The bridge between technique and presence: an inquiry into the lived experience of group leader presence

This research set out to inquire into the lived experience of group leaders’ and group psychotherapists understanding of the meaning of presence. Presence was chosen as a medium to understand the gap between the technique-driven group leader and one whose leadership is relationally focused. With fewer training programmes providing in-depth training in group leadership, the current trend of reliance on learning techniques and skills-based training of group leaders has grown exponentially. Training programmes have provided a formulaic and relationally avoidant approach to leading groups, rendering outdated the artistry and complexity of training group leaders.

The research methodology frame was based on a Heideggerian interpretative hermeneutic phenomenological approach. A group of nine professionals from different areas of expertise in group leadership came together over six consecutive sessions to explore their lived experience and understanding of group leader presence. Principles from Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) were initially used as a springboard for the analysis of the research narratives, along with other steps which were creatively added. Criteria for analysis of participants’ body language in the video recordings, with the sound muted, were developed to meet the needs of the research project.

From the findings, three key themes emerged. The first theme provides compelling evidence of group leader presence as sensory, experienced as an embodied sense of something to be noticed and attuned to before engaging in articulation. The second theme acknowledges group leader presence as relationally focused on multiple levels of awareness to include the self, the other, and the group as a complex connective network. The third theme distinguishes presence, not as a fixed entity, but simply as continually changing in meaning construction, flow, and movement.

The research findings have implications for the future direction of group leader training. A bridge connecting group leadership technique with presence has been identified in a merging of Eugene Gendlin’s ‘philosophy of the implicit’ and Aristotle’s virtuous practical wisdom, charting the growth of the group leader from technique towards sensory presence.