Real over polished
I'd rather host an honest, slightly uncomfortable conversation than a smooth, empty one. So would your team — even if they don't say it out loud yet.
About
I'm Simon. I help teams work better together.
Simon Klebel · Team facilitator & experiential educator
Engineer by training. Facilitator by instinct. Coach by way of a lot of volleyball practice. The thread through everything I've done is the same one I work with now: groups of people trying to do something meaningful together — and the very human things that decide whether they actually pull it off.
The path here
Different fields, the same recurring lesson.
Engineering
Studied engineering and computer science
I loved the precision and the puzzles. But the moments that stayed with me were never the equations — they were the late-night project sessions, watching whether a team would pull together or quietly fall apart.
Volunteering
Engineers Without Borders & international project work
I saw what happens when a project starts from the people it's meant to serve, not from a plan. The technical problems were rarely the hard part — the hard part was alignment, trust and how the team made decisions together.
Travel
Working with communities and educators abroad
I spent time in places where I had to listen first and assume nothing. It rewired how I think about collaboration: across cultures, hierarchies and very different ways of working.
Industry
Project management in medical technology
I was good at the planning, the spreadsheets, the stakeholders. But the part of the job that actually moved projects was the people part — turning a fragmented group into a team that owned the work together.
Coaching
Volleyball coaching — on and off the court
Teaching a clean pass is satisfying. Helping a group learn to trust each other under pressure, take responsibility for each other, and stay a team when things go wrong is something else. Same lesson, every time.
Now
Doing the work on purpose
Today I do — fully and intentionally — what was always the favourite hidden corner of every job I've had: working with teams on the human side of how they get things done together.
What I care about
A few things I won't compromise on.
Designed, not assembled
Every program is built around the team and the situation in front of me. Templates are a starting point, never the answer.
Outdoors when it serves the work
A forest, a rope or a long walk can do things a meeting room can't — but only when it helps the team, never for the postcard.
Joyful seriousness
This work matters. It can also be a lot of fun. The strongest teams I've worked with hold both at once.
Off the clock
When I'm not working with teams…
you'll usually find me on a volleyball court, somewhere in the mountains, or trying to untangle a stubborn climbing knot. The things that energise me there — movement, problem-solving, the people next to me — are the same things I bring back into the work.
Get in touch
