Systemic Team Coaching

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

Building Bridges: An Organisational Culture for Success

March 27, 2025/in Blog/by Fátima Ribeiro

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

Poster for a team coaching case study presentation with Fátima Ribeiro

Team Coaching Case Studies

July 15, 2024/in Events/by Fátima Ribeiro

On July 15, I presented a real case of a team coaching process for the Spanish-speaking Team Coaching Network.

Poster of the Systemic Team Coaching workshop: Expanding Borders, with Susana Azevedo, Bianca Aichinger and Fátima Ribeiro

Systemic Team Coaching – Expanding Frontiers

August 10, 2022/in Events/by Fátima Ribeiro

On August 9, from ICF Brasil Charter Chapter, in a workshop with more than 50 coaches from Brazil we shared our experience on Systemic Team Coaching.

Thank you to the ICF Brazil Charter Chapter for the opportunity to share and to all the participants who joined us!

Professionals taking part in a training session with a facilitator

How Do Professional Coaches Develop?

July 31, 2022/in Blog/by Fátima Ribeiro

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.

To protect clients seeking coaching, mentoring and supervision services, supporting them in their process of finding and choosing qualified professionals, the European Union (EU) accepted the “professional charter for coaching, mentoring and supervision of coaches, mentors and supervisors” developed by professional associations, and this document is now listed in the EU co-regulation and self-regulation databases.

This letter is the result of the collaboration of the ICF – International Coaching Federation with other coaching associations, such as the EMCC – European Mentoring and Coaching Council. Although it does not have the force of law, the charter seeks to reflect a common understanding and a concerted effort to self-regulate the profession by major professional associations.

The objective, according to a publication on the EU website, is to “guarantee high standards in the services offered, that is, the results of the coaching, mentoring, supervision processes, the practice and spirit of coaches, mentors and supervisors who:

have the required training and competencies
participate in continuing professional development
are, where possible, accredited or certified by professional associations for coaching, mentoring and supervision.”

Mentoring and supervision are important in the professional development of the professional coach, supporting them to generate greater self-awareness of their skills as a coach, their blind spots, and their opportunities for improvement. The coach simultaneously works on his “self” as a person and as a professional, supporting him to create greater value with and for his clients.

In mentoring, the mentor and the coach essentially work on the development of the coach’s skills within the framework of the coaching competencies defined by the ICF.

In supervision, the coach shares his work experiences with the supervisor, to receive support and establish a reflective dialogue and collaborative learning, which creates value for the coach, the client, the stakeholders and/or the client’s organisation.

As Damian Goldvarg tells us in his book Supervision of Coaches, “supervision has a specific objective: to reflect on the task carried out by the coach and increase his effectiveness by exploring not only what he did, and will do in future sessions, but also who, of the coach, his emotions, his beliefs, his blocks and his blind spots.”

Mentoring and supervision can be individual or group, both contribute to the coach’s development and add value.

There are several supervision models, one of the best known being the one developed by Professor Peter Hawkins, which applies to supervision of coaches with individual clients, client teams or organisational clients, and has a systemic foundation.

The model known as “the seven eyes model”, developed by the author in books such as Leadership Team Coaching, considers the following modes or areas of potential focus in supervision:

the Client’s situation,
the Coach’s interventions,
the coaching relationship,
the coach,
the supervisory relationship and parallel processes,
the Supervisor,
and the broader context.

The model considers the coaching system and the supervision system.

The model applied to coaching work with teams evolved by integrating three “eyes”, or modes, more in relation to the team ecosystem:

team stakeholders
the interventions and interaction processes that the team uses with its stakeholders
the relational dynamics between the team and its multiple stakeholders, considering “ten eyes” of supervision.

As professional coaches we seek to develop personally and professionally and co-create greater value in alliance with our clients.

Some of us evolve to also be mentors, coaches or supervisors, helping to develop the profession.

A professional coach has at his disposal continuing education programmes, mentoring and supervision as development tools. Supervision grows in importance as the coaching activity expands.

Author: Fátima 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.

Why Team Coaching?

May 31, 2022/in Events/by Fátima Ribeiro

On May 18, from ICF Panama Chapter, in an event integrated into the international coaching week, we shared with coaches and executives from Latin America about Systemic Team Coaching.

Develop knowledge about team coaching, its importance today and how it differs from other interventions. Learn what to expect from a team coaching process and its benefits, through a real example.

Exploring the Contribution of Systemic Coaching

August 4, 2021/in Events/by Fátima Ribeiro

On August 4, 2021, I participated in a discussion organized by ICF Chapter Panama whose main objectives were:

Explore the contribution of systemic coaching, from two different perspectives.
Analyse/reflect how systemic coaching can impact people, processes and results in organisations.

It was an opening of perspectives from the field of systemic coaching, which allowed participants to learn about two different views of systemic coaching, and interact in a collaborative learning space.

Thanks to the participants who joined us!

A screen reflected in a professional's glasses

Agility and Coaching

March 22, 2021/in Blog/by Fátima Ribeiro

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.

How do we look at and understand the world around us?

Everything we perceive passes through our the mindset, mindset, which can be defined as a combination of attitudes, beliefs and values that influence our behaviours, daily actions and the way we learn. As mentioned in the study conducted by Ashley Buchanan Margaret L. Kern, our mindset subconsciously affects the way we think, act, and even how we perceive future possibilities. However, mental changes can be generated consciously and in appropriate contexts that could improve one’s own and collective well-being.

Psychologist C Dweek talks in her book “Mindset: the new psychology of success” about 2 types of mentalities. The fixed mindset in which people believe their abilities are innate and cannot change or improve, therefore they fear challenges, give up easily when there are obstacles, and see the success of others as a threat. On the other hand, in the growth mindset these people believe that they can develop their skills through practice and effort, enjoying challenges, seeing obstacles or failures as learning opportunities and successful people as sources of inspiration.

C Dweek explains that in his research he found organisations and managers with a growth mindset, in which employees say they feel more empowered, more committed and that the company values creativity, innovation and teamwork. In organisations with a fixed mindset, there is also talk of creativity and innovation, however, when something does not work as expected someone must pay the price.

There are frameworks or reference frameworks that encompass agile principles and practices that allow companies to increase creativity, innovation, adapting quickly and effectively to the demands of the VICA (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) world.

The success of implementing these frameworks: Lean-Agile, requires leaders to have a growth mindset, which some frameworks often call the Lean-Agile mindset. This type of mentality allows us to drive the necessary transformation of the organisation, improving culture and business agility.

Through coaching, leaders can be accompanied to evolve from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset that offers great potential to generate changes at an individual level that impact the entire system.

Through executive coaching, we can support the development of leaders with a mindset focused on agile principles or practices, exploring values and beliefs (BE), mental models and cognitive structures (THINK) and/or working on what is visible, at the level of practices, behaviours and perceptions (DO).

The work of coaching can be done from the outside (what is visible and perceived), from the behaviours and perceptions inward to obtain sustainable results, or from the inside (values and thought structures) outward, always in accordance with the coaching contract established between the parties.

The coaching methodology to use is the one that the leader and the organisation recognise as having the greatest value. The important thing is to support the leader to involve his collaborators and other interested parties, to listen to them and value all opinions, in a learning process that is not only individual but collective, and in the creation of an agile and customer-centred culture.

Coaching could become a key piece for the success in the evolution of agile organisations, accompanying leaders in the development of their agile teams, promoting a growth mindset throughout the organisation.

Through the systemic coaching approach, agile teams can be developed as a self-managed team, defining more clearly its purpose, the creation of value, obtaining sustainable results, decision making, work organisation and the way of relating between its members and with other teams in the company. In this way, coaching contributes to reinforcing and consolidating the cultural change necessary in agile organisations.

Authors:

Romina Leveau and Fatima Ribeiro

Invitation from ICF Panama to a conversation on team coaching

A Conversation about Team Coaching

March 4, 2021/in Events/by Fátima Ribeiro

In this discussion organized by the ICF Panama Chapter, in which I participated as a panelist, we spoke with the members of the chapter and guests about:

What is team coaching?

How is it different from 1 on 1 coaching?

What are the challenges of team coaching?

What are the skills that a team coach should have?

Team Coaching: The Whole Is Greater Than the Sum of Its Parts

December 14, 2020/in Blog/by Fátima Ribeiro

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 team, as a work unit, is today a critical element for the success of almost any organisational effort. This is an assertion that very little can be questioned.

In the 2016 Deloitte Human Capital Trends study, the #1 concern among more than 7,000 companies (in more than 130 countries) was how to redesign the organisational structure for current conditions. The bottom line was to move to what Deloitte calls a “network of teams.” The pandemic has caused an amplification of this effect, making the effectiveness of work teams even more key to the success of the organisation.

This is why Team Coaching is an increasingly important modality in organisations to consistently and lastingly achieve a high level of performance, aligning teams around a collective purpose and objectives.

It is necessary for the whole to create more value than the sum of the parts, for each team member to take responsibility for their contribution (individual leadership), as well as for the functioning of the entire team (collective leadership). The team must be a learning team, where members, together, develop and adapt to the increasing speed of change and increasing complexity, uncertainty and ambiguity.

The Team Coach works with teams in real time, with a systemic perspective of the needs and challenges of stakeholders, to expand self-awareness, deepen capabilities and broaden abilities. In this way, the levels of effectiveness, cohesion, learning and performance can be transformed.

Other intervention modalities at the team level include: Facilitation, Training, “Team Building”, and Consulting. We will explore these and how they differ from Team Coaching. Each of these professional practices has value, and each is appropriate in certain circumstances. The important thing is to be clear at any given moment about what need we are trying to satisfy.

Team Facilitation: It serves to manage teamwork, in real time, in the implementation of a process or a tool, to achieve a goal. The facilitator promotes dialogue and clarity. Generally it is for a short period and the focus should be on the team collaborating to obtain the intended result.

Team Training: It is learning through reading, classes or exercises. The time is also short and increases knowledge in a specific area. It is, in essence, acquisition of new knowledge or development of skills.

“Team Building”: It works through games, simulations and other experiences organized during special events. It results in greater enthusiasm, cohesion, trust and respect among participants. The duration is even shorter and so is its impact.

Team Consulting: Led by an expert in the field, focused on proposing solutions and recommendations for implementation. The time is variable and is based on a work map that needs to be achieved to reach the desired goal.

Team Coaching: It is a medium to long-term process, in which the focus is on the team as a system, in which sustainable changes are promoted over time. The Coach works with the team in alliance, with regular interventions and/or work sessions. The Coach challenges the team to observe and reflect on how they are operating, and how these interaction patterns are affecting their performance. The Coach helps the team meet the needs of its “stakeholders” or interested parties, and accompanies it to expand the common purpose and vision. In response, the team makes specific adjustments to increase its strengths and develop areas of opportunity for improvement, integrating lessons learned. Team Coaching is different from Group Coaching, due to its deeper and more systemic intervention with the team as a whole.

Team Coaching, with increasing use worldwide for the development of teams and organisations, is thus a collective learning process, with the potential to have a transformative impact at the individual, intrapersonal, performance and results levels, and relationships and connections with interested parties, in integration with the organisational and global environment.

Authors:

Alberto Navarro and Fatima Ribeiro

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