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ICF Panama invitation to a presentation of global research on team coaching and stakeholders

Navigating Complexity: How Team Coaching Transforms Organisations

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Event held on Saturday, August 30 in Panama City,

Today’s organisations face an increasingly complex and interconnected business environment, which requires new structuring and team leadership strategies. To thrive, it’s crucial that your teams are more than the sum of their parts. The ability to collaborate quickly and agilely with all interested parties can be a decisive differentiating factor compared to other organisations.

In this event, we explore the key challenges facing leaders and teams today and in the future. We analyse the growing relevance of teamwork, the various internal dynamics and how teams and leaders can be more effective and better prepared to respond to future challenges, operating with greater flexibility.

We address how a Systemic Team Approach is critical to navigating complexity, breaking down silos, and fostering dynamic, cross-functional collaboration. We explore some of the key findings from the Team of Teams Research Report and will introduce Systemic Team of Teams Coaching (STOTC), a framework developed by Professor Peter Hawkins and Dr Catherine Carr.

ICF Panama group gathered at a meeting on team and stakeholder coaching

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.

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.

A sequence of portraits with symbols representing thoughts and emotions

Saboteurs and wisdom

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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.

 

The concept of intelligence has evolved over time. At the beginning of the 20th century, IQ was considered the main predictor of success. In the 80s we began to hear about the emotional quotient connected with emotional intelligence, that is, self-awareness and self-management, and knowledge of others and relationship management, as a differentiating element for a successful life, having an impact of about 80% on success.

Currently, with the growing complexity and uncertainty of the context, concepts such as collaborative intelligence are gaining importance, that is, the ability to co-create together a result that is greater than the sum of the parts.

We also talk about intelligence for change, closely connected with emotional agility, that is, the ability to navigate different emotions and take actions based on values and long-term objectives, with resilience, that is, the ability to face change and adversity, and with the concept of antifragility, which integrates the ability to not only face, but also thrive in uncertain and adverse situations.

 Other concepts are communication intelligence, a conscious and intentional way of adapting messages to the objectives and context, for greater influence, impact and creation of value, and the intelligence of connecting, which reflects the ability to ask questions, design ideas and approach conversations to influence and mobilise others in the pursuit of an objective.

The very concept of work has evolved from essentially manual work, associated with the beginning of industrialization, to more cognitive work, associated with the acquisition of knowledge and active learning strategies with the revolution associated with the Internet and knowledge economy, to more emotional work, connected with the development of empathy and compassion, with the connection to a purpose and values, which enhances the development of relationships, connections and alliances at a more systemic level.

In its entirety, we are talking about intelligence concepts closely connected to the development of soft skills, about work on our being and thinking, in the management of emotions, beliefs and thoughts, in actions connected with a purpose and values, that drive the development of our potential, with simultaneous impact on results and well-being.

In a coaching process, thinking and creativity are stimulated to develop the client’s potential, connecting being, thinking and doing. The objectives of the process and actions are defined from the future desired by the client, its purpose and visions.

When considering a systemic perspective in working with the client, the different levels of context, from interpersonal relationships to the global context, the different concepts of intelligence referred to above are often found in the client’s challenges and in coaching conversations.

Another concept of intelligence that can be in conversations is the concept of positive intelligence developed by Shirzad Chamine, author and professor at Stanford University Business School. Positive intelligence is defined by Shirzard as a measure of mental agility, indicating how quickly we can navigate from “negative” responses to “positive” responses to different challenges.

In her work Shriszad identifies our main saboteurs, who impact our thoughts, our “internal judge”, through the way we react to challenges.

Through self-awareness, self-compassion and reflection exercises, connected with the various senses, that help us recognise the emotions present, and navigate a mental space of curiosity and creativity, we can develop mental agility that allows us to identify the gift and opportunity of each situation, even in situations that appear painful and/or challenging.

Fátima Ribeiro

The author is a Coach in Professional Development, Leadership and Teams processes, ACC (ICF Associated Certified Coach), and member of the Board of Directors of ICF Panama.

Two people talking during a coaching session

Do we need to change for 2022?

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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.

 

We live in a context in which change is no longer an event but a constant; in which stopping, thinking and consciously dedicating time to learning is increasingly important (as well as difficult due to the pace of life) to face the challenges of the future.

 

We are approaching the end of the 2021 year and I invite you to pause, reflect and integrate the lessons learned and plan for 2022.

 

How are the changes affecting us as individuals, families, teams and organisations?

  • What do we see and credit? What thoughts inhabit us? What beliefs are we focusing on?
  • How do we work and relate? What alliances, relationships and connections are we building?
  • Who are we being at different times, with different people and in different contexts?

 

Bringing awareness to how we feel, think, and are impacting our people of interest is important in a process of learning and change.

 

Complementarily validate our perception, with the perception of others, in periodic feedback and feedforward actions (suggestions for improvement) from our people of interest.

 

Having identified our values, talents, aspirations, patterns, environments in which we flourish, reactions and the impact on others, brings us a higher level of self-knowledge and self-awareness and allows us to clarify our strengths and weaknesses, perceive what differentiates us, what internal barriers we perceive, what resources we need and what we want to learn to enhance our value proposition considering the opportunities and threats of the context.

 

Identifying our triggers and perceiving where the stimuli that impact us come from helps us choose the behaviours that best serve our objectives, and not use emotional volatility as a tool for self-management and in the management of others.

 

Where are we on the curve of change? In denial, in resistance, in acceptance, in developing capabilities, or committed, investing time and resources in the process?

 

And what happens in our teams and organisations? How are they reacting to daily challenges, uncertainty and change? What are we looking at and co-creating? What value are we creating?

 

Environments of trust, psychological safety, high standards and responsibility, in which error is part of the learning process, are conducive to learning, taking risks and consequently more prepared for change as a constant. Conversely, environments of high control, micromanagement and low psychological security are related to anxiety and stress in change situations.

 

Having identified what communications we are having the majority of our time is also crucial in the context of change. Are we in the inform, say and ask? In persuading and negotiating? In co-creating and transforming? What mix of the three do we currently have and which one would we like or need to have?

 

The purpose of an organisation is changing, from creating value for shareholders to creating value for all stakeholders. What value are we creating for our internal and external stakeholders? What would our collaborators, teams, clients, suppliers and other stakeholders tell us about the path we are traveling and that we have to travel? What can we not stop paying attention to today, tomorrow and the future, in this context of change as a constant?

 

Increasingly, the management of polarities is a constant. Some examples of polarities we may be navigating are: results and well-being; today, tomorrow and the future; management and innovation; be strategic and operational; individuality and diversity. The current challenge is to manage both polarities simultaneously. It is shared leadership. It is developing a systemic vision, reinforcing relationships, connections and alliances.

 

An individual, executive, group or team coaching process supports, among others, creating new possibilities from the purpose and vision of the future, identifying patterns, adopting a perspective of curiosity, promoting creativity, trust, experimentation and responsibility. A professional coach, according to their specialty, has tools to support you on this path.

 

Author: Fátima Ribeiro

The author is a Coach in Professional Development, Leadership and Teams processes, ACC (ICF Associated Certified Coach), and member of the Board of Directors of ICF Panama.

A professional leading a team working session beside a whiteboard

Developing Leaders as Coaches

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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.

 

The three main Coaching modalities used in organisations are:

  • External coach, professional with training in coaching who is hired by the organisation for specific processes on a one-time or continuous basis.
  • Internal coach, professional with training in coaching and who practices it within a single organisation, being part of its staff.
  • Leader Coach, manager or supervisor who uses tools and coaching skills in his role as a leader.

 

Some of the challenges of the leader as coach are:

  • How can I effectively coach all my collaborators individually in the limited time I have on a daily basis?
  • How can I do this “virtually”?
  • How can I continually improve my skills?
  • How do I use coaching tools with my team collectively so they can apply them to each other and we can create a culture of team development?

 

To develop as a leader as coach, the leader needs to have specific training for this purpose, which allows the development and application of coaching competencies in the organisation in an ethical and professional manner.

 

The basis for coaching training are the 8 competencies defined by the ICF – International Coaching Federation, divided into 4 large groups:

 

  1. Foundational Competencies or Foundations
    1. Demonstrate ethical practice
    2. Embody a coaching mindset
    3. Co-Create the relationship
    4. Establish and maintain agreements
    5. Cultivate trust and security
    6. Maintain presence
    7. Communicate effectively
    8. Actively listen
    9. Evoke awareness
    10. Cultivate learning and growth
    11. Facilitate the growth of each client

 

This is a very brief description of the competencies by the author for the purposes of this article, and for a broader and more precise definition we recommend consulting them on the ICF website:

 

  • Demonstrate ethical practice, understanding and consistently applying coaching ethics and standards.
  • Embody a Coaching mentality that is open, curious, flexible and focused on the coachee.
  • Establish clear agreements with the coachee, and with the different stakeholders, where applicable, about the relationship and coaching conversations, process, plans and goals, among others.
  • Cultivate trust and security, creating in partnership with the coachee a safe and supportive environment that allows them to share freely, in a relationship of mutual respect and trust.
  • Maintain presence, giving your full attention to the coachee, using an open, flexible, grounded and confident style.
  • Active listening, focused on what the Coachee is or is not saying, for complete understanding in the context of the Coachee’s systems, supporting the client’s self-expression.
  • Evoke awareness, facilitating the coachee’s understanding and learning through the use of tools and techniques such as powerful questions, silence, metaphors or analogies.
  • Facilitate growth, to transform learning, knowledge and vision into action, promoting coachee autonomy.

For a more effective development of coaching skills, support in the training process with professional coaches, mentors and/or supervisors, and internally with peers and sponsors that promote the development of a coaching culture in organisations contributes.

 

Leaders, through the use of coaching tools, contribute to change in culture, promoting a focus on solutions, not problems. They also promote the development of communication and relationships, and an improvement in the trust and commitment of their collaborators. Lastly, the use of coaching tools helps employees become empowered, focus on solutions, and seek support to solve problems themselves.

 

International studies show that coaching is key in developing high-performance teams.

 

Author: Fatima Ribeiro

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

Tigo Business invitation to Fátima Ribeiro's conference on team management

Coaching Tools in Team Management

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On September 9, 2021, I collaborated with TIGO Business with the conference “Coaching Tools in Team Management” for the SME segment with transmission for 9 markets (Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay and El Salvador).

Coaching is a creative process and the focus is on the future, on developing solutions.

Key coaching competencies such as establishing trust, being present, developing effective communication and facilitating learning and results are very important in the current hyperconnected context, with greater volatility, complexity and uncertainty.

In this conference we explore how leaders can use coaching tools in managing their teams, exploring tools that contribute to enhancing results and taking care of the well-being of teams, supporting leaders and entrepreneurs to face the challenges of today and the future.

Thanks to TIGO Business for the opportunity and to all the participants who joined us!

A professional gesturing during a tense conversation in an office

Ineffective leadership behaviours

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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 the leadership development process, through executive coaching, different approaches can be used, depending on the context of the leader and the organisation, the needs identified and the objectives set.

One of them is working from the outside, from what is visible and perceived, such as behaviours (doing) towards the inside (being and thinking), in an iterative cycle to promote sustainable changes over time.

This approach is particularly suitable for leaders who perceive that leadership behaviours associated with their success in the past may not be those necessary to achieve success in the future, in more complex, ambiguous and changing contexts.

This is a work that begins with the identification of the leader’s behaviours, how this is perceived by his or her people of interest or stakeholders, and the impact of their behaviours on their organisation and the broader system. The work continues to promote the interaction of the leader with his stakeholders for integration of their suggestions for improvement into a plan of action, which is evaluated and adapted in a regular cycle, simultaneously facilitating the change of behaviours and perceptions.

Most of us look at behavioural changes that others should make, and are available to provide suggestions for improvement, but in general we are not as perceptive of the behavioural changes that we should implement and have a difficult time doing so on a day-to-day basis.

The impact of our behaviours is significant on the people around us, on our organisation. This impact grows with the level of responsibility of the leaders and with the size of the stakeholders internal and external that we impact.

As a leader becomes successful, this behaviour change is even more difficult to make, because he associates it with past success, he does not understand that he needs new behaviours to be successful in the future.

Benefits can be identified from implementing changes, but we are not always willing to accept the costs, to let go of behaviour that no longer serves us, we can even think and verbalize, but “I am like this, I have always been like this and it has always worked for me…”. This indicates that we do not want to commit to the process, we may not have the humility or courage to do so.

One of the challenges for coaches is to perceive their clients’ willingness to work on their objectives and implement the changes they propose. The success of the process is the responsibility of the coachee with their reflections, learning and actions. The coach facilitates the process and provides the appropriate encouragement, reinforcement and support to achieve the objectives.

One of the authors who most developed and implemented this approach to behaviours is Marshall Goldsmith, internationally recognised as a thought leader in leadership, as an executive coach and as the author of various best-sellers.

In his book “What got you here won’t get you there” Marshall Goldsmith identifies 20 ineffective habits or behaviours in leadership. Among them we can mention:

earn too much, or the need to win in all situations, when it is important, when it is not, and even when it is totally irrelevant. This is the behaviour identified by Marshall Goldsmith as the number one challenge for most leaders.

Other related ineffective behaviours are: add too much value, that is, adding our grain of sand in each conversation or discussion even when it does not add value; he retain information, to gain advantage over others; and the play favourites, to gain allies.

It is also ineffective to devalue the opinions expressed by others by making destructive or sarcastic comments; express negativity, or “I’m going to tell you why this doesn’t work”; or a more unconscious way responder, to comments or suggestions, with “no, but, however…” withdrawing value from what the other is expressing.

They are still ineffective behaviours. speak with anger, using emotional volatility as a management tool and the not listening, not being consciously present for our people of interest, advocating lack of time, overwork, or listening with partial attention due to distractions such as the cell phone.

To develop more effective leadership behaviours, the client must recognise that they need to change and commit to the process. The coach, based on his knowledge and experience, and in alliance with the client, promotes, among others, self-awareness, self-management and management of relationships with people of interest.

 

Author: Fatima Ribeiro

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

Poster featuring Fátima Ribeiro at the Desaprende 2020 Latin American Virtual Congress

Latin American Congress Desaprende 2020

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On November 13, I participated in the first Latin American Unlearning Congress – Unlearn 2020, with the topic: Challenges in the virtual teaching process, adding value from my roles as a teacher, facilitator and coach.

We reflect and exchange best practices considering the following elements of virtual teaching:

  1. Technology options
  2. Structure of the teaching process
  3. Communication channels
  4. Learning activities
  5. Assessment and feedback options
  6. Selection or creation and presentation of content

He Latin American Virtual Congress OF THELEARN 2020, was a project that brought together experts from the region with the purpose to update and empower learning and development professionals, in the redefinition and evolution of its role in the context of digital transformation.

Programme and speakers of the Virtual Congress on Unlearning in Latin AmericaPresentation of Fátima Ribeiro in the Desaprende 2020 Congress programme

Poster for the Leadership and Team Development seminar at QLU

Leadership and Team Development Seminar and Workshop

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From August 19 to 22 I will be facilitating a Seminar Workshop “Leadership and Team Development” at QLU – Quality Leadership University in a dynamic and co-creation process.

The challenges of a global, complex, changing, diverse and hyperconnected world demand that today’s leadership be different. The basic principles remain, but the way of leading changes. We no longer see the leader as a superior being, focused on the task and providing structure and direction, we see him as a facilitator who is involved in dialogue and the participation of everyone. 

Create value for all stakeholders, working with systemic conflicts, being members of multiple teams and working virtually are some of the challenges organisations currently face.

I will share, among others, knowledge and practices from my learning with Dr. Marshall Goldsmith and Dr. Peter Hawkins, professors, authors and coaches recognised worldwide for their work on leadership, team development and value creation in organisations.

Accede here to more information about the programme.

a hug,

Fatima Ribeiro