Leadership in complex organisations is rarely straightforward
Many leaders today are working in conditions where authority is limited, problems are ill-defined, and progress depends less on control than on influence across people, roles, and systems.
I work with consultants, internal advisors, and senior leaders in complex organisations, including NGOs and mission-driven enterprises. Much of my work takes place in environments shaped by uncertainty, interdependence, and competing demands, where there are no simple answers and no single point of control.
In these settings, leadership challenges are rarely technical. They are systemic, political, and human. Progress depends on how leaders make sense of what is happening, engage others across boundaries, and create movement without relying on hierarchy or formal power.
This site is intended for people working in those conditions, whether they are exploring a specific leadership issue, developing their own practice, or supporting others through change.
The leadership challenges explored here
The work shared on this site focuses on recurring questions that arise in complex organisational life, including:
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How to influence across boundaries, functions, and stakeholder groups
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How to make decisions and sense under uncertainty
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How to navigate resistance, conflict, and competing priorities
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How to lead change that cuts across roles, teams, and hierarchies
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How to build collaboration and alignment in human systems
These challenges are explored through writing, frameworks, and practical reflection, rather than prescriptive models or universal solutions.
Exploring these leadership challenges
Many of the challenges described above are explored in more depth across the writing on this site. If you are working through a specific leadership issue, you may find it useful to explore:
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Leadership library: A structured collection of leadership skills, challenges, and development themes drawn from practice and research.
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Complexity library: Capabilities focused on systems thinking, sensemaking, and leadership in uncertain, interdependent environments.
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Emotional intelligence: Reflections on self-awareness, relationships, feedback, influence, and the human side of leadership work.
These sections are intended as resources for reflection and learning, whether used independently or alongside coaching, facilitation, or education.
Five starting points for leading in complexity
Leaders often arrive here because they are facing situations where there is no obvious right answer, no clear authority to rely on, and no simple way forward.
This site explores leadership as a practice shaped by uncertainty, interdependence, and human limits. If you are working through a specific leadership challenge, the following pieces offer useful starting points. They reflect the kinds of real dilemmas leaders encounter when progress depends on judgement, relationships, and context rather than control or certainty.
- How do I decide when both options seem right? Exploring how leaders exercise judgement when there is no clearly correct choice, and when values, trade-offs, and consequences must be held rather than resolved.
- How to use the Cynefin framework to lead accordingly: Examining how complexity thinking supports better leadership decisions by matching responses to the nature of the situation, rather than applying familiar but inappropriate solutions.
- Leading in complexity: pilots, probes, and experiments: Looking at how leaders create movement and learning when outcomes cannot be predicted in advance, and when action itself becomes a form of sensemaking.
- How can I motivate a burned-out team? Reflecting on leadership when energy, trust, and capacity are depleted, and when traditional motivation approaches no longer work.
- I’m burnt out. What can I do to lead well? Exploring leadership sustainability, personal limits, and how leaders continue to act responsibly without ignoring their own wellbeing.
Together, these pieces reflect the kind of leadership challenges this site is concerned with: situations where progress depends on judgement, relationships, and context rather than authority, certainty, or technical fixes.
About my work
The work shared here is grounded in long-term practice across organisational contexts.
I bring over 30 years of experience working in and with organisations, from the shop floor to the boardroom. My background includes leading a healthcare business, managing in a global professional services firm, and building learning and events companies. I have worked across corporate, public sector, and NGO environments in nearly 40 countries, including technology, pharmaceuticals, finance, consumer goods, and manufacturing.
Alongside my practice, I have taught in European business schools for almost two decades. My academic background includes systems thinking, design and innovation, and online education. I hold professional credentials in both coaching (PCC via ICF) and facilitation (CPF via IAF), and most of my work is delivered online, in English and Spanish.
How I work:
Coaching
Coaching is most useful when the challenge is personal, role-based, or relational.
This work supports leaders who are navigating transitions, increasing their impact across organisational boundaries, or working under sustained pressure. Coaching typically focuses on enhancing influence, personal performance, sensemaking, judgement, and choice in situations where there are no clear answers, and where progress depends on how others are engaged rather than directed.
Facilitation
Facilitation is most useful when progress depends on shared understanding rather than command and control.
This work supports groups who need to make sense of complex situations together, work through disagreement, or align around direction and next steps. It is often used in the context of strategy, change and transformation, leadership development, and team effectiveness.
Leadership education
Leadership education is most useful when shared language, frameworks, and capability need to be developed over time.
This work includes short online courses, one-day masterclasses, and blended learning journeys for senior and executive leaders. The focus is on practical, research-informed learning that connects concepts with lived experience and application in real organisational contexts.
If you would like to discuss how I may be able to support you, your team or organisation: andi[AT]andiroberts[DOT]com or connect via LinkedIn.