- Ottobre 1, 2026
EUNIS (www.eunis.org) was founded in 1993 as the European University Information Systems association. EUNIS brings together professionals working in management, development and the policy for Information Technology in Higher Education in Europe.
First met EUNIS team in 2024 when I took part in Athens Congress. I was trilled by the high quality of sessions and from the friendly and “family-like” mood that I sensed. Since then, I continued to follow EUNIS and I am presently part of the Board and co-leader of the SIG (Special Interest Group) on AI, Inclusion and Sustainability (https://eunis.org/task-forces/ai4all/).
In December 2025 I shared with the EUNIS President (Evelien Renders) the idea of pro-bono a coaching experience for EUNIS members. Evelien is a brilliant example of women’s leadership: competent, enthusiast and engaging. She is also young and she shared with me that coaching has been important for her in starting her new position as EUNIS President, when she was accompanied by an experienced coach. She was, of course, enthusiast about the proposal and we collected 6 volunteers.
A note of caution
These numbers are not as high as in other experiences, but here there is a difference: basically no one (coaches or clients) was using his/her mother tongue. To start a coaching experience in a different language (English) could be intimidating for many and, at the beginning, it was a concern for me as well. However, as a matter of fact, it was not a problem at all. The coaching dream team was formed by myself, Marianna Lorenzi and Cinzia Perlingieri. Both great coaches and top professionals!
Before getting to the actual coaching sessions, there was a preparatory phase, which was fundamental for the success of the initiative.
We started with an introductory webinar for all participants, in which the coaches introduced themselves and in which we shared the spirit, mindset and code of ethics of the International Coaching Federation.
Then we organized a series of introductory sessions: each potential client, among the coaches who presented themselves, had to choose three with whom to do one-to-one sessions of mutual knowledge, what are often called “chemistry sessions”. Almost all of them did three or four sessions, but we set a lower limit of two: a client could not proceed further without having met at least two potential coaches.
Then each client submitted a list of three choices (two in a few cases) ordered by priority and, based on these choices, the pairings with the coaches were made. In general, it was almost always possible, while respecting the necessary balance of workload between the coaches, to assign the client the first choice or at most the second.
Here are the most significant findings coming from a survey administered at the end of the experience to 6 clients.
First of all, the Net Promoter Score, which I am very fond of and which is not an easy index to scale, was 83%. Not bad, but we must consider that the sample is too small to elaborate to much on this result.
In addition, the average rating on a 5-star scale was 4,67:
Also interesting are the evaluations on some specific dimensions:
From unstructured feedback (free answers), I like to report some meaningful phrases. To the question: “What was the most significant moment or insight of the entire journey?” the answers were:
- “The most significant insight from my ICF coaching sessions was realizing that I already have many of the answers and resources I need within myself. The coaching process helped me step back, ask myself better questions, and become more aware of my strengths, beliefs, and patterns. I learned that meaningful change often starts with creating space to reflect, rather than immediately looking for solutions.”
- “The free sessions with experienced coaches and all the shared knowledge were, in fact, a surprise. I will recommend the programme to other colleagues if a next round is launched by EUNIS.”
- “It helped me to reconsider my attitude to my personal challenge from a more objective/holistic perspective.”
As suggested improvements, some topics emerged:
- More understanding about methodology from the beginning
- More sessions
- In person meetings
Final consideration
Despite the limited number of clients, we can say the programme has been a success. The client evaluation was extremely positive and so was the coaches’ experience.
For the coaching team, experiencing a journey with high-profile European IT professionals was both interesting and engaging!