Part 3 of 3 – The Leadership Presence Series

The How-To of Leadership Presence: Do’s and Don’ts for PMO Leaders

Leadership Presence isn’t just something you have — it’s something you practice continually. For PMO, Portfolio, and Program Leaders, it is the fundamental difference between managing processes and inspiring/influencing people.

In this final part of our series, we move from theory to embodiment. We’ve explored what leadership presence is — that authentic alignment of values, behavior, and awareness. How it transforms organizational influence. We address the practical discipline: how to build it, live it, and lead through it.

The Discipline of Showing Up

Leadership presence is not a technique to master or a style to imitate. It is a discipline of self-awareness. For PMO leaders, whose influence often depends on earned trust rather than formal hierarchy, presence is the cornerstone of sustainable leadership.

Presence begins with how you enter a room, whether that room is physical or digital. Before the first word is spoken, your demeanor communicates volumes.

As Van Baardewijk (2025) reminds us, presence starts with “representing an ideal image” — not of perfection, but of purpose. In a PMO context, this means being the “calm center” of a high-pressure delivery environment.

The Presence Pivot: Practical Do’s

To move from procedural management to influential leadership, focus on these core practices:

• Do practice intentional awareness. Before key meetings, pause. Know what you want to communicate, and how you want others to feel. Awareness of your emotional state keeps your responses thoughtful, not reactive.
• Do embody the values you advocate. Presence means modeling commitment to the governance and standards you oversee. When people see you living the values, compliance becomes a shared culture rather than an enforced rule.
• Do communicate with calm clarity. Whether in a steering committee or a team huddle, steadiness matters more than volume. As Kerns (2019) notes, “clarity of purpose” is what makes communication credible.
• Do listen with full attention. Presence is as much about how you receive as how you project. When you listen without rushing to respond, you signal respect and discover hidden project risks.
• Do connect with “Strategic Empathy.” Logic drives plans, but emotion drives commitment. Showing genuine empathy when teams struggle isn’t “soft,” it’s a strategic tool that builds the psychological safety required for high-performance delivery.
• Do bridge the “Digital Gap.” In a hybrid world, presence is mediated through screens. Maintain eye contact with the camera, minimize “digital clutter” (notifications) during calls, and use your virtual space to invite quieter voices into the conversation.

The Presence Killers: Practical Don’ts

Presence is easily weakened by habits that erode authenticity. Avoid these common pitfalls:

• Don’t fake confidence. Teams quickly sense forced certainty. It’s better to acknowledge uncertainty with conviction (“We don’t have the answer yet, but we have the right process to find it”) than to mask it with over-assurance.
• Don’t dominate the space. Presence isn’t about taking up airtime; it’s about creating space for others. True leadership presence invites contribution rather than silencing insight.
• Don’t “Multitask” your relationships. Distracted leadership signals disinterest. In the PMO, where demands are constant, presence requires focused attention. If you are halfway through an email while “listening” to a Project Manager, you are eroding trust.
• Don’t let process overshadow purpose. Governance is a tool, not a goal. When leaders lose sight of the “why,” their influence becomes merely procedural. Presence keeps the human and strategic dimensions visible.
• Don’t confuse “Visibility” with “Presence.” Being CC’d on every email or attending every meeting is not presence—it’s administrative noise. Leadership presence is about being remembered for your clarity and integrity when it matters most.

The Recovery: Presence Under Fire

Even the most grounded PMO leader can be shaken when a flagship program fails, or an executive meeting turns indifferent. To regain presence in the moment:

1. The Neutral Pause: Take five seconds before responding to any negativity
2. External Focus: Shift from your internal anxiety to the needs of the people
3. The “Pivot to Purpose”: Bring the conversation back to the shared goals rather than the personal conflict.

 Moving Forward

                                                                        Summary Visual

Developing leadership presence takes time, reflection, and feedback. Patton (2020) captures it well: “Show up, stand out, and shake up the world,” not through noise, but through alignment.

For PMO leaders, this means turning presence into a habit. Start by taking brief pauses before key conversations to align your intention with your values. Notice your tone and energy under stress. Seek honest feedback from trusted peers about how you “show up.”

When presence becomes part of your leadership DNA, you don’t just manage projects,  you model possibility. You become the bridge between vision and execution, and the kind of leader others trust instinctively.

“Leadership begins not with perfection, but with presence. It’s about being real, not always right.”

— Brené Brown

Bibliography

Brown, B., 2018. Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough conversations. Whole hearts. Random house.

Cuddy, A.J., Tannen, D., Su, A.J. and Beeson, J., 2018. Leadership Presence (HBR Emotional Intelligence Series). Harvard Business Press.

Ford, J., Harding, N.H., Gilmore, S. and Richardson, S., 2017. Becoming the leader: Leadership as material presence. Organization Studies, 38(11), pp.1553-1571. https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840616677633.

Garfinkle, J.A.(2022): Executive Presence. Step into Your Power, Convey Confidence, and Lead with Conviction. JAG Press, Orinda.

Gunnlaugson, O. (2025): Emerging paths of presencing leadership: A nature-inspired framework for cultivating presencing as a way of being. The Journal of Values-Based Leadership, 18(2). https://doi.org/10.22543/1948-0733.1589.

Hope, A. (2025): The art of leadership presence: Cultivating Charisma and Confidence to Inspire Teams. ISBN 9798309066049.

Kerns, C.D. (2019): Leadership presence at work: A practice-oriented framework. Journal of Marketing Development and Competitiveness, Vol. 13 No. 3, pp. 91-109. https://doi.org/10.33423/jmdc.v13i3.2241.

Patton, J. (2020): Leadership Presence. How to Show Up, Stand Out & Shake Up the World. ISBN 9781732876688.

Van Baardewijk, J. (2023): The 5-Fold Presence of Leadership. Verbal Presence & Non-Verbal Presence. ISBN 9798853589872.

Van Baardewijk, J. (2025): Leadership Presence and the Power of Representing an Ideal Image. ISBN 9798281492027.