Leading through Uncertainty: The Path to Agility and Resilience
This article was originally published in Portuguese in Líder Magazine, in the fall 2025 issue.
The online version was later published on the magazine’s website. The original article can be consulted here link.
Geopolitical and global trade tensions, technological disruption with the advancement of artificial intelligence and climate change are among the main risks identified by organisations in 2025.
These factors have a direct impact on leadership, business models and organisational structures. Leaders seek to develop organisations that are more agile and resilient to change.
But how to sustain a strategic advantage of the organisation in the long term? How to face the uncertainty and discomfort of change? And, in this process, how to transform resistance into experimentation, internal competition and silos into recognition of interdependencies, taking advantage of synergies between areas and turning disconnection into authentic collaboration?
There is no immediate answer or single model or solution.
After participating as research partners in the book Team of Teams Coaching: Using a teaming approach to increase business impact, by Professor Peter Hawkins and Dr Catherine Carr, published July 2025, we have developed learning and practices in leadership and organisational development projects. We seek to develop a “team of teams”: a fluid, networked, collaborative organisation with shared responsibility, prepared to face complexity and provide greater agility to organisations.
To achieve this agility, a clear and inspiring purpose is crucial. Values that translate into actions. Goals that align everyone, both on paper and in practice. It is important to prioritise the experience and well-being of employees, because motivated and empowered teams generate stronger connections between areas.
It is also essential to develop systemic awareness, continually identifying stakeholders and systems, to create alliances and collaborations that provide real value to everyone.
The coaching process usually begins with coaching the leadership team and a joint review of the purpose, vision and strategy from the perspective of the various stakeholders and systems. A prior systemic diagnosis identifies strengths, critical areas and opportunities.
We work on the “why” of the organisation, the coherence of the strategy, the clarity of processes and responsibilities, the quality of internal relationships between areas and the opportunities to develop relationships with the different stakeholders.
Subsequently, the coaching process expands its support to the different functional teams, focusing on interdependencies and mutual responsibility. It takes into account the transformation and transition challenges typical of the different life cycles of organisations and their connection with the challenges of the ecosystem.
This intentional approach supports a culture, language, communication and internal dynamics that leverage collective intelligence, along with a strategy that flows and evolves in search of creative responses to change, in a continuous learning process.
Systemic team coaching requires constant experimentation. In the course of work, each team and organisation discovers what works and shapes its collective authenticity, learning, adapting and creating new ways to generate value.
Authors: Fátima Ribeiro and Susana Azevedo
