Coach’s Corner | Episode 3: The leadership power of holding space

Advantage President & CEO Jonathan Hodge is a certified ICF coach through Georgetown University’s Institute of Transformational Leadership and a Leadership Circle Practitioner. As part of our series on The Intangibles, focusing on superpowers you can awaken in your people to ease the pain of today's uncertainties, Jon is weaving in powerful coaching moments relevant to each episode in the series. Register here to participate!  

Coaching isn’t just about what you say. It’s about what you’re willing to hold.

Coaching models are great.
But sometimes, the most transformative coaching move isn’t one that comes from a model.

It’s not the brilliant question.
It’s not the perfect next step.
It’s the moment when you don’t say anything at all.

Just presence.
Just space.
Just the quiet confidence to sit with someone without rushing them toward a solution.

That’s what makes this week’s Intangibles episode on the Level Five Coaching System so compelling, and where I want to take us one layer deeper.

Beyond the model: The power of presence

The ASPIRE model from our partners at Level Five is a gift. It’s structured, strategic, and packed with catalytic questions. It gives leaders a way to navigate performance challenges and move people from stuck to unstuck with purpose and clarity.

But here’s what’s equally important, even if it’s not printed on a slide:

Coaching isn’t just about what you say. It’s about what you’re willing to hold.

We coach best when we meet someone exactly where they are, not where we think they should be. That means resisting the pull to fix or finish too soon. It means allowing silence to breathe. And it means honoring the process as much as the outcome.

Especially in times of uncertainty, people don’t just need answers. They need to feel seen.

3 questions to sit with this week

1. Where in your leadership are you filling space that could be held instead? (What might emerge if you didn’t rush to fill the silence?)
2. When a teammate is stuck, do you stay with them or push past them? (What does your presence communicate in those moments?)
3. What would it look like to coach less for direction and more for discovery?

This week’s experiment: Hold the Space

The next time you’re in a coaching conversation:

• Notice your impulse to solve, reframe, or redirect.
•  Instead of acting on it, breathe.
• Say something like:
  - “Take your time.”
  - “What else is coming up for you?”
  - Or say nothing and let the moment sit.

Sometimes, the greatest clarity comes not from your next question but from your willingness to not ask it yet.

As Level Five puts it, coaching isn’t about giving answers; it’s about guiding discovery.
Holding space is how we show people we truly believe that.

Here’s to leading with presence, not just performance.

See you next episode,
—Jon