Growing up, Libby Wilkins devoted her time to classical ballet training and even earned a scholarship in New York when she was a junior in high school. As she eventually set aside her pointe shoes and began her career outside of the ballet studio, she transitioned from trainee to trainer.
The Start of Her Career
In 1995, Libby worked full time while she was pregnant with her daughter and earning her master’s degree in Education. Although she intended to become a teacher, she moved to Washington and landed a job as the Director of Training at a manufacturing company. She recounts, “3 months into my employment with them, they came to me and said ‘Hey, we’re starting this new project. It’s called SAP, and we need a Training Lead.”
As she was well on her way to pursuing a successful career in Organizational Change Management (OCM), Libby joined Deloitte in 1998 as a Training Lead. She explains, “As the years went on, I started morphing out from just training into communications and change management...the rest was history!”
In 2015 she took a brief hiatus from OCM, but she found herself missing client services, and joined LSI, an Invenio Company, which she considers her “home.” Her passion for the field persists because “Every day there’s a challenge, every day there’s an issue that needs a solution. That motivates me because there’s constant change. Every client is different, and every client helps me grow.” She asks, “How lucky am I to be doing this since 1995 and still be excited to get to my computer in the morning?”
Her Passion for OCM
As our OCM and Training Lead, Libby is an expert on all things change, communications, and training—which she describes as “the three integrated pillars of OCM.” She elaborates, “OCM is the pin in the pinwheel of every project.”
Her aptitude for teaching contributes to her success in her current position, including her direct and methodical style of communication. For instance, a goal of OCM at LSI is to create a comprehensive OCM roadmap that details out deliverables across enterprise transformations. The roadmap will set the standards for consistent, quality OCM execution.
Her Current Project: State of Hawaii Department of Transportation
Early on in her career, Libby was able to get on the ground level for most of her projects. She feels lucky to have been able to begin the OCM process early on at Project Prep, rather than in the Realize phase. As a leader of our State of Hawaii Department of Transportation (DOTH) project, Libby once again has an opportunity to work on a project from the start. She shares, “When it’s early, you get in the door, and you can set the stage for success.” She explains, “I come on-site here [in Hawaii] and work very closely with my counterpart to develop an OCM strategy.”
Currently, Libby has been working with the Change Network as she and her team focus on the readiness of the districts and branches in each of the Hawaiian Islands. She is particularly excited about conducting various assessments that inform the OCM team and the customer about how they can better set their end users up for successful adoption.
Giving Back in the Workplace
As someone who loves being up in front of a classroom, Libby enjoys passing on her knowledge during the employee onboarding process. She states, “I love that aspect of being able to mentor new employees or even employees that are very seasoned coming into LSI...like ‘Hey, you’re part of this firm, here are some tips and tricks, here’s what I would encourage you to do, and here’s a massive opportunity…’”
Her advice to newcomers is to “try to find a natural mentor.” She adds, “We throw ‘mentorship’ around a lot, but truly mentoring somebody, to me, shouldn’t be difficult. It should be a connection that you have with that person.”
She also advises others to take control of their work performance by being “proactive in your performance objectives.” She asserts, “You own your career, and you own your network. Learn about your company. Get to know HR, get to know the back office, and grow your career that way...Don’t just sit in a silo. Get to know the folks that are out there. Introduce yourself.” Libby surely practices what she preaches as she strives to stay well-connected with others at the company.
Giving Back in Her Free Time
Given her positive mindset and team player attitude, it is no surprise that Libby spends most of her free time giving back to her community. She reveals, “What I do on the side keeps me going.”
One of her two favorite nonprofit organizations, called Down the Stretch Ranch, gives a home to retired racehorses from all over the US and Canada and allows veterans with PTSD to do ‘equine therapy’ with the horses to significantly improve their wellbeing. The mission of Down the Stretch Ranch hits close to home for Libby, as she was raised on a ranch by her parents and her father served in the military.
She explains, “Instead of either euthanizing the horses or putting them somewhere where they’re going to get neglected, they go to Down the Stretch Ranch.” The veterans get a tour of the ranch, get to pick their horse, raise the American flag, and ride all over Eastern Washington on about 200 acres. Libby, who is on the Board of Directors, explains, “In my spare time, I help with the website, and I do all of the flyers and messaging for the annual golf tournament fundraiser.”
The second organization that Libby dedicates her time to is Spokane Fantasy Flight, a 25-year-old nonprofit that pairs 60-65 very underprivileged children with one of Santa’s helpers, then takes them on an airplane ride to the ‘North Pole’ on the first Saturday in December.
Matching her glamorous personality, Libby is known as “elf Bling Bling.” She raves, “We transform the Alaska hanger into the North Pole...There’s a cookie shack, there’s Santa, there’s reindeer. They get new jammies, new boots, new coats, new slippers. They walk away with a massive Santa bag with everything they asked for.” To raise money for the event, Libby devotes her weekends to an auction that raises over $100,000.
She reflects, “I can’t imagine not being part of those two organizations. They’re both so different, but they’re both about taking care of humans."
Forming a Better Work-Life Balance
Although Libby devotes so much of her time and effort to taking care of others, for years, she struggled to take care of herself. She admits, “What I did for myself was raise my daughter. I did that on my own, financially and everything.” Three years ago, the birth of her grandson Liam pushed her to start taking better care of her health. She now draws a more distinct line between her work life and personal life, aiming for Liam’s “Lala” to be around for him for the long run.
After her workday in beautiful Oahu, Libby takes part in local yoga classes and hula lessons. Her newfound love for yin yoga has helped her to improve her flexibility and calm herself with breathing. She remarks, “That’s really what I do to center myself, have a good night’s sleep and feel good about what I’m doing.”
It is great that Libby is now at peace with her work-life balance, for she works tirelessly to instill the same ownership and passion into her coworkers and customers that she herself radiates. According to Libby, the two driving forces that keep her motivated toward shaping the future SAP landscape at LSI are “Loving what I do and growing our practice—and not just OCM, our entire firm.”
From the ballet studio to the yoga studio, we are excited to follow along with one of the best OCM leaders in the industry as she transforms LSI, an Invenio Company, and the State of Hawaii Department of Transportation.
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