Stop Trying to Fix Leaders. Start Coaching the System.
Aug 02, 2025
How one finance leader showed me the real root of most performance problems.
By Marjana Laibacher Rogelj Systemic Team Coaching Practitioner | Leadership Maturity Coach | WeQ Co-Creator
I was called in to coach a senior finance leader.
She was described as “brilliant, but struggling.”
Struggling with delegation. Struggling with team morale. Struggling to hold everything together.
At first glance, it looked like a typical coaching brief: Help this leader be less controlling, build trust, and empower her people.
But when I sat down with her, I didn’t just see her. I saw the system around her.
And that changed everything.
The Context No One Talks About
This wasn’t just about her leadership style.
The company was undergoing a significant transformation, from two decades of decentralized autonomy to a newly centralized structure.
They were trying to streamline processes, centralize decisions, and optimize performance.
In theory, it made sense. In reality? It was chaos.
Her team, used to independence and local decision-making, was suddenly faced with top-down mandates. Confusion, frustration, and disengagement began to spread.
She was stuck. Caught between pressure from above to drive change... And resistance from below, where people didn’t understand, or trust, the new direction.
Of course she was tense. Of course she struggled with delegation.
No one was ready to take ownership, because no one really understood what they were supposed to own anymore.
The Shift: From Self-Blame to System Insight
The turning point came when she saw the full picture.
She realized: “I’m not the problem. I’m in the middle of a system that’s in tension.”
That’s when the real work began.
We didn’t just coach her. We expanded the lens, and began coaching the whole leadership system.
In just three sessions, we:
- Mapped the full landscape of the organizational change
- Surfaced the underlying tensions that had been ignored or avoided
- Created space to name, explore, and realign around those tensions
- Clarified not just the operational logic behind the change, but its emotional impact
- Supported the leadership team in reconnecting across silos and power dynamics
This wasn’t about solving one person’s “issues.” It was about transforming the relational field.
Her energy returned. Her delegation improved, not because she tried harder, but because the system became ready to receive it. The tension lifted, not just for her, but across the leadership team.
What Systemic Team Coaching Actually Does
This is what Systemic Team Coaching is about.
It’s not about “fixing” leaders. It’s about understanding the ecosystems they operate in, and helping those ecosystems align.
Most executive coaching treats the individual as the problem. But more often, the issue isn’t within the person, it’s around them.
Systemic Team Coaching asks:
“What’s happening between people that’s shaping what’s happening within them?”
It’s not therapy. It’s not performance management. It’s transformation, through collective insight, courageous conversation, and shared accountability.
Why the Heroic Leader Model No Longer Serves
Let’s be honest, we’ve inherited a story.
A story that says a great leader should “have the answers,” “carry the weight,” and “fix the culture from the top.”
It’s a compelling story. It sounds noble. It’s also no longer sustainable.
No single person can lead transformation in a system that isn’t ready for it.
Systemic Team Coaching challenges this outdated narrative, and replaces it with collective leadership capacity.
Leadership isn’t about the individual anymore. It’s about the network. The connections, the context, the conversations.
Real Change Isn’t a Workshop. It’s a Wake-Up
Remember the Blame-Moan-Whine loop?
Peter Hawkins named it “BMW”, the cycle teams fall into when they’re under stress but don’t feel safe or aligned enough to move forward.
That’s where this company was. And once we saw it, we could step out of it.
We got people talking. Not about tasks, but about tensions. Not about problems, but about patterns.
This is how performance shifts. Not by working harder. But by working wiser, as a system.
The Five Disciplines CEOs Should Know
If you lead a company, ask your leadership team these five questions:
- Commissioning – Why does this team exist beyond reporting lines?
- Clarifying – What is it really here to deliver, and from who?
- Co-creating – How safe is it to challenge each other here?
- Connecting – Do we serve our stakeholders, or protect our silos?
- Core Learning – Do we reflect and grow, or repeat and cope?
If your team can’t answer all five, you’re not underperforming because of your people. You’re underperforming because of your system.
This Work Is for Bold Leaders Only
Systemic Team Coaching isn’t for those looking for quick fixes or compliant teams.
It’s for leaders ready to:
- Step out of the hero role and into the connector role
- See beyond symptoms and engage the real dynamics
- Build cultures where accountability is shared, and sustainable
If you're a CEO who’s tired of treating symptoms, this is your call to zoom out.
Stop trying to fix people. Start understanding the system you’ve built around them.
Because more often than not... the person you think is the problem is just the one holding all the pressure no one else is naming.
Marjana Laibacher Rogelj, Your Developmental Companion
Leadership Maturity Coach, Systemic Team Practitioner
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