EUROPEAN PARLAIMENT HEAD OF UNIT

Mrs Macarena Ybarra Coello de Portugal has coached me during the period Q4/2012 – Q1/2014. She has helped me greatly in meeting and exceeding my recent professional challenges.

Besides her high personal involvement and professional skills, she immediately understood the business-oriented objectives I had as well as the human and organisational constraints I was facing. She could show enough flexibility to allow a smooth organisation of the coaching sessions outside time pressure periods which was beneficial to the whole coaching process. She was always in a position to retarget the objectives and content of the coaching sessions towards new intermediate professional objectives. My challenges and objectives were of communicational and organisational nature (higher number of Unit members). Her analysis skills, open discussion and methodology allowed me to steadily and regularly progress in both areas. The more advanced in the process, the more a total mutual trust was reached and tangible results were visible. Those tangible results gave the opportunity to continue building on them by progressing on the same issues or setting up new targets.

As I concluded in the internal assessment to my hierarchy: Mrs Ybarra is a very good coach I would recommend without hesitation.

EUROPEAN COMMISSION. MEMBER OF VICE-PRESIDENT CABINET

Macarena Ybarra Coello de Portugal has coached me over the last year and half to help me devise my future career’s developments.

Macarena has been crucial for me in understanding my strengths and she has brought forward new insights into the role I cover in my work environment. In my long career, she has been the only one capable of providing me with the resources to get a healthier work-life balance.

I truly appreciate Macarena’s personalised and tailor-made approach to coaching and I all-heartedly recommend her to anybody who wishes to improve his or her professional life.

EUROPEAN TRAINING FONDATION (ETF). HEAD OF UNIT

I confirm that Macarena Ybarra has coached me from September 2013 until May 2014 on issues linked to leadership and people management (communication, negotiation, delegation, conflict management, etc.). She has been crucial for me improving my effectiveness, and thus a better functioning of my Unit. Macarena has been able to accompany me through this process, providing me valuable insights, tools, and opening new avenues for my development and what I need to achieve my goals and those of the institution.

I truly appreciate Macarena’s support in an important period of my professional life and value the tailor made inputs she has provided to me as well as her flexibility and availability.

Macarena is, since June 2014, accompanying my whole Unit in a team coaching exercise focusing on issues of team performance, communication and strategic and innovative thinking. She is bringing a complete new set of tools to the team and insights that are enormously supporting us in opening up to new ways of working and on the way we approach challenges, based on the conviction that things can be changed.

For all the above I truly thank Macarena for helping me to improve my work-life balance and my well being.

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT. HEAD OF UNIT

Ms Macarena Ybarra Coello de Portugal acted as my professional coach from January to September 2013. During that time, which was one of the most enriching periods of my life, she was an inspiration in providing me with the motivation and, most importantly, practical skills to achieve my professional goals. Through her unique approach, which combines crucial elements such as empathy, listening skills and constructive criticism. she has enabled me to identify areas in which my performance as a manager could be improved. It has been a revelation to me to learn from her the ways in which my own objectives can be harnessed to those of the organisation in which I work, to mutual benefit. I am very grateful to her for the vital contribution she has made to my understanding of the role of manager and the way in which I can bring about changes in the management culture of an organisation. I would warmly recommend her as a coach for any manager keen on developing her/his professional skills.

EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE. HEAD OF UNIT

I confirm that I have received Coaching from Macarena Ybarra Coello de Portugal in late 2012 and early 2013, during which she has covered a variety of areas related to setting objectives that truly matter and how to achieve them. She has brought new insights to my perception of facing the work environment on order to get a healthier work-life balance and helped me to improve my effectiveness and leadership. I truly appreciate Macarena’s support in an important period of my life and value the tailor made consults she has provided.