Selected engagements
Six engagements, chosen to show the range rather than the volume. Each one is labelled by the capacity in which I delivered it. Larger or longer engagements are typically run with a small team of associates I bring in as needed.
I
Department turnaround under growth and restructuring pressure
70% backlog cut, 30% of revenue protected, three years running it.
II
Agile operating model and change adoption at scale
2,500 people, one operating model, still running today.
Agile operating model and change adoption at scale
At a financial market infrastructure · 2,500 people · multi-year · as an embedded consultant
Some teams were already moving into Agile at a granular level, but there was no shared, scaled definition of success and maturity, and localised scrum-level coaching needed global change and adoption support around it.
I designed a scaled operating model organised around product-led value streams and embedded it, aligning senior stakeholders around a single structure of Epics, Features, OKRs, Obeya forums, quarterly business reviews and divisional PI planning, and led adoption through a structured change agenda and a learning programme reaching more than 2,000 colleagues.
Outcome. Measurable improvement in delivery predictability, leadership alignment and cross-divisional collaboration. Leaders gained visibility on dependencies, capacity and risk they had not had before. The operating model was still running after the mandate ended.
Group programme management capability
At a financial market infrastructure · group-wide, multi-entity · as an embedded consultant
Predictability, accountability and financial control were localised at programme level, with ad hoc implementations from one entity to the next. Programmes were driven more by output and progress than steered against a defined benefit case.
I built the case for a Group Programme Management Office and socialised it at C-level across every entity, established the practice on an MSP basis, and trained and coached the sponsors, business change managers and programme managers who had to run it.
Outcome. A governance system giving leaders real oversight, stronger financial and delivery routines inside programmes, and a programme management community that outlived its setup. The organisation moved to a materially more mature handling of complex change.
Department turnaround under growth and restructuring pressure
At an asset management software house · 20+ people across three continents · multiple quarters · in a line management role
A global client servicing organisation covering Europe, Asia and the Americas needed to be stabilised during a critical growth and restructuring phase. Backlog was accumulating, client satisfaction was at stake, and the revenue attached to those client relationships was at risk.
I took direct line and budget responsibility for the organisation, restructured the teams and their ways of working, redesigned the support model, and automated recurring flows rather than adding headcount, running it through the restructuring and operations for three years rather than designing and leaving.
Outcome. Backlog reduced by 70%. Client satisfaction restored. 30% of company revenue protected through the restructuring, with efficiency gains of up to 60% on the team’s core operating indicators.
Scaled strategic alignment
At a large Belgian cooperative · 400 people · two-day residential offsite · through On Spaceship Earth
A 400-person operations division needed to establish shared direction, prioritise its mid-term initiatives and commit to action, in a cooperative environment where imposed priorities would not have held.
With a team of three coaches I federated around the client’s need, I designed and facilitated a two-day residential offsite for the full division, using collective intelligence methods to surface perspectives across the whole group, build shared understanding, and move from reflection to prioritised commitments held at team level.
Outcome. A clearer shared strategic narrative and productive engagement between the operations division and top management. Priorities owned at team level, with commitment to concrete actions rather than a plan issued from above.
Leadership capability journeys
At a bank, an insurer, two market infrastructures and a consulting firm · around 100 people · engagements up to two years · as an embedded consultant
Five organisations needed different depths of support to build leadership maturity in critical delivery and transformation roles, from a starting assessment to a full development journey for people stepping into chapter lead and equivalent positions.
I built a modular capability spanning individual and role maturity assessment, experiential leadership journeys designed and delivered rather than bought off a catalogue, and sustained individual coaching over several quarters, with each organisation entering at the depth it was ready for.
Outcome. Stronger leadership legitimacy and delivery maturity, with a marked shift in middle management posture and in the ways of working carried back into their teams. Part of a wider practice covering more than 500 leaders and professionals developed over my career.
Team alignment and cohesion
At several Belgian cooperatives and not-for-profits, and at a consulting practice · teams of 8 to 10 · one day to several months · through On Spaceship Earth and as an embedded consultant
Small teams faced a variety of challenges: some had to clarify priorities and diverging expectations, others carry unresolved tension, all needing a shared way of working to move more effectively on the collective intelligence of the group rather than on unilateral management direction.
I facilitated systemic team coaching using ORSC, surfacing individual and collective needs, aligning values, objectives and ways of working, in formats ranging from a single offsite day to several months of light, regular follow-up on team dynamics, blockers and drivers.
Outcome. Shared direction, stronger cohesion and concrete next steps, at the pace and depth each team actually needed rather than a fixed programme applied uniformly.
What clients say about the coaching work
“Xavier made me understand something about myself I hadn’t fully admitted: my real strengths were no longer technical, but tied to my ability to translate a business need into a system. Our work together brought me to move into a Product Owner role.”
Dan Gheorghiu, IT Architect / Product Owner, France/Switzerland
“It made me think about the root causes of the challenges I faced, and come up with my own solutions, keeping the agency with me. As a coach, you’re easy going, constructive and non-judgemental, which put me at ease immediately.”
Management consultant in financial services, Belgium
“This coaching enabled me to take a step back and reflect on my own needs and thoughts before immediately acting upon negative emotions. It helped me bring my message across in a way that kept the focus on me, not on others’ behaviour or words.”
Angela Van den Bogaerde, HR specialist and Yoga coach, Belgium/Spain
The capabilities behind this
Programme and portfolio management
For organisations launching major programmes, or needing one recovered. Risk detected early rather than at crisis point, executive conversations raised to the right altitude, and derailed programmes brought back without replacing the team.
MSP · PRINCE2 · Prosci ADKAR · Lean Six Sigma Black Belt
Agile governance and operating model
For CIOs, COOs and leadership teams making Agile real beyond team level. Decisions at the right cadence, OKR and Obeya as the working link between strategy and execution, and a system the organisation owns and runs on its own.
OKR · Obeya · QBR and quarterly planning · SAFe · Scrum@Scale
Leadership and learning design
For organisations that need more than catalogue training, and L&D teams looking for a design partner. Participants apply rather than absorb, because the learning is anchored in the challenges they are actually facing.
Training from the Back of the Room · Thiagi ITILT
Team coaching and performance
For leadership teams, newly formed teams, and teams under structural change. Faster collective decisions, energy released from tension that was absorbing it, and agreements that outlast the intervention.
ORSC · TeamDynamics · Indice de Cohésion d’Équipe
Facilitation and collective intelligence
For strategy days, large groups from 8 to 400 and beyond, and multi-stakeholder processes. Real alignment rather than apparent consensus, with tensions made visible before they become blockages.
ORSC · Theory U · Sociocracy & Holacracy · Deep Democracy · Obeya · OKR
Individual coaching
For leaders, managers and senior professionals navigating a transition or a new level of complexity. Clarity on purpose, priorities and blockers, and stronger leadership presence with their teams.
ICF ACC · Leadership Circle Profile · Clean Language
Organisations I have worked with
Across my career, as an employee and as a consultant: Allianz Benelux, Banque Générale du Luxembourg, BNP Paribas Fortis, BNY Mellon, Credendo, Dexia, Euroclear, Euronext, FedNot, ING, KBC Bank and Insurance, London Metal Exchange, NRB, Quintet Private Bank, Swift, and 80 client banks of an asset management software house. Alongside these, cooperatives, not-for-profits, public institutions and employers federations in Belgium.