How Systemic Team Coaching Drives Impact Beyond Performance

As a coach, I have had the privilege of working with leadership teams across industries, cultures, and continents. Each engagement teaches me something new – not just about organisations, but also about the people I work with. Recently, I concluded a Systemic Team Coaching journey with Arc Australia Consulting alongside Fourteena and Linda, working with a global information technology client, PT Kairos Utama Indonesia. This 20-year-old company has a subsidiary in Canada, with an impressive range of clients across various industries, including oil and gas, banking, telecommunications, and more. The experience provided powerful reminders about what truly enables teams to thrive in today’s complex world.

Listening Before Leading

The coaching journey began not with solutions, but with curiosity. This coaching journey spans over seven months, from early March to October 2025. Over this period, we engaged leaders and teams across Sales, Operations, Delivery, HR, Finance, and other core functions in in-depth dialogue. Through interviews, surveys, and facilitated conversations, we created a space for voices that are often unheard and questions that are seldom asked. More than 30 hours of collective conversation revealed something familiar yet profound: when teams slow down long enough to truly listen, clarity begins to emerge. Patterns become visible. Assumptions are challenged, and people start to see not just their own function, but the system they are part of.

What We Discovered Together

Across functions, several shared challenges surfaced that I see repeatedly in organisations:

• A strategy that is well-intended but not always clearly translated into day-to-day priorities
• Strong teams working hard, yet often in silos
• Ownership and accountability diffused across complex structures
• Stakeholders sometimes feel disconnected from internal decision-making
• Learning is happening informally, but not yet embedded as a shared discipline

These are not failures. They are signals. Signals that an organisation is evolving and ready for its next level of maturity.

From Insight to Intention

The most meaningful shift occurred when the conversation moved from “what isn’t working” to “what are we committed to building together.” Through collective sense-making, teams began shaping a future state grounded in shared responsibility, disciplined execution, and human connection. The focus areas that emerged were both practical and aspirational: clarifying strategy and goals, strengthening accountability, enhancing cross-team collaboration, deepening stakeholder engagement, fostering a culture of learning, and improving communication and recognition. What struck me most was not the content of these priorities, but the energy behind them. When teams co-create their path forward, commitment replaces compliance.

A Vision Beyond Performance

Looking ahead, this organisation has articulated a bold aspiration: to become an internationally recognised technology company where discipline and creativity coexist, and where people work in alignment with one another and with the broader ecosystem they serve. In this envisioned future, ideas are shared courageously. Differences are valued. People, processes, technology, and business strategy are aligned with purpose. The organisation not only performs – it learns, adapts, and leads by example.

A Personal Reflection

As a coach, moments like these reaffirm why systemic work matters. Real change does not come from top-down directives or isolated initiatives. It comes from collective awareness, honest dialogue, and the willingness to see the whole system – and one’s role within it. Completing this coaching journey reminded me that the future of work is not about having all the answers; it’s about embracing the unknown. It is about creating the conditions where teams can think, learn, unlearn, relearn, and move forward together. When that happens, transformation is not only possible – it becomes inevitable.

As I conclude this year, 2025, I am grateful to have had the opportunity to work with global clients as part of my learning journey, which has challenged my intellectual sphere and refined my humane aspects, as well as other personal and professional domains. I look forward to welcoming 2026 with a sense of confidence shaped by reflection and progress. The journey continues – and it begins with optimism, anchored in purpose.

To find out more about Systemic Team Coaching, please visit: https://www.14arcaustralia.com/team-coaching.html

For those who are interested in reading my research on digital transformation, leadership, and beyond, you may go to: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-46209-2_2

Wishing you the happiest holidays and a wonderful new year!