EXECUTIVE & TEAM COACHING

Moving forward with agency and excitement.

I believe change starts with people recognising their own agency and taking ownership of what needs to happen next.

ABOUT

Feeling stuck?

You know that something needs to change, but struggle to find a way forward. Perhaps you are navigating a difficult leadership situation, a career transition or a team that is no longer working as well as it could.

I founded Oddly to help leaders and teams get unstuck: to understand what is getting in the way, see their situation from new perspectives and find a way forward that they can genuinely own and be excited about.

My background gives me a particular perspective on this work. As a journalist, I used my curiosity to ask the questions that get beneath the obvious answers and make sense of complex situations. As a business leader, I learned what it takes to turn ideas into action, building and leading an international creative team, while balancing people’s wellbeing and performance.

I believe change starts with people recognising their own agency and taking ownership of what needs to happen next. But agency alone is not enough. To really move forward, we also need to feel excited about where we are going.

Based in Helsinki, I work with leaders and teams around the world in English, Swedish and Finnish.

Lena Barner-Rasmussen

APPROACH

Meeting you where you are

One-size-fits-all solutions rarely work in human-centered work. I draw on a range of approaches, including narrative coaching and constellations.

My clients appreciate my coaching style that combines challenging questions, a warm sense of humour and a practical focus on moving forward.

My coaching is supported by professional training and accreditation. Originally trained as an economist, I hold a Professional Executive Coaching Certification (ICF ACC). I have also completed Henley’s Professional Certificate in Team & Systemic Coaching and continue to develop my coaching practice through ongoing learning and supervision.

EXPERTISE

Lived experience meets professional practice

Fast Growth

Fast growth brings new opportunities, but also new challenges: evolving roles, competing priorities and ways of working that need to keep up. I help individuals, leaders and teams find a structured way forward without losing momentum amid fast growth.

High Performance

High-performing teams combine strong individual performance with the ability to work together under pressure. I help leaders and teams in demanding environments have the conversations that matter for performing at the top.

Cultural Diversity

Culturally diverse teams breeds diversity of thought, but only if people feel safe and appreciated. I help culturally diverse teams and leaders turn diversity in backgrounds into true diversity of thought by building greater understanding, trust and openness.

SERVICES

Five ways to get unstuck

Coaching provides a confidential space to think, reflect and grow. It offers an opportunity to step back from the pressures of everyday work, gain perspective on challenges and explore new ways forward.

Whether you are leading others, preparing for greater responsibilities or navigating an important transition in your career, coaching can help you make sense of complex situations and move forward with greater clarity and confidence.

As your coach, I challenge assumptions and help uncover patterns that may be holding you back. Together, we explore the situations, relationships and limiting beliefs and stories, helping you strengthen your self-awareness, reframe your position, expand your options and take purposeful action.

Coaching can be particularly valuable when:

  • You have stepped into a new role and want to establish yourself with confidence.
  • You are navigating change and need space to think through its implications.
  • You feel stuck in recurring patterns, relationships or ways of working and want to move forward.
  • You want to develop your leadership, communication or influence.

Group coaching brings together people facing similar challenges to learn, reflect and grow together. Through guided conversations, individual reflection and shared perspectives, participants gain new insights and practical ways forward while benefiting from peer support from the group.
For organisations, group coaching can be an effective and cost-efficient way to address challenges that affect many people at once. A group might explore how to manage stress and workload, navigate change, strengthen collaboration or develop new ways of working.

Group coaching can be particularly valuable when:

  • A group of employees is facing similar challenges or challenges like stress, change or difficulty making priorities.
  • There is a need to tap into the collective experience and intelligence of your employees rather than relying solely on top-down solutions.
  • You want to bring people together to make sense of emerging developments, explore possible scenarios and identify how to move forward amid uncertainty.

Team coaching is a structured journey that helps a team take ownership of how it works and moves forward together. It takes a systemic perspective, looking not only at the team itself but also at the wider context in which it operates: the organisation, its stakeholders, relationships and the environment around it.

Whether the team is facing a new challenge, adapting to change or simply wanting to improve the way it works together, team coaching provides a structured process for reflection, dialogue and development. The aim is to help the team build stronger collaboration, clearer ways of working and greater collective ownership.

Each process begins with a discovery phase to identify the team’s strengths, challenges and opportunities. This typically combines individual interviews with relevant diagnostic tools. Based on insights from the discovery phase, we identify a goal and the needed shifts for the team coaching process and work towards these in a series of sessions.

Team coaching can be particularly valuable when:

  • A new leader or team member has joined the team.
  • The organisation is going through significant change.
  • The team wants to address barriers that are holding back performance and well-being.
  • The team has lost some its momentum and wants to reconnect, re-energise and find a renewed sense of purpose and direction.

Bringing people together around a shared learning experience can be a powerful catalyst for change.

I design and facilitate kick-offs, team days and workshops tailored to your wishes.

My aim is to create engaging experiences that combine reflection, practical insights and meaningful discussion, leaving participants with new perspectives, useful tools and energy to move forward.

An external facilitator can be particularly valuable when:

  • You are planning a kick-off or a team day and want someone to design, host and lead the programme.
  • You want to participate alongside your team and benefit from the day yourself, rather than carrying responsibility for facilitating it.
  • Your team would benefit from inspiration, learning and discussion around a specific topic.
  • You are looking for an engaging session that combines learning, reflection and practical application.

Sometimes there is value in capturing the outcomes of a coaching process in a form that can be shared and communicated.

Together with my network, I can help translate insights into:

  • Leadership narratives and personal leadership statements
  • Culture handbooks and onboarding materials
  • CEO communications and leadership messaging
KIND WORDS

“Working with Lena is a real thrill. She is an excellent coach who is great at asking the right questions. During our coaching period, I learned much about myself, and her support has been very important. I admire her capability of being present and being a great listener.”

Jessica Blechingberg, Supercell

“We have a long-standing partnership with Lena spanning over 12 years and counting. She has a knack for understanding the relevant issues in complex business environments and has been instrumental in putting our company vision into words.”

Leif Frilund, Walki

“Thanks to Lena’s long experience and energetic approach, her trainings are always inspiring. As a result of her coaching, our experts have been inspired to develop their presence and personal brands more actively.”

Clarissa Relander, Krogerus Attorneys

“Lena did excellent work organizing our team days. The program was well-structured, participatory, and strongly supportive of our strategy, which made working toward our shared goals feel natural. The combination of concrete actions, open discussion, and team reflection brought real value and strengthened both our direction and our collaboration.”

Oskar Engblom, Ilmakunnas-Engblom

“During our team coaching journey, Lena helped us surface themes that are essential to team cohesion, but that easily go unaddressed in a company’s early stages. Her facilitation created psychological safety and openness. Lena’s ability to guide us through structured discussions about roles, responsibilities, and collaboration helped bring clarity to previously unclear matters. This has had a direct and positive impact on how we operate day to day.”

Monika Nars, Shimber

“Lena’s coaching and leadership development have had a significant impact both on me and on the SchoolTry team. Her structured approach was central across three areas: individual coaching, which helped develop my own leadership; workshops, where we defined and documented our company culture; and team coaching sessions, through which our management team adopted and integrated these values into daily operations. Thanks to her guidance, our company culture isn’t just a written statement, but a reality lived out day to day, reinforcing shared direction and unity in leadership.”

Ismail Elebruike, SchoolTry
CONTACT

Stuck? Let’s find a way forward!

Please get in touch for a free 30 minute session.

lena@oddly.fi