Lorna McDowell (MIICH MMII)
Organisation Analyst & International Leadership Coach
One of Ireland’s Top 100 Businesswomen (Irish Entrepreneur 2007) and finalist in Image magazine Entrepreneur of the Year 2008, Lorna is an experienced international executive coach, learning facilitator, consultant in organisation analysis, and leadership coaching supervisor/mentor. She has a background in international corporate communications, branding, organisation culture and group relations. Education to Masters level (Organisation Analysis – Grubb Institute UK).
Lorna’s strength lies in creating a highly stimulating reflective environment for collaborative dialogue and strategic and entrepreneurial thinking, whilst helping executives to hone their leadership skills and find, make and take their role in developing socially and environmentally sustainable organisations.
Organisations that she has consulted to include AIB Corporate Banking, GE, Irish Management Institute, Irish Coach Development Network, Johnson & Johnson, Netfort Technologies, Telehouse Europe , Shannon Engine Support and SAP. She is also a faculty member of the global leadership universities for Ingersoll Rand, Thyssenkrup and Cisco.
Lorna’s breadth of experience and training – from strategic marketing and communications to psychotherapy , organisation analysis, group relations, hypnotherapy, NLP and ethics - enables her to draw on both a deep knowledge of human behavioural science and her own practical business experience as a business strategist, in order to map learning, behaviours and competences to business goals.
She is currently undertaking a groundbreaking MA in Organisation Analysis with the Grubb Institute/East London University which is exploring the role of organisations in making a difference in the world, through working in organisational systems with a greater sense of purpose and the changing requirements of the geopolitical context of today.
Lorna is also on the board of the Irish Coach Development Network (ICDN), an organisation that is overseeing the aligning of standards for coaching in Ireland working with the various national and international coaching associations.
Xenergie’s areas of expertise include top team coaching and facilitation of leadership ‘reflection’ retreats and world café style dialogue groups, change management and supporting internal organisation change through coaching programme supervision , developing executives’ impact in the international boardroom and helping young talent to develop strategic thinking and entrepreneurial business skills. The company also provides facilitation workshops and consulting on ‘brand behaviour’ – exploring how a company can “live” their brand promise behaviourally, right through the value chain, creating competitive advantage and strengthening social sustainability and responsibility in this manner.
Previous Career Success
Throughout a 15 year, career in corporate communications prior to becoming a coach, Lorna was called upon to troubleshoot market challenges, develop new initiatives, and bring diverse cultures together.
Her early career began with Uniplex Software, Budget Car Rental, and Tektronix colour print division where she learnt the ropes of international marketing. As European Operations Manager for Brodeur Worldwide, part of the Omnicom group and at the time the world’s largest high tech marketing consultancies servicing companies such as IBM, Cisco, Nortel and BT, Lorna was involved in planning global communications campaigns for clients and driving an international programme of mergers and acquisitions and culture development for the consultancy, whilst as Northern Europe Marketing Director for Plaut International Management Consulting and as VP-Marketing Europe for VC-backed start-up Ironside Technologies, Lorna directed a complete overhaul of brand and market opportunity.
In many of the above positions, Lorna worked directly with entrepreneurs and change makers in the world’s hubs of innovation such as Silicon Valley, USA, where she found her niche in helping organisations ready themselves for launching into the international marketplace.
More recently, Lorna has grown her own business, Xenergie Consulting, from scratch since 2001 and is now one of Ireland’s leading culture transformation and executive coaching consultancies.
Lorna McDowell can be contacted at lorna.mcdowell@xenergie.com
PA: Angela Raftery, Tel: +353 (0)87 8347870
