From function to force.
Your Support Functions aren't a cost centre.
They're your most underused competitive advantage.
I coach essential support function leaders
from technical expert to strategic partner.
The problem isn't competence. It's the dynamics of the role.
Your legal, risk, compliance and cybersecurity leaders are good at what they do. Often exceptional.
But they’re operating inside a dynamic that works against them: they’re successful, when nothing happens. Responsible for decisions made without them. Blamed when things go wrong. Invisible when things go right.
I keep seeing leaders in corporate support functions consistently struggling with applying a generic leadership advice and support. Because it is designed for leaders with clear reporting lines, financial KPI’s and budget oversight. None of these likely applies to support functions. Here is why that matters:
The stakes are higher than most organisations realise.
11% of lost or delayed revenue due to legal friction (IDC)
70% of business leaders admit to bypassing legal altogether, a workaround that invites unnecessary risk. (IDC)
49% of Compliance Officers experience difficulties due to anxiety. (CCI)
78% of CO’s work upwards of 41 hours per week. (CCI)
AI raises the stakes for support functions
Support Function leaders tell me they feel the pressure to apply AI to raise their productivity. This will not make organisations competitive in the long run.
AI transformation is as much about technology as it is about human side of organisations:
- Leadership,
- Organisational dynamics and behaviours,
- People & Culture
- and Essential Functions.
I've been in that room.
I’ve led support functions. I’ve sat in the uncomfortable chair between „the business“ and the team trying to protect it. I know what it feels like to be technically right and strategically invisible.
That’s why leaders work with me: to understand what’s behind the organisational dynamics, and to use what they already know in a way that actually lands.
Here’s what keeps support function leaders invisible, what they try and fail, and what they can actually do about it:
Coaching Services
Support Function Navigator
Support Function Leadership Compass
Support Function Peer Compass
1:1 Executive Coaching program
A personalised coaching programme for leaders in support functions.
A group coaching programme that brings together support function leaders from the same organisation to work on real leadership challenges in a structured peer setting.
A group coaching programme that brings together support function leaders from different organisations in a structured and confidential peer setting.
How I work
I focus on what is actually driving the situation.
What belongs to the role.
What belongs to the organisation.
The work lies in seeing the system clearly and acting where influence is real.
What changes through my work
After working together, they find new levels of agency. Their judgment shapes decisions rather than just informing them. Their teams spend less energy on reactive work and more on what the function is actually there to do.
In an AI-driven organisation, that positioning is what determines whether the function stays relevant. And whether the organisation leverages them as competitive advantage.
Who is this work for?
Leaders of
Essential Support Functions
Legal. Risk. Compliance. Ethics. Finance. Cybersecurity. …
HR and L&D
corporate sponsors
When leadership development needs to show up in real decisions and behaviour.
Headhunters
and recruitment agencies
When early traction in complex roles matters.
Natalia Ombach
Executive Coach
Navigator's Edge
From function to force.
What my clients say
With Natalia’s coaching, the first months in a new role became structured and manageable. Early wins landed, trust built faster, and the role stopped feeling like survival mode.
Senior counsel in Insurance sector
I can see what needs to happen now, and I can say it clearly. I experience fewer last minute crises and more trust from the business.
Risk leader in infrastructure sector
Let's talk
If you’re investing in coaching for your support function leaders, it should come from someone who’s actually been one.
Let’s figure out if this is the right fit.
Impressum
Professional liability insurance:
Insurance Nr EX.MPA.26165
Markel Insurance SE
Sophienstr. 26, 80333 Munich
Regulating authority:
EMCC Global, Avenue Paul-Henri Spaak 17
1060 Brussels, Belgium
Natalia Ombach
Rotkaeppchenstr. 88, 81739 Munich, Germany
+49(0)17646552344