Leading With Presence

How Leadership Presence Shapes Team Performance

We often talk about leadership as strategy, decision-making, or communication.
But there’s a deeper layer that holds everything together: presence — the energy a leader brings into every room.

In high-performance sport, the captain’s energy was the compass.
If they walked in tense, the team tightened.
If they walked in calm and focused, everyone rose to meet them.

The same happens in business.
Teams mirror their leaders — emotionally, mentally, and behaviourally.

According to the CIPD Health & Wellbeing Report (2023), emotionally present leaders drive up to 30% higher engagement, while the World Health Organisation confirms that stress is socially contagious. If leaders operate from pressure, exhaustion or overload, their teams absorb it instantly.

• But here’s the hopeful truth:
• Calm is contagious too.
• So is confidence.
• So is clarity.

A leader who regulates their energy helps the entire team perform better. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE, 2023) found that workplaces with emotionally centred leadership report fewer stress-related absences and higher productivity.

At our countryside wellbeing retreats, we teach leaders and teams how to shift their energy intentionally — through movement, nature immersion, stress reset practices and structured reflection.

When leaders learn to slow their breathing, manage their stress responses, and communicate with grounded clarity, something remarkable happens:

• Teams feel more psychologically safe
• People contribute more openly
• Conflict reduces
• Meetings become more effective
• Engagement rises naturally

Leadership presence becomes the culture.

For organisations looking to improve performance, retention and team cohesion, this is the next frontier:
leading not just with strategy — but with energy.