Presence-Based Coaching: Cultivating Self-Generative Leaders Through Mind, Body, and Heart

is through our aliveness that we rediscover what it is to be human. Business and leadership and coaching (and marriage and friendship and parenting and community) are only the domains in which we most frequently practice and learn.

Completions are beginnings in disguise. They mark the beginning of what’s next. With presence, we are in contact with the developmental impulse, and we work with the client to make the completion and transition as conscious as possible.

COACH: So craft this as an outcome: something compelling, worth working for, measurable. Put it in language that addresses your concerns and that you can mobilize yourself for. That’s how you’ll reorganize yourself. Notice that the development of the outcome is already a reorganization move. Jean is practicing self-generation in the present moment

COACH: Listen to your language in this conversation, Jean. What do you notice? The coach is requesting self-observation. JEAN: I’m feeling discouraged and a little overwhelmed. My resignation is creeping in! I can spot it! Jean self-observes the habit, names it as separate from herself, and thereby disidentifies from it. This is the moment of reali

The search for this evidence, especially for behavioral outcomes that provide the core of most developmental coaching programs, is in itself an act of self-observation. The assessment process requires the client to self-observe, furthering self-generation. The resulting conversation often provides opportunities for the client to own the new compete

the conversation has required Barbara to self-observe (her enthusiasm when she interrupted) and to reorganize (in order to be enthusiastic and connected at the same time). It is easy to see, based on even these few minutes of conversation, how we could construct an experiment or a rich practice that Barbara could do as fieldwork.

So, this is that edge: being powerful and energetic, and at the same time being relational and authentic, both of which the culture requires. So right now, how did you do that? How did you simultaneously speak enthusiastically and be in relationship with me? The coach directs Barbara to reflect on the current conversation in the context of her larg

What was your experience? How were you aware of me as you talked? BARBARA: Yes, it was different. I was more aware of you. COACH: I sensed that as well. How can you tell? BARBARA: Well, I was noticing your eye contact and aware of you listening. And I was open to your questions rather than running off down a track in my mind. COACH: (speaks gently,

I’m just curious and wondering if this might relate to how others experience you. What do you think?