Recently, we had the pleasure of facilitating a session with a group at a large company in the F&B industry, made up of several sub-teams within a larger global team, to strengthen their collaboration. Despite a shared commitment to their work, a subtle but persistent tension was present. Collaboration was strained - they didn’t quite feel like one team.
Beneath the surface, a familiar dynamic was playing out: regional versus global perspectives. Each sub-team held its own priorities, pressures, and ways of working, shaped by their specific context. Over time, this had led to a sense of division - “us and them” - that was getting in the way of deeper collaboration, despite the deep care that they brought to their work.
To gently surface and work with this dynamic, we introduced a systems coaching tool called Lands Work. It’s a seemingly simple yet powerful exercise that invites team members to “visit” the land of the other. Through storytelling, curiosity, and deep listening, they literally stepped into each other’s perspectives and began to truly see one another.
What unfolded was moving. People began to see not just the responsibilities and constraints of the other group, but the care, the effort, and the good intentions behind their actions. As empathy grew, so did understanding. Tension gave way to recognition.
Then, we invited them to step into Our Land-a shared space representing the team as a whole. You could feel the shift in the room. There was relief. There was connection. There was realization that yes, despite their differences, they are one team.
What helped unlock this shift was the power of shared language and understanding to name what they were experiencing. By naming the dynamic and seeing it as something external - something happening in the system, rather than between individuals - they gained distance. That shift alone softened the edges. The dynamic lost some of its grip. That created the space to choose a new path.
As coaches, our role wasn’t to offer answers. The wisdom was already in the room. Our job was to create the space and the safety for it to emerge. When a group can observe its own dynamics with compassion and curiosity, real transformation becomes possible.
By the end of the session, the energy had changed. There was more softness, more openness, more excitement. The sense of “we” had been rekindled.
Sometimes, the right metaphor - held with care - can open the door to real transformation.
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