Introducing Humans of Development: Regina Rabenhorst
What it’s really like to coach leaders and teams across NGOs, and government
What’s one misconception about your work?
I am Regina Rabenhorst. I’m a management and leadership trainer, facilitator, coach, and organizational development consultant. For the past 20 years I’ve worked with government agencies and global NGOs across the U.S., Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe, primarily through USAID-funded work.
Despite explaining this many times, I have a contingent of friends I’ve known for a long time who think I work for the CIA given all the travel and the wide range of projects I’ve supported. I used to just laugh it off until I realized they were serious.
The last happy hour I went to, my longtime friend from grad school said, “Can you finally tell us the truth about who you work for?” Not everyone’s norm involves knowing the full extent of the work USAID supported around the world.
Every year, without fail, my mom asks, “Can you remind me again what it is you do, so I can explain it to my friends?” According to my kids, I travel around the world and get paid to do public speaking, help people work together, and learn new things.
It’s been a dream job no matter how you describe it!
What’s the biggest mindset shift that’s unlocked real change for your trainees?
At a leadership retreat last year, I encountered two team members within an organization who were always clashing. Most people, including the two involved, thought it was an unfixable dynamic.
We used CliftonStrengths to explore the unique value each person brought and by the end of the retreat, one of them shared how powerful it was to realize that the other person’s behavior, previously seen as frustrating and negative, was actually a key asset. Their constant questioning and caution weren’t roadblocks, but strengths that helped the team assess risk and stay focused on what mattered most.
I love moments like that—when people not only gain insight, but change the ways they work together on a daily basis. That kind of shift doesn’t just improve a relationship, it can ripple across the whole organization.
Participants often tell me it’s the first retreat that’s felt worth their time, or that training usually feels like a checkbox, but this one actually mattered for their work and their life.
That kind of feedback is always meaningful.
Last month, someone struggling with burnout told me I helped them reconnect with why they love their job and reminded them of the unique value they bring to their role. Just last week, someone thanked me for pushing the team to the limits of their potential, with equal parts compassion and accountability. All while making it “fun”.
I’m pretty sure fun wasn’t necessarily the word everyone would have used, but it was definitely valuable.
I am constantly reminded that the work I do to help teams align around vision and achieve their goals, makes a concrete difference around the world. Whether it’s:
A global leadership team working to incorporate local perspectives in decision-making.
A wide variety of stakeholders sharing lessons learned around enabling workers’ rights in Central America.
A project team in Malawi working to increase early-grade reading skills.
USAID staff working to incorporate innovative finance models into their program designs.
What is an event you’ll never forget and why?
I’ll never forget the workshop in Maputo where the airline lost my luggage, the ATM ate my card, and all the stores were closed on Sunday—the day I arrived. I had to borrow clothes and scramble to look presentable for a Monday morning session on environmental sustainability.
Or the retreat in the Philippines where my taxi driver took me hours in the wrong direction, (same street name, different province), and I had to pay a shop owner to use their phone so I could tell the team I’d be (very) late.
But in terms of impact, one that stands out is a multi-year engagement with an organization coming off a tough leadership chapter. The team had avoided hard conversations, there was little strategic alignment, and global voices, especially of local staff, hadn’t been historically included.
Over the course of a week-long workshop, the leadership team built trust, discussed long-avoided triggers of conflict, and aligned around a new strategy and leadership approach.
They shifted from being wary to energized, and over the next few years that I worked with them, the transformation was visible across the organization.
While the changes that organization experienced over time weren’t solely because of me, I know the work we did together, through retreats, coaching, strategic planning, and leadership development over the course of a couple years, helped catalyze real, lasting change.
What are transformational coaching questions that change the way people view a challenge?
Many of the leaders I coach, especially in global contexts, have never received coaching before, even after years in high-level roles. They’re often surprised by how powerful it can be to have someone help them think differently, identify what might be getting in their way, and commit to meaningful change.
Two questions I return to often are:
“What if the challenge isn’t the problem—what if your response to it is?”
“What part of you is leading right now—and is that who you want in charge?”
Both tend to stop people in their tracks and open up deeper reflection.
As part of maintaining my International Coaching Federation credentials, I receive coaching myself. I remember a mentor coach once asking me: “If you weren’t afraid, what would you do?”
That question uncovered fears I hadn’t even realized were holding me back, such as fear of failure, fear of being misunderstood, fear of hurting someone’s feelings. Exploring how those fears were both protecting and limiting me shifted how I approached the challenge.
It reminded me of the idea in Marshall Goldsmith’s What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: that the habits that make us successful early on (i.e. working harder, saying yes to everything, staying in control) can sometimes hold us back later on.
Especially if my goal is bigger, or different, than what I’ve done before, then my current way of thinking and doing likely isn’t enough. And this I think is the foundational value of coaching—helping us all learn new skills, beliefs, and habits to impact the future we want to create.
What is something you're excited to explore in your own professional journey?
That’s an easy one—I’m a bit of a learning junkie! It’s part of the job, really.
I’m always on the lookout for new tools, frameworks, and ideas that can help me do what I love even better. I’ve been exploring a bit more on building trust in teams and diving deep into how AI can help me do what I do even better.
Mostly, I’m trying to lean more into strengths-based development—not just helping others grow theirs, but exploring more of my own. I’ve come to recognize my comfort with ambiguity and adaptability as unique assets—especially in my work helping organizations navigate wide-scale change with clarity and momentum.
Disrupt Everything is on my list to read to continue growing in that space. I’ve also learned I have untapped potential in innovation, which I’m ready to explore more deeply through The Innovator’s DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators.
As I reflect on this, I see the theme of disruption emerging. Not just as the backdrop to the frustration and heartbreak of the past few months in international development, but as a real and necessary part of transformation—personally, professionally, across organizations, and maybe even across the sector.
It reminds me of a quote I love by Cynthia Occelli:
"For a seed to achieve its greatest expression, it must come completely undone. The shell cracks, its insides come out, and everything changes. To someone who doesn’t understand growth, it would look like complete destruction."
I think so many of us in the development community have been living the seeming destruction of that first part, and continue to, even now.
My hope is that the growth is coming next. For all of us.
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