This Might Not Go Well: The reality of coaching through change

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With special guest Jason Leuenberger

Episode 18 of the Teams Transformed Podcast

Teams Transformed is the podcast for courageous coaches, curious leaders, and anyone passionate about unlocking the true power of teams. Hosted by TCS Founder and Senior Faculty Georgina Woudstra and Allard De Jong, listen to explore transformational insights on how to coach teams with presence, depth, and emergence, diving into not just the tools, but the art of team coaching itself.

About this Episode

In this episode of Teams Transformed, Georgina and Allard welcome Jason Leuenberger, leadership coach and former global GRC leader at Starbucks, to explore a powerful moment of emergence from his team coaching practice.

Jason shares a compelling story from a six-month engagement with a large, complex leadership team navigating a significant organisational reorganisation. What began as an evolving dynamic between an “old guard” and a “new guard” eventually surfaced in a pivotal moment late in the engagement, when two voices stepped forward to represent deeper, unspoken tensions within the system.

Rather than moving past the moment or reverting to the agenda, Jason chose to lean in. By inviting the two individuals to work through their challenge in real time, in front of the wider team, he created a rare opportunity for honesty, visibility, and resolution. What unfolded was not just a conversation between two people, but a release of energy for the entire team.

Together, the conversation explores the courage required to trust emergence, the discipline of staying present under pressure, and the importance of resisting the urge to prematurely resolve tension. Jason reflects on how meaningful breakthroughs often take time, and how the coach’s role is less about driving outcomes and more about creating the conditions for the system to reveal itself.

This episode highlights how transformation doesn’t always follow a linear path, and how patience, presence, and bravery can unlock moments that shift everything.

About our guests

Jason began his career in tech working for a VC-backed startup, before moving into consulting roles with firms including EY, where he supported a wide range of clients from bootstrapped founders to Fortune 10 organisations.

He later led Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) globally at Starbucks, where he became known for his coaching approach and leadership development work.

Jason is now the founder of Kinkou, where he focuses on coaching leaders and teams, a path he describes as deeply meaningful and energising. His work is grounded in curiosity, continuous learning, and a commitment to helping teams navigate complexity and change.

He brings a unique blend of corporate experience and coaching presence, supporting teams to surface what is unspoken, work through tension, and build more effective ways of collaborating. Based in Seattle, Jason continues to evolve his practice through reflection, co-coaching, and real-world experience with teams in motion.

Key Themes Explored

Emergence Takes Time

Jason’s story highlights that the most meaningful moments don’t always happen early. Despite clear tensions between the “old guard” and “new guard,” it took five and a half months for the underlying dynamic to fully surface. Emergence cannot be forced; it unfolds when the system is ready.

Working with the Energy in the Room

Rather than following the pre-planned agenda, Jason chose to privilege what was happening in the moment. By noticing the intensity between two individuals and pausing the session to explore it, he worked directly with the live system dynamics.

From Group to Spotlight

Sensing the conversation becoming exclusive, Jason made a bold intervention, inviting the two individuals to continue their dialogue while the rest of the team observed. This created a focused space where deeper truths could be expressed and witnessed.

Tolerance for Tension

A critical part of the intervention was Jason’s ability to stay with discomfort. As the conversation intensified, his role was not to fix or soften it, but to allow the tension to unfold and trust that the participants could work through it together.

The Power of Slowing Down

In a fast-paced, transactional team culture, taking 30 minutes to work through a single issue was unusual. Yet this slowing down enabled a level of depth and resolution that had previously been missing.

The Role of Co-Coaching

Even though his co-coach was remote, her presence and real-time support gave Jason the confidence to act. Their ongoing debriefs throughout the engagement were essential in making sense of the system and preparing for moments like this.

Inner State and Presence

Jason reflects on the importance of managing his internal state in the moment. Noticing his own surge of energy, he grounded himself with a simple mantra, “stay here, be here”, allowing him to remain calm and present despite uncertainty.

Leadership Matters

The conversation also surfaces the critical role of the team leader. In hindsight, Jason notes that deeper, more intentional work with the leader at the outset may have shifted the dynamics earlier in the process.

Letting Go of Control

Ultimately, the breakthrough came not from a technique, but from trusting the process. By stepping back and allowing the system to speak, Jason enabled a release of long-held tension that benefited the whole team.

Key takeaways

🌱 Emergence Has Its Own Timing: Breakthroughs often come late in the process, trust that meaningful moments will surface when the system is ready.

🤝 Follow the Energy: The most important work is often found in what’s happening right now, not what was planned.

🎭 Make Dynamics Visible: Spotlighting real interactions can help teams see and understand their own patterns more clearly.

⚖️ Stay with Discomfort: Transformation often requires sitting with tension rather than resolving it too quickly.

⏳ Slow Down to Go Deeper: Creating space for deeper conversations can unlock insights that fast-paced dialogue cannot.

👥 Lean on Co-Coaching: Shared reflection and in-the-moment support strengthen the coach’s ability to act with confidence.

🧘 Regulate Your Inner State: Presence starts with self-awareness, grounding yourself enables better interventions.

🎯 Engage the Leader Early: The team leader’s mindset and behaviour significantly shape what’s possible in the system.

🌊 Trust the Process: When coaches step back and allow the system to emerge, lasting change becomes possible.

Why listen?

This episode offers a deeply human and practical exploration of what it means to work emergently with teams. Jason’s story illustrates the courage required to step away from the plan, trust the moment, and stay present when the outcome is uncertain.

Listeners will gain insight into how to recognise and act on moments of emergence, how to manage their own internal responses under pressure, and how to create the conditions for meaningful dialogue within teams.

Whether you’re new to team coaching or an experienced practitioner, this conversation is a powerful reminder that the most transformative work often happens when we slow down, stay with what is, and trust the intelligence of the system.

About your hosts

Georgina Woudstra is the Founder and Senior Faculty of Team Coaching Studio, an ICF Master Certified Coach (MCC) with over 20 years of experience. Georgina is recognised globally as one of the leading lights in team coaching and was among the first coaches to receive ICF's Advanced Certificate in Team Coaching.

Allard De Jong is a seasoned leadership development expert with two decades of experience solving organisational 'people problems' and accelerating leadership development. He brings a unique perspective on transformative inquiry and divergent thinking to team coaching practice.

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Teams Transformed is brought to you by Team Coaching Studio - dedicated to advancing the field of team coaching through world-class education, certification, practice, connection and community.

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