Dr. Tara Jones is a distinguished sports psychologist who has successfully transferred her expertise to the commercial world during her time at Lane4. She combines a strong research, publication, and academic background with extensive experience coaching elite performers in both business and sports. Tara's approach to people and organisational development is driven by her substantial practical experience of high performance. She has particular expertise in coaching senior executives in a variety of sectors, in addition to researching and consulting around High Performing Women. Tara's particular areas of specialism include:
High Performing Teams
Tara specialises in consulting with Senior Leadership Teams across various sectors, including, legal and financial services, sales & marketing agencies, the pharmaceutical sector, manufacturing firms, and utility companies. Tara challenges and supports teams to transition from 'good' to 'high performing teams'. Tara has supported teams in multiple aspects of their performance including; understanding and respecting differences, connecting at a human/emotional level to transform behavior, rebuilding trust, team role modeling, and overcoming the challenge of creating a high performing team from a group of individuals who are bright, have strong opinions, and are the best in their field.
Leadership Development
Tara works in partnership with organisations to develop their senior leadership capability. Her approach centres on developing a heightened awareness of the leaders impact on individuals, their team, and their organisation. Tara has led many global senior leader development programs, including an intensive programme with the world's second largest building materials organisation. This program was designed for MDs, CFOs, and COOs from the many businesses within the organisation to refine and develop their leadership skills. The specific objectives of the program were to improve their skills of planning for the future, executing effectively, and delivering superior results. The impact of the programme has demonstrated a clear return on investment for the client.
Coaching
Tara is an accomplished and experienced performance coach of board members, senior executives, and high potentials across a variety of sectors. Tara's approach is to challenge and shift mindsets to create sustainable behavior change.Results include coaching people to; lead successful organisational restructures, thrive in the pressurised economic environment, create strategic visions that motivate at all levels of the organisation, align visions with day-to-day tasks, achieve promotions, coach upwards, and deal with conflict among Senior Leadership Team members. In addition to one-to-one coaching, Tara has also successfully designed and delivered programmes to create coaching cultures, in which there is increased responsibility and accountability throughout the business. Key achievements include designing and leading a programme to create a coaching culture for improving performance within a major international advertising agency, which was delivered in ten countries to 22 nationalities and in five languages.
Organisational Change
Drawing on her psychological knowledge, Tara works in partnership with organisations to ensure that individuals and teams are able to transition effectively through change. Key achievements include designing and developing a programme to develop an international utilities business with ambitious growth targets. The program was delivered to the Board and the Top 250 senior leaders, with a specific remit to engage people with the new vision and the new performance management framework that would ensure the organisation could realize that vision. The programme developed leadership capability to meet the new demands and expectations. The success of this programme led to it being delivered to the next two levels, covering a further 2000 managers. Tara has also delivered a successful Mental Toughness Program to over 1000 managers at a leading supermarket going through a merger process, with a remit to sustain retention levels at a time when they typically plummet.
Work at Lane4
Tara is a Certified Senior Executive Coach and an Accredited Sport Psychologist. Tara is also certified in MBTI, Emotional Intelligence and Transactional Analysis, and in giving 360 feedback. Examples of the clients Tara has been involved with include:
Senior Leadership Development Work:
Coca Cola Microsoft Advertising Deutsche Bank JP Morgan Chase Lloyds Banking Group Roche Pharmaceuticals TIAA CREF National Grid SJ Berwin CRH ICON Invesco
Developing Senior Executive Teams:
Accenture Imperial Healthcare State Farm Roche Pharmaceuticals SJ Berwin ICON
1:1 Executive Coaching:
Center for Healthcare Strategies Accenture Allied Building Products Deutsche Bank Roche Pharmaceuticals Royal Bank of Scotland SJ Berwin
Tara specialises in the areas of:
Leadership Development
Developing High Performing Teams
Executive Coaching
Organizational Change
Mental Toughness
High Performing Women
Creating High Performance Environments
Background
Having been a top level junior
tennis player, Tara became so
intrigued by the psychology of
performance that she went on
to study it. She received her
PhD in Performance
Psychology from the University
of Wales, Bangor, in 1997.
Tara's research has focused
on elite performance under
stress and more latterly, High
Performing Women. Her
research has been published
and presented in many top tier
publications and international
conferences.
Tara joined Lane4 in 2002, and
became integral to the US team in
2007. Tara's expertise lies in
providing the right balance of
support and challenge to leaders
on a one-to-one basis, in teams,
and mixed groups from various
business functions. She advises
on creating the high performance
environment that is critical for
success. Tara has published
widely on leadership, with her
articles appearing in leading magazines
including 'Leadership Excellence' and
'Legal Management'.
Tara's passion and depth of
knowledge about
performance have been
successfully applied to both
the sports and business
worlds. Tara has worked with
numerous Olympic and World
Top 10 ranked athletes, from
various sports including
Professional Golfers, boxers
and racket sport players. In
addition, she was Psychologist to
the GB Olympic Winter Games
Team in 2002. In the business
world, Tara has coached
senior executives across
numerous industries.
Outside her working life, Tara
enjoys a healthy lifestyle. She is
passionate about sport and
fitness, particularly, running,
skiing and playing racket sports.
She continues to practice
speaking limited Spanish as her
parents and grandparents are
enjoying their retirement in
Southern Spain. Tara is married
to Graham, and enjoys spending
time with his children and
grandchildren on visits to the UK
and during their many visits to the
US.
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