Betty O’Callaghan – Executive Coach and Mentor
Background
A successful Human Resource Professional and Coach has 15 years’ senior management team experience in the financial services sector. Led highly motivated teams to consistently deliver and exceed business expectations. Understands business dynamics and is adept at translating leadership theory into actions that deliver results. Has a grounded understanding of what it takes to maximise personal productivity through effective prioritisation, delegation and self-renewal.

Areas of Specialisation
While clients operate in a variety of contexts, most are in management or leadership roles, typically engaging with significant challenges such as creating a vision & strategy, leading change, inspiring performance & innovation, delegation, prioritisation, enhancing communication with and understanding of colleagues and engaging positively with stakeholders and organisational politics. Betty also supports people transitioning from senior specialised/professional roles to managing teams/taking on a leadership role, helping with self-awareness, emotional intelligence and elevating thinking to strategic and longer terms perspectives. Betty coaches organisational clients in the public and private sectors including financial services, pharmaceutical, technology, SME, educational, local government, and healthcare arenas.
Coaching/Partnering Style
Believes passionately that coaching and partnering are catalysts for action and self-accountability – igniting enthusiasm, creativity, energy, and focus. She is inspired by the insights, courage, and capacity of clients as they connect with their inner confidence and initiate actions to achieve their visions.
Asserting that it is all about unlocking the client’s potential to maximise their own performance, Betty adopts a collaborative, solution-focused, results-oriented process, tapping the clients’ positive energy and inner wisdom, facilitating the enhancement of personal insight, life experience, and goal attainment.
Career Background
A member of the Retail Network Management Team of Bank of Ireland, progressed from Personnel Manager, Area South, to Head of Human Resources for the Retail Branch Network of the Bank of Ireland (ROI & NI – 6,500 employees, 400 branches and business centres). Led a HR team that provided coaching and advice to management on leadership, performance management, employee engagement & communication, talent management, succession and selection, skills development, restructuring, and change management.
Championed talent development in the branch network, personally coaching talented senior managers, 90% of whom subsequently progressed to executive/CEO level roles within and outside of Bank of Ireland.
Betty has worked as an executive coach since 2015 and also teaches coaching skills on the MA Applied Psychology, Work and Organisational Psychology/Behaviour in University College Cork. In addition, Betty co-facilitates the Leadership Framework Module of the Executive MBA, Cork University Business School (UCC) and provides the associated coaching for MBA participants.
Coaching Qualifications and Associations
- MSc. in Personal and Management Coaching, UCC, 2015 (Thesis explored the experience and coaching needs of senior leaders in organisations).
- Member of the Association for Coaching.
- Higher Diploma in Coaching and Coaching Psychology, UCC, 2012.
- Registered Member of the British Psychological Society as a tester for Ability and Personality Assessments including 15FQ+ Personality Profiles, Values-based Indicator of Motivation (VbIM), Jung Type Indicators (JTI), and Emotional Intelligence profile.
- Accredited with Focus Leadership for individual and team-based FEBI (Focus Energy Balance Indicator) profiles and interventions.
- Certificate in Embodied Coaching Approaches including Trauma Aware Coaching, Coaches Rising, 2020.
CLIENT TESTIMONIALS
Outstanding! I enjoyed every minute of it and learned so much along the way.
One of the single best learnings I have experienced in my career.
The experience continues even after the last session, this is a remarkable opportunity.
The interactive sessions, open discussion and opportunity to reflect is key. This is a differentiator for me.
I got a much greater appreciation of the fact that leadership is all about relationships and the importance of developing the skills to forge strong connections.
Design thinking which stretches the individual to think differently.