Coaching with your business in mind

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Leadership Coaching

The future of any organization rests on the quality of its leadership.

Many accomplished executives reach a point where technical skill and experience are not enough to meet the demands of complex, high-stakes leadership. That is where leadership coaching provides the edge. The most successful organizations invest in coaching for their top executives to help them navigate their toughest challenges, sharpen their strategic impact, and sustain high performance.

Our work together focuses on sharpening strategic thinking, mastering the art of storytelling, and leading with authority under pressure. Through tailored guidance and candid dialogue, you refine your self-awareness, decision-making, and ability to mobilize others around a shared vision. The result is not simply growth, but the ability to shape culture, inspire trust, and influence the future of your organization.
Coaching relationship
We start by understanding your context, your priorities, and the leadership challenges you want to address. Together we agree on a clear path forward that is practical, measurable, and aligned with the realities of your role and organization.
Coaching objectives
We define leadership development goals and the business results you want to see, involving your sponsor if applicable, so that everyone is aligned on what success looks like and how it will be measured.
Coaching process
Our work draws on proven coaching practices to deliver real, lasting change. Conversations are always confidential, creating the space for honest reflection and bold thinking.

Where helpful, we use analytical tools such as Hogan assessments and 360-degree feedback to deepen self-awareness and uncover the capabilities, challenges, and motivators that shape performance.
Coaching outcomes
At the end of the engagement, we review the progress made, from measurable shifts in leadership behavior to tangible business impact, as well as the return on investment for the organization. We also anchor the changes to ensure success continues well beyond the coaching.

Team Coaching

Your organization is only as strong as your team.

Team coaching is for organizations with established teams that want to optimize performance and create the conditions for sustained high effectiveness. It accelerates the shift needed for transformation by strengthening relationships, improving communication, and aligning everyone around a shared purpose.

The work focuses on trust, respect, constructive interaction, optimism, camaraderie, and accountability, which are the foundations that allow teams to perform at their best under pressure.
Team coaching is designed for:
  • Leadership, cross-functional, or project teams that must align quickly, collaborate effectively, and deliver under pressure.
  • Teams experiencing friction, low trust, unclear roles, or navigating changes in structure or leadership.
  • High-performing teams seeking to sustain momentum and extend their competitive edge.
Coaching relationship
We begin by gaining a clear understanding of the organization’s culture, the team’s structure, and the challenges they face. This insight shapes the coaching approach, ensuring it fits the realities of the team and the goals of the organization. Together, we agree on the course of action that will create the greatest impact.
Coaching objectives
We define clear goals for the team’s development along with the expected business results. These objectives are agreed between the sponsor and the team leader or leaders, ensuring everyone is aligned on what success looks like and how it will be measured.
Coaching process
Based on the objectives, I may involve other coaches with specific expertise to meet the needs of the team. The approach is tailored to address the team’s agreed goals and can include:
  • Coaching the team as a single unit to strengthen how it works together and delivers results.
  • It may also include individual coaching with team members outside of the group sessions to support the team’s goals.
  • Team diagnostic assessment tools, such as:

    • The 'Hogan Team Assessment Report', which analyzes the team's strengths, weaknesses, potential fracture lines, team culture, and shared values.
    • The 'TCI Team Diagnostic', which evaluates seven dimensions of productivity and positivity.


Coaching outcome
At the conclusion of the assignment, we review the shifts in team dynamics, the improvement in performance, and the sustainability of results. We also assess the return on investment for the coaching, ensuring the impact is clear for both the team and the organization.
Empresas que confiaron
The Elephant in the Family Room  - Managing the of Legacy Business - Book cover

The Elephant in the Family Room

Packed with actionable insights, The Elephant in the Family Room equips enterprise families with the tools to confront silent threats—unspoken resentments, deep-seated insecurities, lingering fears, and misaligned values—that can quietly erode trust and unity. From power struggles to fractured relationships, this book offers a clear path to bridging generational divides and aligning family and business interests.

Click here to watch the video trailer.

Testimonials

Many of you have already experienced Rene’s coaching style and insight, and you might agree with me that he is a fantastic leadership development coach and provides interesting perspectives and insights. His mind works in a very wise way, and his life and career experience are fascinating. I hope everyone who wants to will be able to find a time to meet with him while he’s here.
Kelly
Kelly O'Brien, Global Career and Leadership Development
Booth School of Business, University of Chicago
"René is both a superb listener and a great synthesizer of ideas. He's a coach who takes in all the fine details of a person's story, then picks out patterns and themes that give a valuable explanatory perspective that the client can't easily see for her/himself, and from there delivers insightful suggestions that lead the client to a more lucid self-understanding with positive action points - which is the true value-add of a great coach."
Anthony
Anthony Nahas, PARIS - France
René is a highly sensitive and empathetic person.  Sharing with him is very nice because you sense a deep relationship and feel accompanied by him. With his breadth of knowledge and experience, he has always something of value to contribute. He has helped me to ask myself questions that I might not have asked if I had not had this space.  As a result, I could develop tools that allowed me to be better prepared to face certain situations in the future. I can highly recommend working with him!
Alex
Alex Komaromi, Montevideo - Uruguay
World Series Poker Champion
"I know René as a man with empathy and a deep tangible interest in the people around him. You can see in his eyes that he senses your emotional state. I know that I can always approach him when I need someone to listen and help me find my way. As everyone, René has had his share of darkness and personal crisis to deal with. During these times, he has sustained himself admirably and continued to passionately care for those closest to him while he was not in a good place. For full disclosure, he has been a friend for many years, since business school in fact."
Markus
Markus Stadlmann, Vaduz - Liechtenstein
"René, thanks for asking questions leading to answers so close to my eyes. Sometimes, you need a guide to find the things you've been staring at for years".
Piotr
Piotr Robak, Warsow - POLAND
"René Sonneveld has saved me at least 6 months of erratic thinking aimed at shaping my academic career to fit it into the biopharmaceutical sector. He's uncovered values that I had never identified, and he has smartly pinpointed the right questions. Astonishing how René can dissect your needs and provide shortcuts towards accurate answers. No matter what market you are in, seek his coaching. He'll get your money's worth."”
Fernando
Fernando de Mora, Professor of Pharmacology
Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona
"After being a project manager for building hotels in Russia and managing a family-owned training institute in Vienna, I started to think about what to do next at the age of fifty-five. It seemed like a perfect time for hiring a coach to see what I wanted to do for the next ten years of my life. I had numerous ideas, and coaching with René helped me put them in the right perspective; to understand the interconnection of these ideas. I probably could not have figured this out by just pondering my brain. Therefore, I can highly recommend his coaching to take a step back and get an objective and refreshing view of things."
Peter
Peter Kutschera, Vienna - AUSTRIA
"Rene coaching sessions have been extremely thoughtful, motivational, and to say the least, life changing. His approach of patience combined with encouragements allowed me to tap into aspects of myself and especially to improve the organization of my days. Rene created a natural environment where I could express myself and explore my potential. With each session I could see tangible results and growth. "
Christophe
Christophe Beaud, CEO peoplefone Group
Zurich, Switzerland

"Rene has a wealth of experience in advising senior teams and company boards that transpire and becomes evident when he is coaching you. When he coaches, he combines a rational side, based on his long experience, with an acute observation of details, emotions and empathy of the person. This holistic combination of "head and guts" makes the coaching doubly effective, uncovering solutions that a simple approach would not have achieved. In summary, it is a very effective pleasure having him as a coach."
Salvador
Salvador Barrio, DHL Supply Chain, Madrid - Spain
Paradigm Shift
Every session that I had with Rene had a realization leading to a perspective change and a short term goal to achieve tangible results.

Impact
Rene is highly imaginative and has fantastic skills in picking the right detail in a dialogue, and is always positive. He loves coaching, and it is visible in every minute of my discussions with him. Within a few sessions, my emotional construct shifted from extreme stress to highly optimistic and forward-looking.

Connection
Rene forms connections at an emotional level. No matter how my emotional state was before a session, I always come out of it highly energetic and with a positive outlook.

Once you get to know him, you connect with him for life.
Aravind
Aravind Kona, Commodities Research, Hyderabad, India
“René is a highly qualified businessman, but also a very good coach. He combines his broad experience in different aspects of business and management with his advanced knowledge of coaching using “state of the art” approaches. Being coached by René has been a great experience for me and an invaluable help in different situations.”
Raul
Raul Echeberria, Executive Director at Asociación LatinoamericanA de Internet
Montevideo, Uruguay