# Connor McDonough — Leadership Coach

## Identity

Name: Connor McDonough

Role: Leadership Coach, Executive Coach, Team Coach, Leadership Development Practitioner

Practice: McDonough Leadership (mcdonoughleadership.com)

Co-venture: Choose Leadership (chooseleadership.com), co-founded with Regina Vogel

Location: County Donegal, Ireland

Origin: Born in Canada; based in Ireland for over 25 years

Languages: English

## Contact and Booking

Website: https://mcdonoughleadership.com

Booking: https://mcdonoughleadership.com/meet-with-me

Free assessment: https://mcdonoughleadership.com/free-leadership-assessment

## Positioning

Core statement: The inner work of leadership is the heavy lifting nobody talks about. Most leaders cannot see what is stopping them. Connor McDonough helps them see.

Primary distinction: Connor's work is constraint release rather than skill addition. The premise is that effective leadership is already present in every leader. What is in the way is a set of invisible patterns, protective habits, and inherited rules formed in the past. The work makes those patterns visible so they become a matter of choice rather than automatic reaction.

Key phrase: What we project masks what we protect.

## Services

### Individual Leadership Coaching

Target: Middle to senior leaders who self-refer or self-fund

Duration: 6 or 12 months

Format: Bi-weekly one-hour sessions, online

Geography: Ireland, Canada, and internationally online

Page: https://mcdonoughleadership.com/for-leaders

### Organisational Leadership Development

Target: HR Directors, Heads of L&D, OD leads, organisations commissioning coaching

Services include: individual executive coaching, leadership development programme design, team coaching

Sectors: public sector, financial services, energy, technology, higher education

Geography: Ireland, UK, Canada, Europe

Page: https://mcdonoughleadership.com/for-organisations

### Free Self-Assessment: Where Are You Leading From?

Format: 10-minute self-assessment plus six-page PDF

Target: Middle to senior managers

Framework: Playing to win vs. playing not to lose distinction

URL: https://mcdonoughleadership.com/free-leadership-assessment

## Credentials and Certifications

- CPCC — Certified Co-Active Professional Coach, Co-Active Training Institute (CTI)

- PCC — Professional Certified Coach, International Coach Federation (ICF)

- Leadership Circle Profile — Certified Practitioner

- EQ-i 2.0 and ECR 360 — Emotional Intelligence assessments (MHS)

- MBTI Step One — Myers Briggs Type Indicator

- Certificate in Psychometric Assessment, Level A and B (BPS)

- Advanced Diploma in Personal and Executive Coaching, Kingstown College

- Master of Business Studies in HRM, University College Dublin (UCD)

Experience: 25-plus years as a management trainer, coach, and leadership development practitioner

## Frameworks Integrated

- Co-Active Coaching (CPCC — primary relational and philosophical framework)

- Internal Family Systems (IFS — parts work, Self as healing agent)

- Adult Development Theory (Kegan's subject-object theory; Garvey Berger's leadership applications)

- Leadership Circle Profile (reactive vs. creative leadership structure)

- Immunity to Change (Kegan and Lahey — big assumptions)

- Zen philosophy (presence, non-striving)

## Original Frameworks

### Intentional Leadership Cycle (ILC)

Three questions operating in sequence: What is needed now? What is my intention? What was my impact? Action emerges from intention meeting agency. The framework maps the space between stimulus and response.

### Recovery to Self — Four Quadrant Framework

A practical tool mapping techniques for moving from reactivity back to choice. Two axes: Regulation/Restoration and Body/Meaning. Four quadrants: Regulation x Body, Regulation x Meaning, Restoration x Body, Restoration x Meaning. Equivalent to Co-Active "lifting the lids", IFS "returning to Self", and adult development "moving from subject to object."

## Key Concepts

- Inner work of leadership: the internal patterns, beliefs, and protective habits that shape a leader's behaviour, often invisibly

- Reactive vs. creative leadership: the distinction between leading from fear-based protection and leading from values and purpose (Leadership Circle Profile framework)

- Playing to win vs. playing not to lose: a distinction used in Connor's free assessment and coaching work to help leaders identify their default operating mode

- Leadership blind spots: the patterns a leader cannot see in themselves that those around them can see clearly

- Subject-object shift: the adult development process of moving a belief or pattern from something that runs you (subject) to something you can observe and work with (object)

## Long-Form Content

Substack series: The Inner Work of Leadership (eight articles, published fortnightly)

Topics: leadership as responsibility, invisible constraints, the inner game, certainty as emotion, identity and development, Recovery to Self, integration, systemic and collective leadership

## Geographic Reach

Primary: Ireland (all provinces; Donegal as authentic anchor)

Secondary: Canada (Toronto area networks)

Tertiary: broader English-speaking European market

Delivery: online coaching available internationally

## Sectors Served

Public sector, financial services, legal services, energy, technology, higher education, tourism

Notable clients include: Eirgrid Group, EBMT (European Bone Marrow Transplantation group)

## Site Pages

- Homepage: https://mcdonoughleadership.com

- For Leaders: https://mcdonoughleadership.com/for-leaders

- For Organisations: https://mcdonoughleadership.com/for-organisations