.”

—?Gav Thorpe

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Impression Management.?This term was new to me, but I quickly learned it’s embedded in all forms of communication. Impression management is making an effort to balance who you are with how people perceive you. It requires healthy self-awareness of your strengths so you can advocate for yourself.

It’s important to note that impression management is not bragging. Instead, it’s finding the overlap between your skills and communicating them in a way that provides opportunities aligned with your goals.

Just as you might choose different clothes for various occasions, each conversation allows you to don different communication styles. Most of this happens unconsciously. Being aware of what you project to others allows you to apply ethical influence?and value yourself. This can lead to personal growth and serving others while opening new paths. The ability to adapt doesn’t make you a shifty communicator. Rather, it shows high emotional intelligence via self-awareness. It can enable you to challenge preconceived ideas, false impressions, or simply make people aware of what you have to give.

“Showing Up”?is the difference between how we think and how we act.?But how are?you?showing up?? How do you know???

As Presence is considered by the practitioner community to be a key factor in coaching effectiveness and is recognised as an important coaching competence.??

I held a largely tacit understanding, associating it with a sensitivity to my thoughts and feelings together with having a relational sense of being present towards and with my client. I noticed that coaching often felt at its most effective when I was more present in this way.

This led to further reflection about my client’s experience; I was curious whether they also felt a similar sense of presence and if so, how our being present together affected each other during our conversation. As I began to research this phenomenon more deeply, I encountered a variety of descriptions and definitions in the literature.

For instance, Silsbee (2008), accentuates the inner, individual experience. He sees presence as a state of awareness, emphasising a somatic nature, ‘characterised by the felt experience of timelessness, connectedness and truth’ (p.22). Stelter (2014) on the other hand focuses on the relational aspect where, ‘the goal is to develop a presence and an attunement where the participants are constantly trying to tune in to each other’ (p.59).

Somatic coaching involves?working with clients to explore their bodily sensations, movements, and patterns, as well as their thoughts, emotions, and beliefs.?Somatic coaching has emerged as a powerful modality that integrates the wisdom of the body with coaching techniques to foster deep transformation and self-discovery. Somatic coaching deals with the inner-pression of how you are showing up.

As Somatic coaching?is a holistic approach to personal and professional development that integrates the body, mind, and spirit. It focuses on accessing the body’s wisdom and intelligence to facilitate growth, transformation, and healing. The term “somatic” comes from the Greek word “soma,” which means “the body as perceived from within.” Therefore, somatic coaching emphasises the embodied experience, recognising that our physical sensations, emotions, and movements hold?valuable insights and information.

This practice originated from various disciplines, including somatic psychology, neuroscience, mindfulness, and body-centred therapies. It draws on principles from these fields to help individuals tap into their body’s innate intelligence for greater self-awareness, resilience, and effectiveness.

Through somatic exercises, guided inquiry, and mindful awareness, clients learn to listen to the signals and messages of their bodies, which can reveal underlying patterns, barriers, and strengths.?

In contexts such as?leadership development,?personal growth initiatives, or stress management programs, somatic coaching proves invaluable. It equips individuals with the tools to become more attuned to their physical self — often leading to profound shifts in behaviour and mindset. The integration of mind-body-spirit not only fosters personal well-being but also enhances professional performance by cultivating?presence,?empathy, and?decisiveness?among leaders and teams.

Somatic coaching is grounded in?several foundational principles?that emphasise the importance of somatic awareness, embodiment, and the interconnectedness of the mind and body.?

Let’s explore them together:

• Somatic Awareness: This principle is central to somatic coaching, guiding individuals to tune into their body’s cues. It fosters a deepened self-awareness and insight that can be pivotal for personal growth.
• Role of the Body in Shaping Experiences: Our physical form profoundly influences our perceptions and interactions. By acknowledging this, clients can uncover and address deep-seated patterns affecting their daily lives.
• Somatic Markers in Decision-Making: These bodily cues serve as internal guides during decision-making processes, offering insights beyond rational thought.
• Embodiment and Presence: Emphasising the importance of being fully present, somatic coaching aids clients in achieving a grounded state of being through various practices.
• Interconnectedness of Mind and Body: Highlighting the synergy between our mental and physical states, this principle shows how each aspect can influence the other, creating a comprehensive understanding of our being.
• Recognising and Altering Patterns: Somatic coaching provides the tools to identify and change limiting patterns, enabling personal evolution and enhanced well-being.

Through these principles, somatic coaching not only enriches clients’ understanding of themselves, but also equips them with practical tools for lasting change.??Key to somatic coaching is helping clients understand?how emotions manifest in the body?and develop skills to regulate emotional states through awareness of bodily sensations and mindfulness. This awareness enables clients to?approach emotions with ease and resilience, laying the groundwork for deeper exploration in somatic practices.

A typical somatic coaching session may begin with a?check-in?to assess the client’s current state and intentions for the session. The coach then?guides somatic exercises or activities?to facilitate embodied awareness and exploration. Reflective dialogue and inquiry follow to deepen understanding and insight. The session concludes with?integration and grounding practices?to help the client anchor their learnings and experiences.

Current knowledge is derived mostly from practice-based literature and whilst both inspiring and useful to coaching professionals of all persuasions, the collective picture it presents seems somewhat inconsistent and incomplete.

There has been little academic research into the executive coaching context that articulates an overall structure or attempts to clarify the boundaries and overlaps with other concepts. These reflections led to the formulation of the research question being: “What is presence and how is it experienced by coaches and clients during the executive coaching conversation?”

These diverse perspectives have emerged from a variety of contexts and demonstrate that whilst the notion of presence is considered to be an essential element of the professional dialogue, it is a phenomenon that is constructed in many different ways. Whilst interpretations and contexts differ, the literature points to a consensus that presence is a desirable quality that contributes to the effectiveness of coaching and which can be both learnt and practiced.

The C2 Model of Presence

The C2 model of presence, so-called to reflect its applicability to both client and coach, represents the final conceptualisation and is depicted in figure 2 below.

Inherent in the model is a recognition of inter-dependency between the individual structural elements reflecting an overall systemic, complex and tacit nature. This nature encompasses three facets of experience.

Firstly, there are envisaged to be two modes: ‘Mode One’ concerns being more aware of the here-and-now. Whilst ‘Mode Two’ involves a more absorbed experience.

Secondly, there are three dimensions that relate to internal, external and relational experiences.

Thirdly, there are dynamics involved in moving between the two poles of a lack of presence and full presence. During its evolution, the model was informed by Wilber’s integral model of human consciousness (Wilber, 2000), which proposes four perspectives of reality: A subjective interior, an objective exterior; the individual and the collective.

This has influenced trans-personal approaches to coaching (Rowan 2010) and has been used as a basis for conceptualising nursing presence (Shea, 2016).

Two Modes – More Aware and More Absorbed Presence is experienced in two different modalities. In mode one, there is a tendency to feeling present in a very conscious way and sensitised to their here-and-now experience. As to intentionally be noticing what was going on between themselves and the other person, and were aware of their own mental, physical and emotional experience. This mode is summarised as being ‘more aware’. In mode two, they became so highly focussed and absorbed in their experience that they lost the sense of being conscious awareness.

Instead, they were highly present to their experience rather than present in the room. This mode is a tendency to be ‘more absorbed. Both modes were reported as being dynamic with client and coach moving between them throughout the coaching conversation.

Three Dimensions – Internal, External and Relational.

The internal dimension of presence refers to the client’s or coach’s internal awareness of being present. This internal awareness may encompass the mode one experience of having an open, calm, clear mind and a sensitivity to somatic and emotional feelings. Equally, it may describe the internal experience of mode two, such as a sense of timelessness and a feeling of well-being. The internal awareness of mode two is more of a reflective process occurring after the event, as by its nature there is a sense of being absorbed during the present.

The external dimension of presence is defined as the client’s or coach’s perception of the other person’s presence. For example, the perception in mode one might be that the client felt listened to, whilst the perception in mode two may be that the coach experienced the client as being lost in their own narrative.

The relational dimension of presence is conceived as the mutual experience of being with the other person whilst holding a person-centred attitude. It involves both client and coach being present to each other, with the overall purpose of being in the service of the client. There is a sense of companionship, warmth and inclusion, which enables a deep connection and heightened communication, where the whole feels greater than the sum of its parts.

All three dimensions and the two modes may be experienced regardless of physical proximity, as in telephone or Skype coaching.

Dynamics

Both client and coach may view presence as fluctuating and unstable. Their ability to be present was affected by internal and external distractions (e.g. wandering attention, becoming preoccupied or being physically interrupted) and as a result they reported moving towards and away from presence a number of times during the course of the coaching conversation.

They may experience a lack of presence through characteristics such as a lack of openness, boredom, anxiety, a lack of focus, judging the other person and internal chatter. When not present they reported a variety of ways of becoming more so, either through intentional action (for instance making eye contact, sitting upright in their chair or mindfully letting go of distracting thoughts), or through direct feedback from the other person.

These dynamics could be visualised as a relational dance between client and coach as each party continuously moves towards and away from presence, across the two modes and three dimensions, with each person’s presence affecting the other. The subjective, objective and relational experiences are not in reality isolated, rather they are part of an interdependent, holistic whole. As well as proposing this structure, the C2 model also encompasses an appreciation of a set of conditions for and outcomes of presence.

Conditions

Some conditions that contributed to a deepening of presence were reported to include client and coach attitudes of openness, compassion, respect and empathy; a requirement for practice; the value of experience; and a conducive physical environment (which may include face-to-face or non-physical contexts such as coaching via Skype or telephone).

They may also involve intentional decisions and actions during the coaching conversation such as improving posture, focusing on breath, feeling grounded, making eye contact and allowing time at the beginning of a session for both parties to become present. These conditions link to the notion of presence as a way of being that can be practiced, cultivated and learnt over both short and long-term horizons.

Outcomes

Coaches use their presence as part of their coaching process to facilitate change and raise awareness in their clients, for instance through modelling or verbal feedback intended to sensitise and raise awareness. The final concept defines the outcomes of presence as: enabling safety and trust; feeling connected with the other person; accessing internal resources; and enabling well-being.

Clients expected their coaches to be present in order to contribute to the work that they were there to do. As such, there was an expectation for the coach to demonstrate a ‘professional presence’, which may occur on a mental, emotional or physical level.

Correspondingly, coaches reported that they actively used presence to coach for instance, in order to make an appropriate response or as a means of creating a favourable space. The use of self is a common approach in coaching (Iliffe-Wood, 2014) and the implication for this is that presence underpins this process.

Presence is linked to transient moments of insight and change. Re-engaging with the literature in this specific area, a connection may be advanced with other research into significant coaching moments. For instance, ‘critical moments’ in coaching have been investigated by Day et al. (2008) and with De Haan et al. (2010) studying the specific context of executive coaching.

They defined a critical moment as ‘an exciting, tense or significant moment’ (p.610) and found that it commonly resulted in increased awareness. The authors suggested the need for, ‘radically new ways of understanding the client’s experience of coaching, as distinct from the coaches’ experiences’ (p.616). The findings from this study may therefore contribute to this understanding.

These conditions and outcomes, interacting across three dimensions and two modes in a dynamic relational dance, generated a final conceptualisation that is expressed by the C2 model, which is supported by further thematic detail shown in Figure 3 (see below).

The 'C2 model' can be leveraged by coaches and their clients during coaching engagements, and by the profession as a whole. The existence of a model also provides a basis for future clarification and differentiation.

Reflect on values

1. What’s important to you?
2. How will your values show up in behaviours?
3. How will you contribute today?

You might say, ”I want to show up in ways that express my passion to get stuff done.” What attitudes, emotions, and actions best serve your passion to get stuff done?

Imagine you choose to show up to fuel energy in others. Ask two questions.

1. What am I doing that gives you energy?
2. How might I improve my ability to bring energy to you?

In summary, whilst presence might be viewed as tacit and nebulous, the structure and characteristics explicated in the C2 model offer a deeper understanding than previously existed and this has significant academic and practitioner value. A richer conceptual language has emerged and boundaries with other related concepts have been identified and clarified.

By placing the client perspective on an equal footing to the coach and acknowledging the dynamics and interdependency between them, a more holistic, systemic view has been advanced. In terms of theoretical contribution, the 'C2 model' extends current knowledge and addresses the gap highlighted in the literature. Whilst it aligns to relational theories of coaching such as person-centred and Gestalt approaches, given that all coaching is inherently relational, it has more foundational implications regardless of any particular coaching process.

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? ?REFERENCE:

Noon, R. (2018) 'Presence in Executive Coaching Conversations – The C2 Model',?International Journal of ? ?Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring?(S12), pp.4-20. DOI:?10.24384/000533(link is external)?[Accessed:?15 August 2024].