Seasons of Change: Leading with Presence and Intuitive Listening

As the season turns and the air cools, we’re reminded that change is both inevitable and beautiful. Nature’s quiet transformation offers a perfect metaphor for leadership growth: slowing down, becoming still, and deeply listening to what’s emerging—within ourselves and others.

In coaching, intuitive (or global) listening is the deepest level of connection. It means tuning in not just to the words being spoken, but to energy, tone, emotion, and what’s left unsaid. When we listen at this level, we give a gift rarely received, and we create psychological safety—the soil where trust and creativity take root.  Listen like a coach!

From a Brain-Based Coaching perspective, deep listening helps others access their prefrontal cortex, the region responsible for insight and self-reflection. When leaders pause, breathe, and focus on understanding instead of solving, they activate the very part of the brain that drives learning and innovation.

PQ™ practice: Notice when your Judge or Restless saboteurs try to interrupt or fix. Shift into your Sage curiosity. Ask, “What wants to be understood here?”

Yoga Therapy: Before entering a conversation, take three conscious breaths. Ground your feet, release tension, and center yourself—presence begins in the body.

Coaching Reflection:

“When I truly listen, what becomes possible?”

Action Step:
This week, bring one mindful pause into every meeting. Replace reactivity with curiosity. Notice how your presence shifts the energy around you.

Grateful leaders listen with the same reverence they give to silence.