In Conversation with Carmen Negiba – Strategic Organizational Transformation Consultant and Leadership Coach

Discover insights from Carmen Negiba, Strategic Organizational Transformation Consultant and Leadership Coach, on creating high-performing, sustainable teams through collaboration, clarity, and mature leadership.

Carmen Negiba is a Strategic Organizational Transformation Consultant, ICF-certified Leadership & Team Coach, EMCC Mentor, and works with founders, CEOs, and executive teams to transform the way they think, make decisions, and collaborate, so that performance becomes sustainable and people are engaged and autonomous.

C&B: If we were to look at a narrative thread of your career, what were the key moments that defined you?

Carmen Negiba: There were a few moments that changed the way I see my work and professional direction:

The first was when I truly understood, from the reality of companies, that it’s not individual people who change organizations, but the way people function together. You can have the best specialists, but if there’s no collaboration, trust, and shared way of making decisions… everything gets stuck.

The second moment was when I moved from training and HR to working in depth with organizational culture, leadership, and decision-making systems. I realized that if we don’t change the way the system is built, people are forced to adapt to structures that hold them back.

And the third moment happened when I started working directly with boards and CEOs. That’s when I clearly integrated the understanding that transformation always starts at the top. When the top changes, the whole system aligns differently.

Since then, my mission has been to create spaces where leadership is not a solitary effort but a collective capability within the team — because that’s where real change truly happens.

C&B: What has been the most difficult moment in your journey so far, and how did you overcome it?

Carmen Negiba: The most difficult moment was at the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey, when I got involved in many different types of projects because I wanted to learn, grow, prove myself, and gain experience. So I said “yes” to many different directions. And even though they all seemed like opportunities, over time I felt they were dispersing my energy, attention, and focus.

That was the moment I realized that growth doesn’t come from volume and variety… but from clarity.

What I did was define exactly who I am in the market, what my mission is, and which types of projects support this mission. By choosing projects aligned with me, the impact became much greater.

C&B: Is there a dream or ambition that has always guided you, regardless of obstacles?

Carmen Negiba: Yes. I’ve always had the desire to show that healthy, long-term performance is not built on control, pressure, and micromanagement.

I believe in performance that comes from trust, psychological safety, autonomy, and mature leadership — where people can think, decide, and contribute with all of who they are, not just execute.

My dream is to contribute to a world where work doesn’t consume people but develops them. Where you go to work and feel that you’ve grown, not that you’ve eroded.

That has always guided me, no matter the obstacles.

C&B: How did your journey in coaching and organizational consulting begin, and what inspired you to specialize in leadership and organizational culture?

Carmen Negiba: It started from curiosity: how is it possible that the same process, the same method, the same strategy… works perfectly in one company but gets stuck in another?

This question stayed with me for a long time. And as I worked with different organizations, I began to observe the same thing: the difference isn’t made by tools, methodologies, or trainings. You can do 10 courses, 5 workshops, and bring the best practices from around the world — if relationships, culture, and the way people make decisions don’t change, nothing truly transforms.

The way people relate to each other, communicate, build trust, manage conflicts, and negotiate different perspectives — that determines everything.

That’s how I ended up doing what I do today, and the programs and interventions I run in organizations address both leaders and teams with impact on organizational culture. Because real change happens when you work in parallel on people, the system, and the strategic direction. Courses are useful, can inspire and educate, but what truly changes an organization is transforming the way teams work together in day-to-day reality.

That’s where real impact emerges.

C&B: If we met with your team or collaborators, what do you think they would say about you?

Carmen Negiba: That I am direct, but warm. That I quickly see dynamics that others feel but cannot put into words. And that for me, the real development of people and the team matters more than the “method” used.

Coaching is my primary tool because it allows authentic transformation and internal responsibility, but what I do is a combination of things: coaching, strategic reflection, facilitation, organizational culture, systemic decisions. I work with the whole ecosystem — so that change is visible in results and in the way people function together.

C&B: What is the most important decision you have made that changed your trajectory?

Carmen Negiba: The decision to work only with leaders and companies ready to move to the next level and open to real transformation, not just superficial interventions. Since then, the impact has become much greater and results much more visible.

C&B: How have you built your leadership style or decision-making approach? Was it natural or learned?

Carmen Negiba: It was a conscious process, built over time; it didn’t come naturally from the beginning. I learned not to make decisions from impulse, fear, pressure, or even ego, but from a place of clarity, aligned with my values. I realized that good decisions aren’t about proving something, but about making the choice that truly supports people and the business.

For me, leadership means responsibility, maturity, and the ability to stay aligned with your values and make the right decisions, even when it’s hard.

C&B: In your experience, what are the main challenges boards and executive teams face when it comes to collaboration and strategic decisions?

Carmen Negiba: The biggest challenge for boards and executive teams is the lack of a safe space for authentic dialogue, not just reporting and execution. Then decisions become slow because there is no real trust and shared accountability. Often, intentions are good, but behaviors don’t support them, and that’s when a gap appears.

And another very present issue in Romanian companies: direct conflict is avoided, which doesn’t eliminate tension, it just moves it into passive conflict, with significant medium- to long-term business impact.

Boards truly transform an organization only when they become a team in the real sense, not just a group of specialists at the same table.

C&B: What does a typical day look like for you now, and what moments bring you the most satisfaction?

Carmen Negiba: My schedule isn’t identical every day; it’s more organized by thematic days, which helps me focus better.

I have days when I work with individual leaders — CEOs, founders, directors — in strategic coaching sessions. I have days dedicated exclusively to working with teams — boards, top management, extended leadership. I have separate days for strategy, process design, content creation, writing, and developing new concepts. And days for exploratory meetings, business conversations, and connections with new clients or partners.

The most satisfying moments are when a team experiences that “collective click”: when shared clarity emerges, people align, and decisions flow more naturally. In those moments, I feel the transformation at the organizational level — and that is the essence of my work.

C&B: What values or principles guide you in what you do, and how do you apply them daily?

Carmen Negiba: The values that guide my work are clarity, shared responsibility, real and deep transformation, not just surface change, elegance in relationships, and continuous evolution. I firmly believe that transformation happens with people, not to them. When teams work in a space where they can communicate openly, accountability is shared, and direction is clear, performance becomes natural and sustainable.

C&B: How do you integrate individual coaching for CEOs and founders with team coaching for top management teams so that results are coherent at the organizational level?

Carmen Negiba: I work in an integrated way, not necessarily separately. I work individually with CEOs and leaders to increase clarity, maturity, and their decision-making approach. And in team coaching, we bring this clarity into the shared space of the team, where it becomes behavior, real collaboration. In this way, change doesn’t remain only at the personal level but transfers across the whole system, throughout the organization.

C&B: Can you give a concrete example of an organization where cultural transformation had a visible impact on performance and engagement?

Carmen Negiba: Sure, for example, an organization that was growing rapidly and whose leadership structure couldn’t keep up with the business direction. There was a lot of responsibility at the top, decisions were slow, teams operated in a fragmented way, and change got stuck in the “how” rather than the “what.”

There, I worked systemically: with the CEO and individual leaders, with top management teams, with strategic clarification and integration of behaviors aligned with the company’s mission, vision, and values. Not just on mindset and discussions, but on how we turn intention into real ways of working, decisions, and collaboration.

The result was that leadership became more mature, teams started operating as a system, and strategy could be implemented much more easily. When the top aligns and transforms together, the whole business moves differently.

Through her experience and approach, Carmen Negiba demonstrates that true transformation begins with clarity, accountability, and team collaboration, making performance sustainable and people fully engaged.