Fátima Ribeiro and Susana Azevedo, co-authors of articles on leadership and team coaching

Leading through Uncertainty: The Path to Agility and Resilience

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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

Colleagues celebrating a result with a high five

Team Coaching: A Systemic Perspective

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This article was originally published in the newspaper “La Estrella” and is part of a biweekly column from the ICF Panama Chapter to disseminate what professional coaching is. It seeks to inform, generate greater awareness and differentiate professional coaching, in which the coach is governed by ethical principles and is continually improving his or her skills.

See the original article in this Link.

From my career as a leader in organisational contexts, team development is an important focus in my work as a teacher, in executive coaching, and in systemic team coaching.

As team coaches, we understand that the team as a whole is our client and that our role is to work with each team considering its system and context, encouraging “the team to be more than the sum of its parts”, so that each member is empowered, committed and collaborates with others, considering their unique purpose and vision of the future.

The team exists to serve a purpose, “which precedes the team and is the reason why it was created” (Hawkins, 2017).  Discovering the purpose thus involves the team understanding who it serves and the value it creates for its different interest groups or stakeholders, considering both the internal stakeholders, including the organisation as a whole, and the various external stakeholders, such as: customers, suppliers, strategic allies and the community.

This seemingly simple exercise involves an “outside-in” approach, a key principle of the systemic team coaching methodology developed by Professor Peter Hawkins. Doing it in depth, so that it is understood and internalized by all team members, promotes greater team alignment.

With a defined purpose, the team more effectively develops its team map, which includes, among others, its working agreements, what is acceptable and what is not, and how the team wants to relate to each other, its future vision, its objectives, its KPIs, roles and responsibilities. This work brings clarity and transparency and boosts performance.

From my experience, although many leaders believe that team alignment exists, we have verified that in most teams the purpose, vision or objectives of the team as a whole (different from the individual ones) lack clarity or a shared understanding among its members. This makes communication and collaboration difficult among them and with their main stakeholders.

The current context is complex and changing and implies a constant hiring and re-contracting of expectations. The team map, with its rules and agreements, is a dynamic instrument that must be reviewed at different team meetings to confirm that understanding is maintained or if changes are applied to ensure alignment. These team moments enhance relationships, connections and more efficient processes.

Executives and teams feel that they need to do more with less and that time does not allow them to stop. But we know that it is precisely this conscious pause that allows them to gain perspective, clarify expectations, rehire when necessary and be more agile at all times.

A story that I always remember is that of “Alice in Wonderland”, specifically the moment when Alice asks the Cat the way and he answers that “he will always get somewhere.” The important thing is to define and be clear about where you want to go.

Working on the personal dynamics of the team, trust and psychological safety, and the interdependencies between different areas is another factor that has a great impact on the performance and well-being of the teams.

In his recent book “Team of Teams Coaching“, Professor Peter Hawkins and Dr. Catherine Carr explore an integrated approach to systemic team coaching with organisational transformation. This approach can be implemented from two routes. One route is the incremental journey, which begins with Team Coaching of the Leadership Team or Management Team and expands to various teams in the organisation, and the other route is a planned organisational transformation that involves a “big-bang” approach and a culture change with the integration of the systemic approach to team coaching throughout the organisation system.

Team Coaching requires experimentation and development of mental models. As coaches we learn with teams what works and what doesn’t work, and we challenge ourselves on the journey of growth. Together, we create and implement changes to address what emerges at every moment. And it is in this development process that good teams become great, and great teams manage to defy the odds.

Author: Fátima Ribeiro

The author is PCC (ICF Professional Certified Coach), Executive Coach and Systemic Team Coach, and member of ICF Panama.

Fuentes:

  • Hawkins, P. (2017). Leadership team coaching: Developing collective transformational leadership. Kogan Page Publishers.
  • Hawkins, P., & Carr, C. (2025). Team of Teams Coaching: Using a Teaming Approach to Increase Business Impact. Kogan Page Publishers.

Fátima Ribeiro and Susana Azevedo, co-authors of articles on leadership and team coaching

Building Bridges: An Organisational Culture for Success

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This article was originally published in Portuguese in Líder Magazine, in the spring 2025 issue.

The online version was later published on the magazine’s website. The original article can be consulted here link.

A common purpose, a shared vision and dreams allow us to face change more agilely and effectively, and transform leaders, teams and organisations. They create a connection between minds and hearts that enhances communication, collaboration, commitment and teamwork.

Organisational identity provides a sense of community and inclusion and reinforces a set of norms and values that build bridges and contribute to a feeling of belonging.

In one of the organisations we worked with, values such as transparency, autonomy and trust, defined as essential by their leader, were incorporated into their leadership practices and behaviours. This transformed the culture and made the organisation more efficient and better prepared for the future.

Transparency was incorporated to promote clearer communication and proper management of expectations. The structuring of processes and the delegation of tasks reinforced the value of autonomy. Trust, as a way of looking at others, was expanded and integrated into leadership practices to create psychological safety and develop relationships and collaboration.

Authors such as Amy Edmondson and Timothy Clark, and studies in companies such as Google—project Aristotle—, show that psychological safety is the basis of the most effective teams. Based on the perception of inclusion and security, team commitment increases, collaborators develop their curiosity and enhance innovation, and productivity and performance become sustainable.

Amy Edmondson explains that psychological safety helps people take the interpersonal risks necessary to achieve excellence in a rapidly changing, interdependent world.

in the book The 4 Stages of Psychological Safety, Timothy Clark identifies the following dimensions of psychological safety: safety to feel included, safety to learn, safety to contribute, and safety to question.

Leaders, using emotional, conversational and collaborative intelligence tools, coordinate diverse and inclusive work environments. In this way, they enhance relationships and continuous learning and contribute to the whole being more than the sum of the parts.

Relationships are the context that allows us to successfully face change, and sharing helps to strengthen them. As Richard Boyatzis points out in the book The Science of Change, a shared vision drives hope; In shared compassion we experience solidarity, and through shared energy we vibrate at the same frequency as others.

Through systemic team coaching we work on relationships and connections between people, teams and external stakeholders, building bridges towards a successful organisational culture in contexts of uncertainty and complexity.

Authors: Fátima Ribeiro and Susana Azevedo

Fátima Ribeiro and Susana Azevedo, co-authors of articles on leadership and team coaching

Leadership in Challenging Times: Between Uncertainty and Inspiration

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This article was originally published in Portuguese in Líder Magazine, in the fall 2024 issue.

The online version was later published on the magazine’s website. The original article can be consulted here link.

In our work as executive and team coaches, and as leadership trainers, we recognise the difficulty leaders have in do more with less and keep their teams motivated in a context of continuous changes, in which commitment decreases and levels of satisfaction increase. burnout.

Leaders suffer tensions at different levels, coming from internal and external stakeholders. They feel pressured to react, to focus on short-term results and to choose the least bad option, instead of acting proactively and working towards the vision of the desired future, developing organisations more focused on human and ecosystem sustainability.

We hear the feeling of disconnection with current leadership, due to the perceived distance between the values communicated and the values present in the daily actions and practices of the organisation.

How to navigate ambiguity, as our caravels navigated previously unknown oceans, and build teams and organisations capable of facing challenges?

Through coaching we work with leaders and teams to identify what they need to change in themselves to promote the transformation of their teams and organisations.

We help them identify the internal and external resources they already have and those they need to develop, to increase their ability to influence and act proactively in creating their vision of the future.

We work on beliefs, emotions, mentalities and relationships, considering a purpose that creates value for both the business and all interested parties.

We create intentional spaces of learning and celebration throughout the development journey, to evaluate progress and recharge the energy that drives change.

We address horizontal development—knowledge and competencies—but also vertical development—being and mental models—considering evolution:

  • of the «yo» al “us”,
  • of opportunistic value creation a the creation of value with and for a broad base of stakeholders,
  • of the time as a “scarce” resource al time as an “opportunity” to do better every day,
  • of the thinking focused on current performance al strategic thinking in three horizons: the present, the future and what we can start doing tomorrow.

In this development journey, which includes doing, but also thinking and being, we work on skills such as communication, with special attention to active listening, which enhances the commitment and impact of leaders and teams.

We promote psychological safety, trust and the construction of inclusive teams, in which creativity and the implementation of more agile processes and structures are encouraged, and where the whole is more than the sum of the parts.

There is hope and each of us can make a difference in building a promising future for ourselves and for generations to come!

Authors: Fátima Ribeiro and Susana Azevedo

Hands completing a jigsaw puzzle shaped like a human head

Self-Awareness and Emotional Intelligence

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This article was originally published in the newspaper “La Estrella” and is part of a biweekly column from the ICF Panama Chapter to disseminate what professional coaching is. It seeks to inform, create more awareness and differentiate professional coaching, in which the coach is governed by ethical principles and is continually improving his or her skills.

See the original article in this Link.

Self-awareness is the basis of learning, development, and change. It is a foundation of emotional intelligence, and what allows us to build better relationships, achieve better results, with a higher level of well-being.

in his book Insight, Tasha Eurich tells us that 95% of people believe they are self-aware, but that in reality this number is much lower, on the order of 12% to 15%. The author understands self-awareness as “the willingness or ability to understand who we are, including aspects such as our values and patterns (internal self-awareness), and how others perceive us (external self-awareness).”

The process of developing self-awareness involves spaces for reflection, openness to introspection, but also a willingness to observe and listen to the perceptions of others, to request feedback.

In the coaching processes we verify that when we begin to explore with our clients their values, talents, passions, strengths, patterns, triggers, among others, they identify that it is not so simple and is even more challenging than what they would initially consider. That it is not as obvious as we might think to identify what moves us, makes us unique and differentiates us, nor to identify our behavioural patterns.

It is necessary to dedicate time and reflection to becoming aware of what distinguishes us, of our reaction patterns, of the beliefs and assumptions that live behind our actions. We all have blind spots, at the level of knowledge, emotions and reactions of which we are not aware, and which are difficult for us to access without feedback from others.

The coaching process provides the reflective and creative space, which we often do not have on a daily basis, of moments dedicated to connecting with who we are, what we want, why we want it and to explore action options that enhance better results and well-being.

When we connect with our purpose, with our values, with the essence of who we are and what we value, we access a source of energy and motivation that focuses our actions and supports us to develop the flexibility and resilience necessary to achieve our goals and well-being.

In the process of awareness we access and can leverage our internal resources, and from there also identify the external resources that we need.

The authors Travis Bradberry & Jean Greaves, in their book Emotional Intelligence 2.0, They explore some strategies to develop personal self-awareness, including learning to identify emotions cognitively and physically, not to classify them as good or bad, not to ignore them, even when they make them uncomfortable, and to recognise them and let them go.

Other strategies identified are the periodic practice of journaling and obtaining feedback as a way of observing ourselves from a distance, identifying behavioural patterns and triggers in stressful situations.

The practice of periodic reflection or meditation are strategies to connect with our essence, with our values, and to do a regular mental and physical check-up, to maintain our mental health and prevent burnout situations.

In our interactions with others we can also develop our social self-awareness, through the practice of mindfulness, presence, active listening, and empathy.

From curiosity we can observe the other, or others from their world, ask and try to understand others from their life experience, beliefs, assumptions or culture.

A professional coach recognizes that self-awareness is the basis for his client to achieve his goals, and works with him from that basis in defining specific strategies for each case.

Self-awareness is also important in working with teams and in organisational development, in identifying interaction dynamics and behavioural patterns.

Personal and social self-awareness is a learning process, a search for personal mastery.

My favourite strategies are emotional checking and journaling, putting my reflections on paper or recording them, so I can return to them and observe them from a distance.

Dear reader, how do you make sure you develop your self-awareness? What are your favourite strategies?

Author: Fátima Ribeiro

The author is PCC (ICF Professional Certified Coach), Coach in professional development, leadership and teams processes, and member of ICF Panama.

Fátima Ribeiro and Susana Azevedo, co-authors of articles on leadership and team coaching

Leadership Teams Ready for the Future

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This article was originally published in Portuguese in Líder Magazine, in the spring 2024 issue.

The online version was later published on the magazine’s website. The original article can be consulted here link.

According to Michael Porter, strategy is what will differentiate an organisation: it will provide it with a competitive advantage, create distinct value for the consumer, and allow the company to prosper and achieve superior profitability.

In the current context, strategy is increasingly a dynamic process that involves permanent interaction with a complex and ambiguous environment, evaluating threats, trends and opportunities. To drive this process, the organisation needs teams with the ability to anticipate the future and lead change.

The effectiveness of teams as a whole is, more than ever, essential for the success and sustainability of organisations. These cannot depend solely on the talent of a leader who has all the solutions and controls that others execute their decisions. It is necessary to invest in shared leadership teams because of their potential to achieve higher performance than teams with vertical leadership.

The development of teams with collective leadership skills is crucial for organisations to consistently and lastingly achieve a high level of performance and innovation. These skills allow the whole to create more value than the sum of the parts and for each member to assume responsibility for their contribution (individual leadership) and for the functioning of the entire team (collective leadership).

An effective team needs clarity and alignment around its purpose and vision for the future. Based on this clarity, work together to define the strategic axes that will allow you to achieve results and reflect on the culture, governance, processes and leadership necessary to support the execution of the strategy. The team reviews the best ways of working, the technical and behavioural competencies and the internal dynamics necessary to fulfill its purpose.

Leadership Teams Ready for the Future
  1. Clarity of purpose
  2. Future vision
  3. Shared leadership
  4. Learning culture
  5. Strategy Sustainability

Creation of value with and for all stakeholders.

The internal environment of the team includes: a) a shared purpose, b) support among its members and c) voice—psychological safety and willingness to express oneself—elements that precede shared leadership. Trust is another vital element: it is built on integrity and credibility, and is developed through direct communication, clarification of expectations, keeping commitments and an environment of continuous learning. Coaching support is especially important when the team’s internal environment is less favourable.

We work in alliance with leadership teams, in a process that stimulates reflection and creativity from a systemic perspective. We help them clarify the purpose, vision and strategy, and lead the change towards a sustainable transformation of organisations, creating value for all stakeholders.

Authors: Fátima Ribeiro and Susana Azevedo

Illustration of a person drawing a light bulb to represent new ideas

Developing Teams and Organisations to Respond to Change

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This article was originally published in the newspaper “La Estrella” and is part of a biweekly column from the ICF Panama Chapter to disseminate what professional coaching is. It seeks to inform, create more awareness and differentiate professional coaching, in which the coach is governed by ethical principles and is continually improving his or her skills.

See the original article in this Link.

One of the challenges to achieving successful transformations in organisations and enhancing their development and sustainability is having leaders and teams prepared to respond to change.

Bushe & Lewis (2023) identified in their article published in the Leadership & Organisation Development Journal, three change strategies for organisational development. The three strategies defined by the authors are: (1) a data-driven strategy (data-based), (2) a high commitment strategy (high engagement) and (3) a generative strategy.   

Each of these strategies corresponds to a vision of the organisation and its system, its processes, structures and relationships.

The authors consider that adopting one of the three strategies, mentioned above, in change situations is dependent on the type of challenges that the organisation faces and the level of commitment required from the different interested parties or stakeholders.

  1. A data-driven strategy is appropriate when there is a lack of understanding of the problem or challenge and the collection and Previous data analysis is important to clarify it, and the data is also important to convince others (teams and/or stakeholders) of the need for change. This is also an appropriate strategy when the company’s challenges, in addition to being complicated, are more linear, allowing data collection and analysis to establish causal or functional relationships.
  2. A high commitment strategy is appropriate when leaders have a clear vision of the desired future, but the commitment of collaborators and/or others stakeholders It is essential to ensure the success of the change process. With this option, central coordination in the selection of change strategies is important, for example, due to capital requirements, but participants in the process have the opportunity to influence the structuring of the exchange rate or its implementation.
  3. A generative strategy is appropriate when change is a complex and adaptive challenge, requiring greater interaction and communication, and when there is the possibility of trying different simultaneous approaches to achieve the objectives. In this strategy, the concept of purpose (defined as what the organisation tries to achieve each day), and which is different from the vision (understood as the desired future or the solution to a problem) is shared by all those involved in the change process, making everyone unite around the purpose. This strategy is appropriate when the change process will require a transformation in people’s behaviours and beliefs and, for this reason, also requires their active involvement in promoting change. This strategy, which involves greater commitment from all employees and other stakeholders, is appropriate when the leadership team requires faster transformations than in idealized and implemented top-down change processes.

The role of the leadership teams is different in each of the strategies, from a more directive role to a role that is more of a facilitator and promoter of learning through trial and error.

The leader in the generative strategy is a facilitator of resources, relationships and conversations and of learning processes. For this strategy to be effective, it is important to cultivate psychological safety, trust and empowerment in teams.

A team coaching process, with a team coach with experience and knowledge of organisational dynamics, can support leadership teams to discover a purpose that inspires and engages others in the change process, and that creates value for different stakeholders, to clarify processes, to create relationships and alliances that enhance commitment and change, and to create a learning culture in teams and organisations. External team coaches can positively impact team performance and contribute to the organisational transformation process.

Author: Fátima Ribeiro

The author has the PCC credential (ICF Professional Certified Coach) and is a Coach in professional development, leadership and team processes, and a member of the ICF Panama Board of Directors.

Fátima Ribeiro and Susana Azevedo, co-authors of articles on leadership and team coaching

Essential Skills for Thriving Organisations

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This article was originally published in Portuguese in Líder Magazine, in the fall 2023 issue.

The online version was later published on the magazine’s website. The original article can be consulted here link.

Did you know that companies that moved from a purely individual view of “I” to a collective view of “we” show a higher return on investment than the average of companies that are part of the S&P 500?

Various authors, such as Jim Collins and Richard Barrett, point out that the sustainable performance of an organisation is only possible when its leaders put the interests of the organisation as a whole before their own interests and ego. This approach allows us to build a sustainable future for everyone and also constitutes the best business strategy for the success of the organisation.

In this article we address crucial competencies for organisations and how they can be developed through coaching. This contributes to increasing awareness and evolving mental models, and enhances leadership development, the transformation of organisations and the creation of a better future.

Barrett points out the need for an organisational purpose and a systemic vision of the business that includes the different stakeholders of the company and aligns the interests of the organisation with the long-term interests of society. The most resilient organisations have strong alignment of values, a high shared commitment to the organisation’s vision and mission, and a deep sense of personal responsibility, which enhances collaboration, commitment, and performance.

The work we develop with leaders and teams invites them to clearly understand their current reality, to discover their purpose and vision, as well as the value they contribute with and for all stakeholders. Through coaching we enhance the evolution towards new levels of consciousness, the basis for the transformation of leaders, teams and organisations.

Barrett identifies five essential characteristics that have driven the evolution of human beings since their origins and that continue to be fundamental in the current VUCA context: adaptability, continuous learning, the ability to connect, the ability to cooperate and the ability to cope with complexity.

Five essential competencies
  1. Adaptability
    Speed and resilience.
  2. Continuous learning
    Memory and logic.
  3. Ability to connect
    Compatibility and trust.
  4. Ability to cooperate
    Alignment and empathy.
  5. Ability to manage complexity
    Internal and external.

Fuente: Barrett, R. (2011), The New Leadership Paradigm, Lulu.com.

With our clients we work on these competencies to develop more adaptable leaders and organisations, capable of managing complexity and uncertainty and establishing internal and external alliances. This is how we promote long-term sustainable organisations, with a positive impact on society and the world.

Our coaching process, systemic in nature and intrinsically creative and thought-provoking, unlocks hitherto unexplored sources of imagination, productivity and leadership. It is a simultaneous exercise of clarification and motivation for the sustainable and integrated transformation of leaders with their teams and organisations.

We invite you to explore and integrate coaching into your organisations.

Authors: Fátima Ribeiro and Susana Azevedo

A grey-haired professional reflecting beside a laptop

Executive Coaching for Career Transitions and Retirement

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This article was originally published in the newspaper “La Estrella” and is part of a biweekly column from the ICF Panama Chapter to disseminate what Professional Coaching is. It seeks to inform, create more awareness and differentiate professional coaching, in which the Coach is governed by ethical principles and is continually improving his or her skills.

See the original article in this Link.

In a complex and uncertain world in which longevity is increasing and experience highly valued, developing a retirement plan can serve as a guide for the senior professional, in the last years of his corporate career, and support an active retirement, in accordance with a purpose, legacy and passions.

Planning our professional life and retirement from corporate life is not an end in itself, it is a process that allows us to open new options, perspectives and horizons, and be more prepared to adapt to changes, even unforeseen situations such as professional transitions, unemployment in senior professionals, early retirement, or changes necessary for personal or family reasons.

A coaching process can support:

  • Clarify or identify personal purpose, aspirational legacy and vision of the desired future.
  • Define, among other possible dimensions, the level of mental, cognitive, physical and spiritual stimulation desired.
  • Clarify the level of involvement and flexibility intended with the different possible activities.
  • Delimit the type of possible activities, such as regular professional activities, time-limited projects, leisure activities, well-being and health, personal development activities, among others.
  • Frame the future vision and objectives set with interpersonal and/or family dynamics, considering the main people of interest.
  • Framing the planned or necessary income stream according to different areas of life.
  • Put into perspective the different dimensions of the external context and its potential impact.

When the goal is an early retirement from corporate life or planning career changes, it may be helpful to reflect on:

  • Our passions and natural interests, identifying activities that motivate us and give us energy.
  • Our strengths and the soft skills and competencies developed throughout life.
  • Our main people of interest: how they impact us and how we impact them, and the value we want to create with and for them.
  • Relationships and connections to cultivate, maintain or reinforce, according to the desired future.

And we must identify:

  • The roles played throughout the professional career, considering areas and functions of experience, the level of influence of the roles played, the industries and type of organisations in which we work, the scope of the functions, international experience and knowledge of cultural differences.
  • The operational, informal and strategic contact networks, and the first level (direct contacts) and second level (contacts of contacts).

In defining possible activities, creativity and innovation and the evolution of society’s needs and values are dimensions to consider.

Some of the professional activities possible in retirement from corporate life are:

  • Consultant, mentor, speaker, educator or coach roles.
  • Functions as interim executive, advisor or member of boards of directors.
  • Development of entrepreneurship and professional service activities, which transform interests and passions into businesses, or support for family businesses.
  • Volunteer projects.

New activities connected to social networks, such as those of influencer, They grow in importance and expand their influence in all areas of the population, so they are also an option.

The support of a professional coach in this reflection makes it possible to clarify the desired future, motivation and commitment, expanding options, diversifying perspectives and framing possibilities, in a constant interaction with our purpose and values and the needs, demands and changes in the context.

Author: Fátima Ribeiro

The author is PCC (ICF Professional Certified Coach), Coach in professional development, leadership and teams processes, and member of the Board of Directors of ICF Panama.

Fátima Ribeiro and Susana Azevedo, co-authors of articles on leadership and team coaching

Developing a Leadership Team: A Business Case Study

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This article was originally published in Portuguese in Líder Magazine, in the June 2023 issue.

The online version was later published on the magazine’s website. The original article can be consulted here link.

Currently, organisations perceive the need to develop shared and more humanized leadership that, at the same time, reinforces trust, collaborative work and mutual responsibility for performance, well-being and learning. Team coaching has emerged as one of the best ways to drive this transformation. But how does it happen?

As an example of the value that team coaching can create in the context of new leadership trends, we share a project developed with a management team.

The leadership team, made up of the CEO and five managers, faced several starting challenges:

· Those of the general context, such as the economic slowdown and changes in business and work models associated with the pandemic and the global crisis.

· Those of the team and organisational dynamics, since three of its six members had been on the team and in the organisation for less than a year, including the CEO himself.

During the process, the team faced other challenges, such as the departure of the CEO, changes in internal teams, and the need to restructure processes to respond to changes in the internal and business environment.

Development work with the leadership team was conducted virtually between March and November 2021, in five main phases:

Five Phases of Leadership Team Development
  1. 1. Scope and initial agreement
    Meetings with sponsor and team leader (CEO), and kick-off meeting: March 19.
  2. 2. Interviews with the team and stakeholders
    360° interviews, identification of strengths, shortcomings and opportunities, and presentation of results: March and April.
  3. 3. Team coaching agenda
    Joint creation of work agreements, desired future and objectives: May 14.
  4. 4. Execution
    6 coaching workshops; 5 management team meetings; leader coaching; 3–4 meetings with leaders; 3–4 follow-ups with team members and 2–3 with sponsor: June to October.
  5. 5. Review, evaluation and learning
    November 17.

1. Scope and agreement;

2. Research on the team and its context through 360° interviews with the team and identified internal and external stakeholders;

3. Joint creation of the team development agenda, based on the desired future and taking into account the results of the 360° interviews;

4. Execution of the team’s agenda through coaching meetings, participation in its work meetings and a continuous monitoring structure with its members, its leader and the sponsor (shareholder and administrator); and finally,

5. Review of the process and integration of learning.

The team exceeded the performance objectives for the year, despite facing challenges derived from changes in the team itself, in the organisation and in the context.

In the transfer of the coaching process to the team, some of the main results identified were:

· Improving team performance;

· The increase in individual and collective self-knowledge;

· Greater awareness of the impact of their actions and behaviours on other stakeholders, both internal and external; and

· Greater team alignment.

The team itself also identified opportunities to continue its development, maintain co-responsibility and alignment, and be more connected to creating value with and for other stakeholders.

In April 2022, almost six months after completing the team’s systemic coaching process, the sponsor and team members were asked to submit a testimonial. The testimonies collected remained consistent with the main results identified during the transfer of the coaching process to the team, demonstrating the sustainability of the benefits of the developed process.

We invite you to explore this methodology in your organisations.

Authors: Fátima Ribeiro and Susana Azevedo