Written by: Teresa Hand-Campbell, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Let me introduce myself! I am Teresa Hand-Campbell, founder and Director of Total Human Capital based in Ireland, and with the convenience of technology, I enjoy a global reach. I work extensively across public and private sectors as an Organisational (Work) Psychologist, Business Executive Coach, Educationist and Mediator. I am registered with the British Psychological Society as a Psychometric Test User 1 & 2 (Personality & Ability) and work as a multi-science analyst using DISC. As a WRAW Master Practitioner (Workplace Resilience And Wellbeing), I continue to add value to my work with individuals, groups and organisations, doing what comes naturally to me, i.e., educating, motivating, inspiring and leading my clients towards achieving optimum potential. Recently certified MBA and ongoing work on Strategic Foresight offer depth and breadth to my work at THC Consultancy Ltd.
Teresa, the person ‒ I am the sixth child of a family of seven, coming in line after four boys and sandwiched between one older and one younger sister, a fact that is more relevant than one might think when viewed through the lens of a psychologist! I am married and together with Shay, we have three grown children, each pursuing their own passions and making a serious difference in their individual pursuits in Optometry, Entrepreneurship and Auditing. Recognising elements of oneself in one’s children as they grow never ceases to be a source of fun and amazement for me. Fun-loving, passionate about travel and seeing the world, our children carry a strong work ethic, steadfastness and sincerity in all they do, something we know we have modelled throughout their childhood and adolescence.
My interests are wide and varied – travel with the family has been a feature for the past 30 years, spanning Europe, America, Canada, Australia and Asia. Travel broadens the mind, they say. No doubt it has shaped our children coloured their lives and given them a worldview not to be found in classroom textbooks or on the IWB. Openness to experience is the fount of memory-making we have enjoyed as a family. An avid reader and prolific writer, I have embraced learning across my lifespan. However, I believe that “learning hoarded is growth denied”, therefore, I am passionate about sharing my learning in order to advance others and to open up their world to the wealth of knowledge to be found at their fingertips. Paper and pens, I love and the art of Calligraphy offers me an avenue to creativity which I enjoy. Country walks and cycles, looking after our pets and growing vegetables in our polytunnels are but some of the joys of rural living I would not trade.
What led me to becoming an Organisational Psychologist you might ask?
My choice of career as a young 17-year-old did not come easy. Dithering between Law and Education, my Dad turned to me as he drove towards the cross-roads on the outskirts of our town the day I left for College and asked: “Ok, is it right (Galway & Law at NUIG) or left (Dublin & National University of Ireland/College of Education)?
Left and towards Dublin, it was, and after years of training, I started my first teaching role in the inner city as a young 20-year-old. Six years later, I took on my first role as Principal, moving to larger schools, administrative and later lecturing positions to Masters in Leadership & Management at the third level, spanning a 30-year period. My love of teaching and training was honed both in Ireland and in Spain, where I established an Irish wing to a Spanish Academy outside of Valencia before taking on a Principalship back in Ireland. Leadership training in the mid-late ‘80’s was scant, one learned the hard way, at the coalface, through trial and error, yet cultivating a definite, organic and dynamic style which, for me, became foundational to the radically empowering leader I have become. I am a strong believer in merging heart and head when leading, coupled with an ever-present awareness of the gravity of responsibility proportionate to the position held, the people led and the lives impacted. A lonely journey in many ways, I believe that leadership is not for everyone and that the importance of getting the person-job fit right cannot be overstated. Colleagues are one’s “daytime family,” becoming integrated beings into the workplace. Personal and professionally wrapped in one, with ambitions, needs, desires, strengths, challenges, and above all, as fellow travellers in the pursuit of personal and collective purpose! While I have worked in ‘systems,’ I believe that the people in the workplace become the pulsating heart of what is otherwise an inanimate, unrelentingly changing ‘system’ whose only interest is in getting the job done or meeting the bottom line!
My decision to return to study Psychology at Trinity College Dublin and later, ‘Organisational Psychology’ at Leicester University UK was in direct response to adversity thrown up by life, i.e., a need to create options that would facilitate caring for a visually-impaired spouse and a bright young family who deserved opportunities to blossom at third level universities and beyond. There is no gain without pain! Self-funding a career turnaround across a 7-year span entailed remortgaging our home, which brought my capacity for risk-taking to a new level, yet proved liberating, fulfilling and entirely enriching. Returning to study, following years of working in leadership capacities, carries an excitement that defies words and liberation, which brings a new buzz to the word ‘promise.’ The economic downturn of 2008 impacted everyone, with many becoming frustrated on foot of pay cuts, shifting terms and conditions of employment, redundancies, etc. However, my studies, and unlocking of infinite possibilities in life, left me in a position of giddy anticipation as to what possibilities my life and work were now offering me. My learning journey has continued with recent certifications in an IMBA programme and Strategic Foresight with the Copenhagen Institute of Future Studies.
My experience and my learning to date offer a solid framework within which I now work with C-Suite Executives, leaders from all walks of life and in a variety of workplaces and their employees. THC Consult endeavours to bridge the worlds of Work and Education, offering training on every aspect of work life and the emerging world of work. Our approach at THC Consult is one of developing long-lasting partnerships with our clients while nurturing the internal capacity to ensure the sustainability of our signature programs aimed at leaving solid legacy benefits across organisations. Current programmes which encapsulate some of the aforementioned areas of expertise include:
Target Audience: Executives, Managers and Employees across private and public sector workplaces
Our Guarantee: We believe that knowledge is power. In heightening individual and Team understanding of personal, professional and organisational aspects of their lives, and cross-overs that occur, we give participants the tools to approach every aspect of life with confidence and balance while taking ownership of their own well-being journey.
This programme is presently being introduced to workplaces across public and private sectors within Ireland and abroad, taking the format of short tasters and alternative one-hour deep dives around every aspect of the Personal, Professional and Organisational and emerging cross-overs in practice (cf. www.thcconsult.ie for an in-depth overview). Bringing self-awareness to bear on all aspects of life and work ensures heightened understanding of others and enhanced harmony as an outcome. Free monthly webinars serve to whet the appetite of those interested in engaging the services of THC Consult, either in person or digitally, as a source of ongoing, on-demand professional development for staff as they negotiate their own individual and collective learning journeys.
Target Audience: C-Suite Executives, Aspiring C-Suite/Senior Executives across HR, Project Management, Pharma, Healthcare, Education and Engineering Worlds
Our Guarantee: An upskilling in Conscious Leadership which affirms and challenges executives’ own practices and upskills them with cutting-edge knowledge and know-how to tackle all areas of organisational life with confidence and success. Outcomes will not alone include enhancement of their own self-awareness, engagement levels and job satisfaction, but that of their colleagues and the entire workforce. Benefits will be evidenced in workplace culture, increased productivity and bottom line profits.
Capital Quest is a unique Executive Coaching programme designed from a position of experience and proven expertise aimed at C-Suite Executives who are grappling with incessant change in a post-Covid world. We help you identify blocks, and upskill you on cutting-edge organisational approaches and roadmap workable solutions, which will optimise teamwork, engagement levels, productivity and the bottom line. Bespoke 1-month, 3-month, or 6-month Coaching packages are offered in line with individual /group needs and desired outcomes.
My greatest career achievement to date has been my success from a young age in leadership roles held, my risk-taking acumen and my ability to pivot, to reinvent in response to unforeseen challenges thrown up in life. Necessity is the mother of invention, they say. In creating alternatives and ‘re-inventing,’ I created opportunities while also realising that ‘learning hoarded is growth denied’ i.e., unless I am prepared to share my learning across the lifespan, I am missing a golden opportunity to create ripples of opportunity for others as they navigate their workplace experiences, their careers and their lives in general. In sharing my learning, I am creating a bi-directional flow of exchange with my clients, which serves to also enrich me as a practitioner, sharpen my effectiveness and keep me grounded in the reality of life in all its glory.
A pivotal moment in my life – entering Trinity College Dublin on the 26th of September 2006 to return to study, to re-invent, to create new avenues of possibility for myself and my family in the face of unimaginable adversity, and in so doing, use my experience to motivate others to be the Conductors of their own Orchestra. Carpe diem.
Teresa Hand-Campbell, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Teresa Hand-Campbell is the founder and Director of THC Consultancy Ltd., an Ireland-based company with a global reach. As Occupational Psychologist, Educationist, Business Executive Coach and certified Mediator, she educates, motivates and inspires her clients on their journey to achieving optimum potential.
Teresa specialises in all aspects of behaviour, relations, motivation and engagement at work, facilitating executive coaching, training, teamwork, career progression, recruitment drives, action mapping and strategic planning with organisations, large and small, across both private and public sectors. She has successfully coached over 400 Senior Executives and continues to lecture to Master's level in Leadership & Management in the Workplace. A WRAW Master Practitioner (Workplace Resilience And Wellbeing), Teresa is also a multi-science analyst using DISC and is a registered Test User (1 & 2) with the British Psychological Society.
A keynote speaker, Teresa delivers inspiring bespoke Talks and Training to audiences of all sizes around key topics of interest to the workplace.
A prolific writer, her most recent Case Study and bespoke Recommendations, entitled: ‘Building a Culture to Grow & Thrive’ was undertaken for Catalyst Clinical Research, a large, multi-award-winning clinical development organisation with headquarters in Wilmington, North Carolina, USA. Teresa’s motto: ‘Knowing ME: Understanding YOU’ rests on her belief that to know oneself is to ensure a true understanding of others we come in contact with.
