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We are thrilled to welcome Dan O’Driscoll to The Charity Retail Consultancy as an Associate Consultant where he will be providing executive coaching services to our clients. Dan runs his own business called Engagement Consultancy where he works as an executive coach and consultant with charities, universities and other non-profit organisations.

Dan tells us more about himself here:

“Over the past 15 years, my career has led me to work across different sectors in a variety of senior leadership roles, working for organisations such as Oxfam GB, the University of Birmingham and The Royal Bank of Scotland.

I’m a qualified executive coach through the Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM Level 7) and an associate member of the European Mentoring & Coaching Council. I’m also qualified as a Mental Health First Aider.”

What’s involved in coaching?

Coaching is a confidential, one-to-one conversation with a trusted outsider. Conversations are typically focused on knowledge, skills and work performance. It provides a sounding board for a leader to have an unbiased conversation with someone outside of their organisation.

Coaching involves focused 1:1 work to help achieve your goals, challenge assumptions, provide resources and build confidence.

How can coaching help charity retailers?

Having been at Oxfam GB as Head of Volunteering & Engagement Dan knows what it’s like to work for a charity with a retail operation. He worked in the Trading Division for 7 years setting the tone and strategic direction as to how Oxfam engaged with volunteers, staff and shop teams. He understands the realities that senior leaders in retail face. Working with the Charity Retail Association and the Charity Retail Consultancy this year during Covid-19 Dan is acutely aware of the pressures that senior retail staff and their teams face.

Having that external voice to listen to what’s happening in your shops, working through difficult decisions and focusing on self improvement can be invaluable, especially during this challenging period.

Who would benefit from coaching?

Dan works with Senior Managers up to Directors and CEOs, either on an individual basis or as part of the senior team to facilitate group coaching.

How long does coaching take?

Typically you would have 6 sessions that last 90 minutes at a time. The approach is to listen to what you want to get out of the time together, explore what you want to achieve and then develop a bespoke programme around that to work on together. Session notes are written up with actions and sometimes work for you to complete.

If required, you can also book in a one off session.

What have Dan’s clients said?

“Dan really helped me to identify my future goals (as although I was aware of them, I struggled to communicate them effectively!) and offered some great ideas/steps to work towards them. I felt that the approach Dan took with me really challenged my mental blockers I’ve put up by way of deferring looking into a future career path/goals – his out of the box thinking, and through the use of deadlines, really motivated and excited me to work towards these goals. I left the session feeling really positive and excited about my future and feeling as though I had the tools/resources to work towards it.”

Sophie, Senior Project Lead

 “It goes without saying that Dan has been a crucial sounding board for me over these last few months. Working with him has been extremely rewarding, proactive and career-changing.

I don’t know of anyone in this industry that could offer such dedicated support and guidance in the way Dan does, and I know I wouldn’t feel as confident in my future career path and way forward without having worked with him in these tricky times.”

Penny, Senior Curator

 “I am incredibly grateful for Dan’s time and expertise throughout our sessions.  I think one of our biggest successes was our ability and willingness to communicate openly with each other, and Dan being confident to push and challenge me through various situations.  One thing I really enjoyed was that our sessions were never the same and Dan ALWAYS took into account my goals to tailor our sessions.  I feel like I learned something professionally, and about myself personally, in each session.  And not small things, but things I will continue to reflect on and use to develop in the years to come.”

Erin, Head of Alumni Relations

If executive coaching is something that you’re interested in finding out more, then get in touch with Dan to have an informal conversation.

Email: hello@thecharityretailconsultancy.co.uk

LinkedIn: Daniel O’Driscoll

Website: Mentoring & Coaching – The Charity Retail Consultancy

Tel: 07515 395683