What’s in a Name?
Willow Tree Training & Professional Development
We selected the name Willow Tree for our company because the willow tree represents flexibility, strength, adaptability, and survival.
Willow trees are extremely flexible trees that bend with strong winds rather than breaking as most other trees do.
On the surface, willows do not appear as strong as other, sturdier trees, but the willow's flexibility gives it a hidden strength and allows it to survive winds and storms that destroy many other trees.
Willows adapt to the conditions in which they are planted and then grow quickly into tall, beautiful trees.
Willows can also grow and survive - even thrive - in the harshest conditions. They have been known to grow in sand and rock, and a cutting from a willow can even survive being planted upside down.
Our goal for our clients is that they will learn to emulate the willow by:
Developing flexibility so they bend rather than break
Finding their hidden strengths
Learning to adapt to their surroundings
Thriving in even the harshest conditions
Jane Jackson Co-Founder & President
Jane has over twenty years’ experience as a corporate trainer and educator. She specializes in designing and delivering tailored workshops, individual coaching for executives and leaders, and training evaluation. Her approach includes the use of assessments, including the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator© assessment, 360 Evaluations, and the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument to discover and address the specific training and development needs of leaders and their teams.
Prior to co-founding Willow Tree Training & Professional Development, Jane was a trainer and educator at Duke University Medical Center, WakeMed Health and Hospitals, the University of Nevada – Las Vegas, Durham Technical Community College, and Wake Technical Community College. Her focus was on leadership training and development, executive coaching, culture and change management, and adult learning. These experiences contributed to her deep knowledge of each step on the training and development continuum from needs analysis and tailored training design to training delivery, individualized coaching, and evaluation.
As a leader herself in several organizations, Jane managed both local and regional staff, led a national training team, developed strategic plans, and managed budgets. She understands the unique needs and challenges that leaders face in today’s workplace, and she has used this knowledge to coach leaders from supervisors and managers to vice presidents and presidents to improve their leadership skills and support them in developing high-performing teams.
Jane is certified in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® Assessment, Leader Agility 360 ® Assessment, and Type Coaching Using Multiple Models by the Association of Psychological Type International.
Our Mission
To provide practical and engaging on-line and in-person training, coaching, and consulting to people and organizations to move them from ordinary to extraordinary.