It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Kind of.

Of course, we love the festive period, but it can be incredibly stressful for leaders and teams. Why? Because late November and December are when budgets, bonuses, expectations, and end-of-year plans come down the chimney at the same time.

That’s why, as well as dealing with leadership under stress and trying to build resilience, understanding leadership presence is incredibly important. And no, it isn’t about just being in the room or being the loudest voice in it. It’s the difference between a busy leader and a leader who makes teams feel supported and motivated during chaotic times.

Let’s explain exactly what leadership presence is, what it looks like, and how to handle it in the busiest and most difficult periods.

What is Leadership Presence?

Most people think leadership presence is a confident tone or a commanding voice. In reality, it’s the ability to be attentive, calm, and emotionally available, even when the world feels like a game of Tetris set to the fastest speed.

The leaders who do this well listen, notice when something’s up with team members, and treat people with dignity even when everything is moving quickly. They essentially stay anchored, not agitated, and are self-aware enough to recognize when their own stress might spill over.

Why Presence Disappears in Busy Seasons

When things get hectic, leaders often switch into operational mode where problems become puzzles to fix, not people to support. Collaboration may also give way to more autocratic decision-making when deadlines are looming. When this happens, messages can get faster, conversations shorter, and decision-making becomes a race to the bottom. None of this makes someone a bad leader; it just makes them a leader under .

But pressure has its side effects, and when leaders speed up, everyone else does too, which is where mistakes often happen and things get reactive.

This is a sure-fire way to lose clarity at the top, because when leaders seem distant, teams fill the silence with assumptions. It’s one of the reasons that leadership calm under pressure is such a competitive advantage, because calm slows down the room and makes space for clarity.

It’s also contagious in the best possible way, and this kind of stoic leadership can ripple through an entire team.

How To Develop Leadership Presence

Many leaders we work with ask how us how they can develop leadership presence when they barely have enough time to finish their coffee while it’s still warm. Thankfully, presence isn’t about time; it’s about attention. Because people don’t need a leader who’s available every minute of the day, they just need one who’s available in the moments that matter.

A simple practice to get this right is to pause before responding and create a tiny gap that stops automatic reactions and gives you room to respond intentionally. And even a calmer voice, a slower answer, or a genuine question in response can change the entire tone of a conversation and help you improve team communication.

Managing Stress as a Leader

Another part of presence is managing stress as a leader and recognizing your leadership capacity. Because when your mind is overloaded, your attention shrinks, and when your attention shrinks, your leadership presence fades away.

However, if you’re after a cheat code for more leadership presence, explore the idea of feedback and leadership. By doing so, you’ll learn that if members of your team feel safe speaking honestly, you’ll develop stronger relationships that last far beyond hectic months.

Why It All Matters

The holiday season will always be demanding with projects, deadlines, customers, and long conversations that start with “Quick question.” Unfortunately, you can’t just remove the chaos, but you can choose the presence you bring into it.

Because your people will rarely remember the stress you felt. What they will remember is how they felt working with you while things were hectic, and whether or not they could trust you as a leader when times were tough.

Make these times a positive experience where you’re fully in the room and in charge, and you’ll leave a lasting memory and make a real change within your team.

Time To Journal

Got your leadership journal to hand? Take a few minutes and check in with yourself with these leadership prompts:

• When did you seem distracted this week?
• Who have you not given your full attention to recently?
• What would improving leadership presence look like tomorrow, not someday?
• Which of your values needs to be louder when the pressure rises?

And if these aren’t quite tickling your fancy, check out our complimentary leadership prompts online.

Find out more

Leadership presence is not perfection; it’s awareness. It’s the kind of awareness that helps you spot leadership blind spots before they become obstacles, and when your calendar is full and the season is at its loudest, presence is the thing that keeps you and your people steady.

For more information about how you can do more as a leader, check out the Stop Managing, Start Leading Podcast over on YouTube. You can also find out where you stand, what your blind spots are, and what you need to work on with our range of world-class leadership assessments.