1. Presence – present with you and present for you

Presence, in the living moment. Not the remote past. Nor the as-yet-to-be future. This moment, here and now. This moment unencumbered by what’s gone before, or what might happen next, this unadulterated moment.

We’ve put ‘presence’ at the heart of what we do. We believe presence is the foundation of all our coaching. We believe that to be a great coach you have to be able to be present for your clients. We also believe that presence is fundamental for leaders. Leaders need to be present for their people. Leaders need to be able to tell compelling stories, and nothing diminishes the power of stories as much as fractured presence. So, all in all, presence is vital to us.

When you are with someone who has presence you feel it. When you are with someone who is present you know it. When you are with someone who is in the moment, you can be in the moment. When you are with someone who is attentive you feel their acceptance. When you are with someone wholly there you relax and open up…even if what you want to share is painful, or makes you feel defensive. That’s what presence does. It’s what being with someone who is present feels like. For a moment, that moment, you feel welcomed, safe, accepted, appreciated.

As coaches, we can be present with our clients and for them when we discipline our minds to focus on them, to listen to them with an open mind, an open heart and an open spirit.  We can be present with them and for them when for a defined time, we are attentive, interested and focused.

For coaches, learning how to be present involves some serious discipline.

We can’t be present for someone else if:

• we are solely orientated towards ourselves – constantly referring everything before us to our experience, or our feelings
• we are absorbed in the context, not the person – simply problem-solving or scanning the immediate setting for danger or threat
• we are orientated to something or someone other than them – allowing ourselves to be distracted by something beyond the immediate setting

Coaching involves being present with and for you, being present to your issues and concerns, your immediate situation and context and most importantly to your wants, hopes, aspirations and dreams.

Narrative coaches pay attention to the stories their clients are telling. Narrative coaches are present to the narrative nature of your experience.

Narrative coaches frame all of this in terms of your stories:

• What is the story of how you came to be here now?
• What new story can emerge from what has happened to you this far?
• What story do you want to tell from this point forward?
• If you were to pick up your pen and start writing what you want, what would emerge?
• How can we enrich your story and help you leave with a greater sense of agency, authorship and authenticity?

Presence is at the heart of all we do. We will accompany you as your new future is storied into life.