Barbary Cook

I am an Organizational Development coach and consultant who thrives on helping people navigate change with clarity and courage. I support clients in understanding how group dynamics, particularly resistance to change, are showing up in their organizations. I love creating tools, workshops, and ideas that help calm the chaos and chart a clear path forward. I am a realist. Change is messy, uncomfortable, and often slow, but it is possible when we create space to really see what is happening.

At Dragonfly Partners, I coach and advise clients, and I also help our team develop new ideas and approaches that deepen our practice. I work with organizations on a wide range of issues. I have coached leaders and supported major change efforts with organizations like
Greenpeace International, Fair Share Housing Center, and the Leeway Foundation. My work includes executive coaching, strategic planning, systems design, evaluation, and racial equity alignment. I ground my approach in adaptive leadership, which I studied at the Harvard Kennedy School. I help people step back, gain perspective, and then return to the work with greater insight. Change often involves a shift in values, and I believe this is necessary for real transformation.

I am from Northern Ireland. Conflict, building ways out of conflict, and the impact of colonialism are all deeply familiar to me. Before Dragonfly, I led strategic work in Belfast’s city government and was Executive Director of a national nonprofit advancing health equity.
I am also a writer and painter, exploring a creative side it took me a long time to find.