Alluvial Executive Coaching
Barbara Mendler
I enjoy coaching. It is an opportunity to work with amazing people to solve problems and improve performance in order for them to thrive. Every session is unique but focused on partnering with my client to clarify and find opportunities.
I bring my personal insights in change, transformation, growth and mergers across companies and cultures. I coach based on a deep curiosity about the many rivers my clients have navigated and how they can achieve their best performance through current and future rapids.
How I work
I’m naturally curious–especially about how people operate inside organizations.
Over 25 years leading global operations and sustainability, I learned that the real constraint is rarely the strategy–it’s the human system: assumptions, incentives, communication styles, and culture. I ask incisive questions that open new possibilities to existing and new problems.
What I bring
Twenty-five years, distilled into six practices
C-suite operations leadership
COO/CFO level, global scale.
Complex transformations
Led and implemented mergers, outsourcing, reinsourcing, transformational business model delivery, business continuity and employee engagement during COVID and in war zones.
Financial rigor + commercial outcomes
Business needs financially savvy outcomes and this applies to changes and transformations as well as results of coaching.
People + cross-functional collaboration
No change occurs just on paper – it takes people who are engaged and participate in the transformation. Changing tools, from workflows to AI and operational models does not guarantee results if people are not thriving.
Global/multicultural leadership
UK/EU/ME/Asia + Eastern Europe / JV work.
Curiosity as a leadership practice
I believe in experimenting for the best results and providing my coachee with a safe and agenda-free place for them to find their best solutions. Practiced curiosity leads to good decisions and results.
Before Alluvial
A career spent navigating the rapids
I have worked as the Chief Operations and Sustainability Officer within a global law firm leading and implementing the largest three-way merger in the European legal sector, CEO of a Romanian outsourcing services provider and CFO of a Film Distribution and Multiplex developer in Eastern Europe.
Prior to founding Alluvial, Executive Coaching was a part of my daily work.
The firm increased revenue every year post merger with on-going organic growth and did not lose any clients, top performing fee earners or teams due to disruptions.
In the largest 3-way merger in the UK legal market, I mentored and coached heads of and directors in all of business support services to get everyone on the same page and we all went beyond expectations as a cohesive group working towards a common programme goal. I proposed to complete the three way merger in under six months such that all staff and partners would be in the same office in each location, using the same equipment and the same software from the very first day. There were those who thought it was too ambitious but I was able to both show how we could mitigate the risk if certain sites were not ready but also what they were playing for and to trust in the team. All other law firm mergers of any size had seen a drop in combined revenue and all had taken upwards of five years to actually get everyone on the same systems. The firm increased revenue every year post merger with on-going organic growth and did not lose any clients, top performing fee earners or teams due to disruptions.
Let’s find out what’s possible — together.
Every session is unique but focused on partnering with my client to clarify and find opportunities.
Working with leaders in the UK, Eastern Europe, and the US