Miriam O’Connell – Executive Coach and Mentor
Background and Career
Miriam is a skilled coach and facilitator with over 30 years’ experience in business. Her passion is to help create more successful, sustainable and happier organisations. Her belief is that the path to doing this is through powerful, effective leadership. Miriam focuses on helping leaders develop their self-awareness, cultivate better relationships with their people and learn effective leadership behaviours and practices.
In addition to her work with Mojo For Leaders, Miriam co-facilitates the Leadership Framework Module of the Executive MBA, Cork University Business School (UCC) and provides the associated coaching for MBA participants.
Miriam started out her career in IT, working her way from being a programmer to being a project manager and IT manager in a multinational pharmaceutical company. Over 14 years ago, Miriam made the transition to the role of Team Development Facilitator within the pharmaceutical company she was working for.
This role involved coaching individuals, teams and leaders to achieve their potential within their work as well as designing and facilitating processes to bring about change in the organisation in a positive, inclusive manner. During this time she worked particularly closely with the leadership team. She was privileged to be able to coach them on a one to one basis and witness them in action so could see firsthand the impact of timely coaching interventions. The manufacturing plant that Miriam worked in has been recognised as one of the most productive of its kind in the world by an independent survey carried out by the Boston Consulting Group.
In early 2011 Miriam set up Space For Change and dedicated herself to helping organisations and leaders find more collaborative, engaging and rewarding ways to master change and grow into more successful entities. She does this by helping the leaders and staff in organisations discover their own unique brand of greatness and design how they are going to develop it to its full potential. She supports the leaders in stepping into the version of themselves they need to be to lead the way, engage their people positively and hold the space for magic change to happen.
Further fueled by her passion for supporting leaders Miriam joined up with Betty O’Callaghan to form Mojo For Leaders. Together, they use research, years of combined experience and their own practical, creative approach to help leaders get in touch with their own sense of purpose, to step out powerful, yet humble and to be fully connected with themselves and their people. Their aim is to help create the leaders that the world is now crying out for.
Coaching/Partnering Style
Miriam’s style in coaching and partnering is one of deep listening and gentle guidance to help the client get in touch with their own strengths and deeply held values combined with an injection of challenge to help them to step outside their comfort zone and make the changes that they identify for themselves. Miriam has immersed herself in learning about positive and effective approaches to growth and development and is very skilled and experienced in Appreciative Inquiry, a strengths-based approach to change that is powerful and life-affirming. Coaching and partnering with Miriam will always involve this positive, effective approach but it will be tailored and customised to suit the client’s context and needs always.
Miriam’s clients to date include pharmaceutical companies, technology companies, banks, educational and training facilities, religious organisations, charities, local newspapers, young people’s organisations as well as various small companies and individuals seeking to successfully lead change and develop their organisations. She has also coached public sector clients in Local Government and the HSE. In addition, Miriam co-facilitated the Leadership Framework Module of the Executive MBA 2021-2022, Cork University Business School (UCC) and provided the associated coaching for MBA participants.
Qualifications
In 2010 Miriam received her Masters in Organisational Consultancy from the Ashridge College in the UK.
Her other qualifications include:
- Certification in Team Coaching with the Global Team Coaching Institute (GTCI) (2020) with Prof. Peter Hawkins & Prof. David Clutterbuck
- The New Change Equation Training in New Positive Change Model with Dr David Cooperrider (2018)
- Diploma in Project Management from the Institute of Project Management Ireland and University College Cork (2002)
- Diploma in Applied Business Systems Analysis from the British Computer Society(2003)
- Postgrad Diploma in Computer Science from University College Cork (1986)
- B.A. degree in Psychology and Sociology from University College Cork (1985)
- Leadership Embodiment Levels 1 & 2 with Wendy Palmer.
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.
