A middle-aged woman with blonde, curly hair and red glasses smiling outdoors with a blurred green background, wearing a black top and a large spiral pendant necklace.

Karen Rees

Ways of Working | Leadership | Coaching

Karen’s particular skill is to identify the gold in others and to support individuals in achieving greater self-awareness and growth. She brings deep experience of personal transformation to her clients and assists others in exploring their own personal and business transformation.

“Without a follower there can be no leader”

Karen is passionate about building client relationships and stakeholder management based on trust, which she considers a critical factor in any individual’s and company’s success. She is also passionate about facilitating people’s greatest potential, and especially the potential of women.

One of Karen’s unique leadership perspectives is that of ‘leading from the middle’, which explores leadership from any position in an organisation. Her belief in the power of the whole team enables you to assist clients in any position in an organisation. Her resilience and leadership skills were further honed during her deep field deployment with the French Antarctic program which taught her the value of team work under extreme environmental conditions, as well as the significant impact of personal and cultural values on team performance.

Throughout her career Karen has built strong and enduring stakeholder relationships across the coastal management community, tourism industry, and Antarctic and Southern Ocean sector. These relationships encompass national and international stakeholders and span diverse cultural settings.

As a coach, Karen leads her clients through processes of courageous enquiry, drawing on curiosity, the power of intention and open-heartedness. Her coaching practice is based on three decades of deep and constant personal and professional enquiry across government, small business and corporate sector roles as well as her personal life. She encourages her clients to ask themselves new questions and to step into different perspectives to illuminate their current situation, especially when change is a desired outcome. Karen provides frank and fearless feedback, where invited, while maintaining respect, compassion and open heartedness.

Qualifications

  • University of Freiburg (Psychology, Geography, English)

  • BA (Hons) University of Tasmania; Honours Scholarship (Geography)

  • Graduate AICD - Company Directors Course

  • Certificate- Introduction to Ontological Coaching

  • Certificate - Powerful Presentations

  • Certificate - Financials for Non-Finance Managers

  • Business Incubator Bootcamp - Wilson Luna Group

  • CEO Apprenticeship Program - Wilson Luna Group

  • Company Directors Course for NFP Directors - Scholarship Recipient

  • 360 Leadership Circle Program

  • Graduate - Personal Leadership Development Program

  • Registered Marriage Celebrant

  • IAATO Observer training

What People Say

  • “Our team was falling short of its potential both collectively and individually.  The sessions/workshops that you developed and facilitated enabled our team to raise, identify and discuss the issues and processes that were hindering development, and develop agreed communication and trust and build a picture of the team’s and individuals’ aspirations going forward.  There have been immediate tangible positive results as we progress along the path to our goals.  Without your support and insights, we would still be looking for that path.”

    CFO, Government

  • “Your unique combination of high emotional intelligence, warmth, and business acumen effectively facilitated both corporate and human transitions in organisations that are disrupted due to change. The efficiency and effectiveness of our transition would not have been possible without your expertise and skill.”

    Board of Director, Health Sector

  • “My work with you in the coaching was rich in reflection, challenging thinking and active mentoring.  It has recalibrated assumptions I had about leadership in general and about myself as a leader. I now feel so much more self-aware as I work with others, I’m confident in my role as a member of a leadership team, and a spark of ambition has been lit to explore the next steps in my professional journey.”

    Director, Education Sector

  • “It has been a privilege to work with Gwen and her team. The work gave us a clear way forward as we strive for inclusive communication, leadership from the heart, trusting relationships, brave conversations and the courage to change in a considered manner. Your personalities, values and manner of working were in complete harmony with the values and ethos of our school.

    Deputy Principal, Private School

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