Workshop “Coaching Presence – Dancing in the moment with the client”

What is coaching presence?

Coaching presence has been formulated by the International Coach Federation as one of the eleven core coaching competencies. But it is in fact more than a competence. The way you are present in a coaching conversation is the basis of all competencies. It’s not something you ‘do’ in a coaching conversation and then pass to the order of the day. No coaching presence without development of presence in your life. It is a state of being. A conscious presence in the here-and-now; in connection with yourself, the other and the world around you. Coaching presence means that you bring this state of being into the coaching relationship. It is being awake to what is happening in the moment and being able to respond to it. The ability to be present with full attention and to build a spontaneous relationship with your client from there. You dare to surrender to the process; trust that the value of the conversation is inherent to the process itself. The basic attitude is ‘not knowing’. As soon as you think you know what is best for the client, or where the conversation should go, or what your next question is going to be, you are no longer completely open to what presents itself in the moment.

At the same time – and this may seem like a paradox – you are guiding a goal-oriented process. Coaching presence is therefore in more ways a double presence. It’s a presence both with yourself and with the other. In addition, on the one hand you are completely open to each other in the here-and-now and on the other hand you also shape a process together with a beginning, middle and end.

Our approach

Presence – and therefore also coaching presence – is an experience in which you are fully involved. Body and mind are integrated. Our approach in this workshop therefore has many elements of embodied learning. We use the principles of Argentinian tango. Coaching is of course something else than dancing the tango together, but there are many similarities in the basic attitude around presence. In the Argentinian tango nothing is fixed. There are no prescribed steps. The movement and the dance arise from the connection, being attuned to each other, interacting in the here-and-now and shaping the dance together. You can only dance well if you can surrender to the dance (the process). Practicing with the principles that underlie this moving together offers a great opportunity to experience presence.

The workshop is not a dance class. You don’t need any dance experience or talent. We will show how the principles work out in the tango; as a participant you work with this in movement exercises, mostly in pairs.

Besides the principles of Argentinian tango we also offer you exercises from Chi Kung and the martial arts.

We alternate these experiential exercises with joint reflection and the connection with and application in coaching. This approach will create both depth and fun.

What’s your take-away from this workshop?

A direct experience of the quality of presence and coaching presence – what this means, what it demands from you, where you already have your strengths in this regard and how you can develop it further. This experience can be called up when you are in a coaching conversation and can thus be a resource.

Participants

Anyone who wants to practice presence as quality and is open to the experiential approach described above. We focus specifically on participants who deploy this quality as a coach.

ICF CCEU’s

8 (7 in core competencies and 1 in resource development)

Trainers

Mark Soekarjo has been teaching Argentinian tango internationally for over 25 years. He also adapts techniques from different sources, like Chi Kung and martial arts. And he works as a coach and trainer for personal leadership and co-operation.

Annemarie van der Meer, MCC, has more than 25 years of international experience as a coach, trainer and facilitator. She is an ICF coach trainer, mentor coach and assessor. She likes dancing the Argentinian tango.

Dates, location, costs

We offer this one-day workshop on June 29th and on November 2d 2019. Start time 9:30 am; end time 6:30 pm.

Location: The Waverly House, Waver 25, 1191 KH Ouderkerk a/d Amstel

Costs: € 350,00 excl. 21% VAT; incl. lunch and coffee/tea.

Information and registration: mail to annemarie@coachingschool.amsterdam