A little about us...

United in a shared passion for developing individuals, teams and organisations, Sara and Sophie are driven by realising potential. With over forty years of individual, team and organisational development between them (and twenty years of working together in various ways) they’ve consistently delivered impact without losing the fun.

 

Sara has a background in Organisational Development (OD) and HR so making workplaces the best they can be has long been at the heart of her purpose. After a career culminating as Director of HR and OD to establish a new university, Sara qualified in 2020 as a Coach and established a private practice, working with Senior Executives and their teams. As well as Thinking Outside, Sara is also a Director on the Board of a local Theatre. Sara is an ardent fan of Irish Rugby and has a lifelong love of dancing. She can often be found watching both and sometimes dancing, although never plays rugby.

Sara Corcoran and Sophie Lovejoy of Thinking Outside at Jimmy's Farm and Wildlife Park
Sara Corcoran and Sophie Lovejoy of Thinking Outside

Sophie has had a true portfolio career and alongside her Organisational Development work in and with universities she has wholeheartedly embraced a range of opportunities from running rocket car workshops for the Bloodhound Education to managing a cafe at a music festival once a year. Sophie has also worked as an independent Humanist celebrant for over twenty years, conducting over 300 funerals. Although the portfolio is broad, the work she does draws on excellent facilitation and coaching skills, simply applied in different settings. When not working, Sophie loves theatre and LARPing (a hobby that can best be described as cross-country pantomime).


Sara’s coaching studies introduced her to the concept of coaching ‘in and with nature’ and immediately felt she had found her place and her tribe. In sharing her enthusiasm with Sophie, they realised that this way of working played to their strengths and shared love of nature. Their further research and experience demonstrated the profound impact this way of working can bring to their clients. This led to a conversation in early 2021 about working together and that led to Thinking Outside.