Leading Through Presence: By Martin Eimers

Today’s leaders have a different job than leaders of old, and in the emerging world of AI, the skills of human leadership will become even more crucial. 

They need to be able to develop people whilst delivering results.
They need to be able to create and hold space for growth whilst managing pressure.
They need to be able to facilitate truly innovative thinking, rather than replace it.

This is the essence of coaching. And done well, coaching is not  just a technique but also a way of being. At its core, it is about how you relate to others. 

Here’s some questions to consider? 

Do you listen to respond or to understand? Do you create space or fill it? And do you trust others’ capacity to answer or have a tendency to step in too quickly?

Coaching skills begin with presence. Presence is a grounded, attentive state where you are fully with the other person. Both without agenda and without urgency. Presence is one of the most transformative skills a leader can develop because when people feel truly heard, they are able to think more clearly, they are able to access their own insights and take greater ownership of their own process. And this point is where real people development starts: keeping their learning process with them and supporting them through it.

With this as an intention, coaching can help with asking better questions. For example instead of: “Why didn’t this work?”, you might ask: “What are you seeing now that you didn’t see before?”

One has the potential to lead to justification and the other has the potential to lead to awareness.

When leaders embody coaching skills, the ripple effect is significant because teams become more self-sufficient and accountability increases naturally. Perhaps most importantly though, people feel valued not just for what they do, but for who they are becoming.

This is where engagement deepens and sustainable results can be delivered. 

At YINX, coaching is not just a skillset. It is a pathway to a more mature way of leading.

A way that integrates:

• Clarity and compassion
• Direction and openness
• Results and human connection

It is leadership that meets the complexity of today’s world without losing the human essence within it.

Put in writing by Martin Eimers, February 2026.