Life in Luon – week one at lululemon

…. ack, there is so much goodness to share!

As mentioned before, I have recently jumped on board the People Potential team at lululemon athletica as a Leadership Development Advisor. To refrain from exploding with all the incoherent excitement I have after my first week, I’ll limit myself to a few key learnings about the way they have already made a fantastic first impression on this new hire.

1. Play big – or so says our new luon tee. Every other week, a group of new hires go through orientation/training (on-boarding) together and we all get a shirt we write our names on in big letters. It becomes our giant nametag for the day and helps make us easy to identify as we are being introduced to people around the office. Below our name it reads: “Playing big means letting everyone know your name and what you do. It is not enough to hope others know your name and what you do. It is time to scream it from the rooftops.” Even better … on the back it reads “if i don’t say your name i don’t know it.” Needless to say, I learned names REAL fast that day.
2. Set BIG expectations. I am moving into a role held by Ben Jackson, a total rockstar who has been with lululemon for over 3 years. He is the definition of personable, can enthrall you with his presentations, and he remembers the names (and fun facts) about both office and store employees. It is no surprise one of his strengths is Woo – as you feel immediately comfortable and at ease with him. If I’ve learned one thing this week, it’s that he has provided HUGE shoes for me to fill. To that I say, bring it freakin ON!
3. “Do one thing a day that scares you.” lululemon is big on goal-setting. I like annual goals, but they like 10 year goals. ‘If you know your 10 year goal, you can create a 5 year goal that will help you get there, and a 1 year goal to kick start you on that journey.’ These goals are then posted for the entire company to see and are incorporated into your conversations with your manager. Regardless of what those goals may be! Trying to pin down what my life looks like in 2020, however,  is like trying to search for stars in the day time. I know they are there … but it’s just a little more difficult. I gotta dig deep for this one. …eek.
4. Create a common language. They are guests, not customers. They are store educators, not sales people – we educate on our product so guests can make the best decision for them … no selling required. There are no challenges, just opportunities. We don’t recruit great talent, we attract it. lulu definitely has a language indicative of its culture and I am encouraged by how many people, across business functions, use it. It’s not an after-thought or “what we’re supposed to say.” It’s the way it is. As one of my best bosses used to say “It’s just what we do here.” I think back to other strong cultured organizations I’ve worked with and this common language was the most imperative aspect to their success. Lookin good on this front!
5. Get into the gear. It’s one thing to be told about the design and features of different products and fabrics, but another to actually try things on and compare fits across styles and sizes. Even better is to test out the product! It only makes sense to test out my first purchases of some of our “anti-stink, moisture wicking” garments in one of my spin classes because saying I sweat in my class is a bold understatement. But, after one of the most comfortable classes yesterday, things are looking good already. {insert reference to creating great brand-ividuals here}

… editing down this past week (and the wide-eyed joy that went along with it) in to 5 bullets just seems unfair. Unfair to both you the reader and unfair to the effort lulu puts into their on-boarding program. Frig, I still have weeks left of this stuff!

THIS is what life is supposed to feel like.

Nama-freakin-ste!

Pick of the post: The Rescues – Break Me Out (music video – and official theme song of my weekend in Ontario!)

Related posts:

1. After One Year @ lululemon athletica
2. Lessons from the lululemon athletica Leadership Conference
3. Life for Sale