J Crew lays off corporate staff in part because they selected the wrong sweaters to order. It seems the Tippi was the popular one this year and the ill-fitting Tilly smothered 10% of J Crew’s corporate staff. “We are making meaningful and strategic changes across our organization to better position us for future growth," J. Crew chairman and CEO Millard Drexler said in a statement. "While many of these decisions were difficult, they are necessary." At the core it’s all about change.

Companies all around the world make critical decisions, decisions that affect their future and something as small as a sweater today, could be as big as a lay off tomorrow.  Before they got to the sweater, I am sure there were lots of changes that already took place. There were changes in leadership, maybe changes in ordering process, changes in policy or new product launches.   All of these changes come with dips in performance, as the organization gets up to speed or tries to execute and all are impacted by the three performance dip success factors…Culture, capacity and people.

Many times these difficult decisions could be avoided if only organizations would leverage culture, capacity and people more.    They are the three most important factors in any change and yet they are also, the three factors that organizations focus on the least, making change hard.. Damn hard.

Why have we missed leveraging our most important resources in change? Change is the center of everything we do, are or are becoming.   Every employee, customer and group around the world is dealing with some change effort...individually, organizationally or culturally.   But more and more we are preparing people less and less. We have moved the boat forward on the practical side of change aka the change management side.   We have the right charts, data, consultants and communication plans, but we miss the very thing that sinks the change ship. The human side of change.   Our misses can be chalked up to thinking the change management plan took care of the human side and in reality it doesn’t.

I am sure J Crew had a plan and strategy for ordering the right sweaters and I wonder if that plan involved their people at all levels.   Did they ask the sales clerk, the person closest to the customer what sweaters they should focus on?   Does their culture support speaking up to leadership when a decision might not be the right one? Or do the lower “ranks” keep their mouth shut and just go with the flow, even though the “sweater” wouldn’t even be something they would buy.   Is fear at the core of their culture or is it healthy conflict, human change and challenging the status quo.  Did they look at their culture, capacity and people enough?

If change is at the core of everything, and everything is what drives our creativity, decisions and results, then we have to get a better handle on leveraging our cultures, capacity and our people or be smothered by our own ill fitting sweater.

FREE Webinar- Friday 8/14-  Approved for Certification Credit for HRCI/SHRM

 Learn more about the human side of change from Tabetha in an upcoming free webinar, sponsor by Terra Staffing Group, this Friday, August 14th, at 10:00 PDT/1:00 EST. You can registrar at https://www.terrastaffinggroup.com/free---resources/webinars/change-the-missing-link/

My “Don’t Forget to Be Awesome!” sign sits on my desk and is a constant reminder that there is a purpose and a drive to be and do something amazing.    Every day I sit down and see those words.   So if they are there everyday, then what makes me forget and lose focus?

We all are meant for something great.   You were built for a purpose that only you can do.   You and only you have your exact gifts and DNA.  It’s remarkable really, that with in you is the power to be AWESOME! And yet like me, many of us forget.   

Why?   Because life has a way of stealing our focus from our purpose, from the changes we need to make in order to be awesome.      There are things to do and people to see. There are voice mails to return, issues to resolve and meetings, yes meetings upon meetings to attend.    We are boiled to death in the warm water of the urgent and un-important details of life.     Once boiled, being awesome is long forgotten and replaced with the urgency of today and we fall into bed at night and say… maybe tomorrow.     

But what if tomorrow never comes?   What if today is all we have to be AWESOME?   If we knew, would we make different choices?    Could we change?   

Change takes effort everyday.  If we truly want to live our passion and purpose, then we have to focus our energy on the non-urgent but important things that allow us to live our passion, purpose and yes, awesomeness.      

So if you want to be Awesome, why not take the 30-day challenge? 

Tabetha’s 30-day Awesomeness Challenge!  

1) Read the book The 5 Choices!   The tools and techniques in this book allow you to focus your time and energy on the non-urgent and important parts of life and cut out the clutter that robs you from your true purpose.

2) Start each day with the Awesome Challenge!  Do one thing that sparks your creativity, imagination and passion.   It could be as simple as a walk around the block backwards!  Or it could be speaking to a room of 500 people about your purpose.  The point is DO something that brings you to life!

3) Do something Awesome for someone else.   Do something unexpected that fuels their awesomeness and dreams.  It could be as small as a note of encouragement to someone who is struggling to be awesome or it could be as large as launching an Awesomeness Campaign in your team.   You will be amazed at the results.  Nothing is better then lifting someone else up because in the process we are lifted too!

4) Each night finish this statement… Today I was awesome because… and share with people your results.    Show the world your Awesomeness. 

Make this your mission for the next 30 days!

"I will not forget to be awesome. There is only one me, and I have a purpose that only I can do.   I will not miss another day of finding and living my awesomeness!"  

My challenge starts today… will yours?

“There are far better things ahead than any we leave behind.” –C.S. Lewis

Change can be so scary.  The unknown…stepping out…risk!  Even at the smallest levels, change can be difficult.  Yet we all must face change.

Three weeks ago I separated from an executive position with a company I have loved and worked with for nine years.  Nine years of understanding a culture.  Nine years of steady paychecks.  Nine years of relative predictability and special relationships. 

In those nine years, among other things, I developed into a Change expert.  I’ve worn many hats and worked in all aspects of the business, Training, Leadership Development, etc.  However, after experiencing reorg after reorg, and witnessing the impact all changes had on everything from the individual to the company, from the motivation to the bottom line, I realized that change is the constant.  It is in everything, and effectively dealing with change is essential to the ultimate success of the individual and the company or organization.

For years I have known that my purpose is to be on my own, helping organizations and individuals with the God given skills and unique perspective I bring.  Yet, even as a change expert, the thought of stepping out to something new, giving up the security of a nice paycheck and an understood, mostly predictable job, is huge…and scary.  It is something else when you decide to live what you teach to the fullest.

Sometimes though, you can’t ease into things.  You have to take a look at the cliff, and like Thelma and Louise, you have to smash the gas pedal to the ground. 

So you can now picture me in the driver’s seat of a convertible, smile on my face, hair blowing in the wind, as I soar out into the unknown.  With my purpose being to help others deal with the same.

I am choosing to hit the gas and launch off a cliff…and launch my business and purpose.  I am choosing to ride change into the unknown, all the while knowing it is good.  Though it is difficult to take this leap, it is my choice.

Most of us aren’t making the choice about change.  It is happening to us, without our consent. 

It is often viewed in the negative. Yet at the very worst, there is a 50/50 chance it works out for the better.  A person without the courage, skills and support to deal with change has a 50% chance, and I mean chance, that they will end up better. 

I have found that effectively dealing with change moves that bar up to 100%. Meaning, that if a person embraces change, develops the skills, and has coaching and support to manage it, they will thrive in any situation.  Though it may not be what they envisioned, it will be better and to their advantage.

I am excited to start this journey to help others and I’m excited to use my skills to watch my own life change for the best.

Change Lesson #1:  Change is really about turning fear into hope.  In hope you find peace, possibility and action.  Peace, possibility and action will result in growth and success.

It was one of those days.. the challenging kind.  I left the office on a low, leaving my Starbucks cup on my desk.   This is what it looked like the next morning when I took off the lid to wash my cup!  

It made me laugh and was a reminder...  yesterday is in the past, today is a gift and the future always has a bright side!

Go out and make your future bright!!