“Sing Ireland has gone through a period of significant change and growth over the past few years and I would attribute our success to a great degree to the coaching relationship and personal leadership growth I have been able to achieve whilst working with Susan. Susan’s coaching, her in-depth knowledge and application of the Enneagram, alongside her mixture of helpful challenge and encouragement, have supported me to be an effective change leader.“
“Your guidance and support was a game-changer.”
“Committed, passionate and dedicated to making your vision and plan a reality. Susan has a unique calmness and an incredible ability to truly listen and make sense of ideas and concerns that are often expressed through anxiety.”
“Susan supported us to develop professionally and to better appreciate our expertise and the positive outcomes of our work enabling a way forward that offered greater clarity, assurance and shared direction.”
“Susan’s unique way of working is supportive, creative, questioning and challenging at the same time. She encouraged us to pause and critically reflect in the midst of our often overwhelmingly demanding work environment and this has honed our capacity for working together better, thinking differently and over time to shifting culture and mindsets.”
“Susan’s skillful coaching gave me clarity, focus, motivation – the confidence to take more risks. Her exceptional insight offered a perfect series of ‘footholds’ for me to design solid strategies and processes which aligned the Festival team and to develop an entrepreneurial spirit which propelled the organisation forward.”
“Working with Susan has helped me to bring clarity to my work and our organisation. Susan’s holistic approach to leadership support suits me well. She doesn’t overwhelm me with management lingo, governance regulations and one size fits all systems. Susan understands the causalities in organisations and is always thinking of the bigger picture. Susan helps me to develop as a cultural leader, as a professional and as a human being in a challenging but very caring way building my confidence. She connects me with great people, organisations, projects and ideas and never ending list of online resources!”
“Susan Coughlan takes an approach to her work that is holistic. She prepares in depth, building on initial consultations with individuals and small sub-groups towards wider group facilitation. She brings years of experience of the arts, empathy, sensitivity and acute critical judgement to the table, and then she listens – hard.
Sometimes stepping out of habitual ways of thinking is invaluable for an organisation as it embarks on strategic development and change. Dublin Dance Festival is still feeling the benefits of this process. I recommend Susan highly and unreservedly.“
“The health service is an extremely challenging environment constantly evolving and changing. Hence successful change projects require extremely skilled facilitators. I believe Susan is one such facilitator. Working with Susan to support staff to maximise their personal potential and the overall potential of the organisation has been invaluable. This is due to Susan’s incredible ability to truly listen, to make sense of ideas and concerns that are often expressed through aggression and/or anxiety. Susan has a unique calmness and ability to put those she works with at ease. I believe her ability to remain focused, resilient and collaborative is critical when working with staff with multiple agendas and diverse disciplines and backgrounds. This process has enabled us to deliver on complex change and make significant cultural shifts.“
“Susan worked with us to support collaborative working across three ‘pillar’ local culture stakeholder organisations. The context of culture and arts development, is one of tremendous change, conflicting pressures, the requirement to be continually responsive to multiple, complex needs, overlaid by ongoing high-level demands in day-to-day service delivery. Effectively navigating this while ensuring strategic direction is an incredible challenge. It is not easy to stop in the midst, take stock and try to maximise potential. The possibilities are not always easily tangible or clear. Susan created a facilitated space that enabled sharing and reflection to happen in ways that felt natural and organic to us. She brought significant skills that supported us to develop professionally and to better appreciate our expertise and the positive outcomes of our work. She challenged us where needed and enabled a way forward that offered greater clarity, assurance and shared direction.”
“Working with Susan allowed the whole board reframe challenges and to expand our thinking during an important phase for our organisation. She helped us to share our perspectives with one another and provided thought provoking and thoughtful tools to enhance communication. She skilfully allowed for a diversity of perspectives to exist and encouraged us to stay in the discovery phase before leaping to action, which allowed us to unearth deeper solutions. Now several months after working with Susan I feel the work we did continues to inform our engagement. The board, together with the executive have an enhanced relationship, with increased empathy, and a more open way of looking at all aspects of our organisation.”
“Committed, passionate and dedicated to making your vision and plan a reality” Susan has a unique calmness and an incredible ability to truly listen and make sense of ideas and concerns that are often expressed through anxiety.
Suzanne Dempsey, Director of Nursing and Deputy CEO at Mater Hospital
Susan helped me develop as a cultural leader, as a professional and as a human being in a challenging but very caring way building my confidence. Ulla Hokkanen, Director, Galway Community Circus
“Your guidance and support was a game-changer” Cian O’Brien, Project Arts Centre
Susan’s ability to remain focused, resilient and collaborative is critical when working with staff with multiple agendas and diverse disciplines and backgrounds.
Suzanne Dempsey, Deputy Chief Executive Officer at Mater Hospital
Susan supported us to develop professionally and to better appreciate our expertise and the positive outcomes of our work enabling a way forward that offered greater clarity, assurance and shared direction. Sinead Dowling, Arts Officer, Carlow County Council
Sing Ireland has gone through a period of significant change and growth over the past few years and I would attribute our success to a great degree to the coaching relationship and personal leadership growth I have been able to achieve whilst working with Susan. Susan’s coaching, her in-depth knowledge and application of the Enneagram, alongside her mixture of helpful challenge and encouragement, have supported me to be an effective change leader.
Dermot O’Callaghan, CEO, Sing Ireland
*********
Susan’s unique way of working is supportive, creative, questioning and challenging at the same time. She encouraged us to pause and critically reflect in the midst of our often overwhelmingly demanding work environment and this has honed our capacity for working together better, thinking differently and over time to shifting culture and mindsets.
Mona Baker, CEO, Temple St Children’s University Hospital
“Susan’s skillful coaching gave me clarity, focus, motivation – the confidence to take more risks. Her exceptional insight offered a perfect series of ‘footholds’ for me to design solid strategies and processes which aligned the Festival team and to develop an entrepreneurial spirit which propelled the organisation forward.”
Carina McGrail, Executive Producer, Dublin Dance Festival
Working with Susan has helped me to bring clarity to my work and our organisation. Susan’s holistic approach to leadership support suits me well. She doesn’t overwhelm me with management lingo, governance regulations and one size fits all systems. Susan understands the causalities in organisations and is always thinking of the bigger picture. Susan helps me to develop as a cultural leader, as a professional and as a human being in a challenging but very caring way building my confidence. She connects me with great people, organisations, projects and ideas and never ending list of online resources!
Ulla Hokkanen, Director, Galway Community Circus
Susan Coughlan takes an approach to her work that is holistic. She prepares in depth, building on initial consultations with individuals and small sub-groups towards wider group facilitation. She brings years of experience of the arts, empathy, sensitivity and acute critical judgement to the table, and then she listens – hard.
Sometimes stepping out of habitual ways of thinking is invaluable for an organisation as it embarks on strategic development and change. Dublin Dance Festival is still feeling the benefits of this process. I recommend Susan highly and unreservedly.
Helen Meany, (former) Chairperson, Dublin Dance Festival
The health service is an extremely challenging environment constantly evolving and changing. Hence successful change projects require extremely skilled facilitators. I believe Susan is one such facilitator. Working with Susan to support staff to maximise their personal potential and the overall potential of the organisation has been invaluable. This is due to Susan’s incredible ability to truly listen, to make sense of ideas and concerns that are often expressed through aggression and/or anxiety. Susan has a unique calmness and ability to put those she works with at ease. I believe her ability to remain focused, resilient and collaborative is critical when working with staff with multiple agendas and diverse disciplines and backgrounds. This process has enabled us to deliver on complex change and make significant cultural shifts.
Suzanne Dempsey, Director of Nursing and Deputy CEO at Mater Hospital
Susan worked with us to support collaborative working across three ‘pillar’ local culture stakeholder organisations. The context of culture and arts development, is one of tremendous change, conflicting pressures, the requirement to be continually responsive to multiple, complex needs, overlaid by ongoing high-level demands in day-to-day service delivery. Effectively navigating this while ensuring strategic direction is an incredible challenge. It is not easy to stop in the midst, take stock and try to maximise potential. The possibilities are not always easily tangible or clear. Susan created a facilitated space that enabled sharing and reflection to happen in ways that felt natural and organic to us. She brought significant skills that supported us to develop professionally and to better appreciate our expertise and the positive outcomes of our work. She challenged us where needed and enabled a way forward that offered greater clarity, assurance and shared direction.
Sinead Dowling, Arts Officer, Carlow County Council
Working with Susan allowed the whole board reframe challenges and to expand our thinking during an important phase for our organisation. She helped us to share our perspectives with one another and provided thought provoking and thoughtful tools to enhance communication. She skilfully allowed for a diversity of perspectives to exist and encouraged us to stay in the discovery phase before leaping to action, which allowed us to unearth deeper solutions. Now several months after working with Susan I feel the work we did continues to inform our engagement. The board, together with the executive have an enhanced relationship, with increased empathy, and a more open way of looking at all aspects of our organisation.
Aoife Courtney, Board Member, Dance Ireland