Tanya James

I often work with people wanting to lead some sort of change, it may be a new strategy, way of working in their organisation, a cultural shift or quality in their team. My clients come from all sectors including business, government, non-profit and tertiary. I work in Australia and internationally, particularly the US and Europe.

Over the last three years I have worked with Australia’s oldest university business school to develop and implement a strategy centered around innovation, sustainability, and responsible management. I designed a strategy consultation process and then supported an internal team to cascade this through their school and stakeholder system. I facilitated strategy and team away days for the Dean’s team and ran supportive coaching programs for people impacted by change. I ran two 80-person co-design summits to reimagine the school’s core offering considering the new strategy.

Recently I have developed a US top team journey for a large European based multi-national.  The work involved a discovery, design of bespoke collective leadership models and tools, and designing and facilitating an executive team journey centered on collective leadership team development. 

My undergraduate degrees in anthropology shaped my understanding of how people’s psychology, culture and social systems interact to produce the invisible “water” they swim in. Studying at Weatherhead School of Management in Ohio gave me a philosophy and tools to facilitate change that people experience as strengths- based and grounded in their aspirations.  

My journey into coaching psychology started in university where I did many Vipassana meditation retreats and then led to me joining the Potential Project, a corporate mindfulness company whose supervisors are within the Dalai Lama’s lineage. My approach to coaching has been informed by solutions- focused therapy and adult development. I have completed certifications with Jennifer Garvey-Berger as a growth edge coach, Bill Torbet’s global leadership profile and Integral Level one.   

In my first career I initiated and led a multi-sector/organisation project focused on improving children’s outcomes at a population level in Australia. The approach I used was later codified as collective impact and I worked alongside a group of consultants to start an organisation that scaled the approach internationally. That experience still informs the way I think and work, supporting leaders around collective leadership, adaptive change and staying resourced in uncertainty.

I am Lead of the Gardeners of Sustainability Team.  My role involves convening around a dozen committed colleagues who are bringing sustainability to Cultivating Leadership’s ways of working.

I have two adult daughters who have inherited their parents’ travel bug and are studying and working in Europe. I live with my partner Gavin. We love the outdoors, especially the sea and bush, and eating out. A sunny day spent lying on the beach at the edge of the forest, with a book, journal and picnic lunch, diving repeatably into the water to cool down, until the sun sets … is my idea of heaven on earth. I spend a lot of time in New Zealand where I am from a large family with many nieces and nephew who I am devoted to. I love travelling to new places and exploring art galleries, the street vibe, city museums and local food.