Morgan

We’re running a series on our instructors – but the side you don’t see in the studio every day. Get to know our team even better through these interviews and hopefully we can all connect on an even deeper level.

We’re starting out the week talking to one of our team members who is still working her full time job, just under very different circumstances. When she’s not on the podium, MORGAN is the store manager of lululemon on Girard (around the corner from our La Jolla location) and even though the store is closed, she’s working harder than ever to stay in communication with her team and (virtually) connect.  

Okay so the store is closed but you’re still working a ton. How has the adjustment been? 

We closed all of our stores mid March, before the official order to close non-essential retail. My first week was waiting for instruction on how to communicate with my team. We have some remote roles but the majority of the company is based in the stores and the people who work in stores. We had to answer questions like “how do we provide development?” and “how do we keep our employees engaged?” and are still working on answering those. 

We have a number of resources available and the company hosted a number of Zoom workshops. For example, they have someone from the training team host a call on leadership practices or work-life balance and then any employee can join. We’re in a time of major uncertainty so we’re all working on how to navigate working from home, and how to support our teams. 

What does your day-to-day look like?

I still post a schedule and track my hours and I’m actually working a more traditional schedule (more like a M-F 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.) than I was in the store. 

I’m in constant communication with my team to do whatever I can to support them and to navigate the status of any updates or changes. I have multiple calls each week with various teams at lululemon. These calls give us information to relay back to our teams. 

The biggest shift is how I manage my team. I’ve always been a very people-focused leader and my niche as a leader is managing people. So I’m working hard to bring that and stay connected to my staff even though I don’t see them every day. 

I hold staff meetings over Zoom and offer additional resources to my employees. I offer one on one Zoom calls with my staff to work on their development and I’ll send other resources out that I think they can benefit from (the Radical Candor and Brené Brown’s new podcast Unlocking Us have been my favorites).

Since you are working a more typical schedule, what have you been doing to stay active? 

My workouts have changed and I’m running a lot more. I used to run marathons and then got into other forms of exercise but now that I don’t have those other forms, I’ve gotten back into running which has been nice, sometimes it just feels good to get out of the house and run in that California sunshine.

I’ve also been using some resistance bands I ordered off Amazon and have been using a fun app I found called Tabata pro and have been doing that style of workouts.

Downloading now. But back to lululemon first – we obviously love lululemon (the clothes, 10k, community in general). How long have you worked for the company and how did you get to your current role?

I started in 2013 as a seasonal educator in Irvine. I was originally just a holiday hire but then they kept me following the holiday season and I was a part time employee then eventually a full time educator in Irvine. My husband and I moved to Chattanooga, TN where lululemon only had a showroom which turned into a store. I was on the store opening team as a key leader (basically like a shift leader) then became the community assistant manager and then store manager. When my husband and I moved to San Diego, I transferred to the Girard location as a key leader then stepped back into the store manager role last August. So I’ve seen it all! 

And we always hear about how amazing lululemon is to its employees — how has your experience working there been?

At lululemon we have a set of core values: personal responsibility, connection, honesty, courage, and fun. As the years have passed working at lululemon, I really see those core values in many areas of my life. 

In leading my own store team, I always come back to the core values whether I’m giving or receiving feedback, or just working the floor with my team and our guests. 

Obviously this is a tough time for companies around the world and I’ve seen lululemon get some super positive press recently about retaining pay for all employees. How does that feel on your end? 

We have a set of goals that we are working towards over the next 5 years, one of those goals is to be the #1 employer where people come to develop and grow as leaders. Even though we’re a retail company, we are truly a people-first company. I’ve always put people first- I even got my degree to be a teacher, and while I’m not teaching currently I still feel like I’m living into my passion of teaching, learning and leading others.

I feel really lucky to work for a company that “walks the walk” and truly puts its people first. It’s a very rare thing, I’ve worked in multiple customer service industries and have never felt the care or development that lululemon offers. 

I feel like managing people is one of the hardest skills to develop. What have you learned in the role and how have you grown?

You learn a lot about yourself when you start managing other people. When I first stepped into a management role, I saw opportunities to make things better. I thought I could come in and make changes to help improve our team or our store, but quickly realized that I wasn’t putting the people I was leading first. Leading others is built on a foundation of trust and communication so, even if you have the right intention but you're not building trust with your people or communicating with them about what they need you’re not going to be able to move forward in the same direction as one team.

I would say the biggest things that I’ve learned are that perception is reality so be willing to listen to another point of view and if you are going to lead others you need to be generous- with your word, with your knowledge, with your time. My favorite thing to say to my team is “you don’t know until you know”. You don’t wait to share your observations, you don’t wait to have a hard conversation, you don’t wait to tell someone what they are doing well- don’t wait, do it now.

Okay I feel like this is all over the internet/your Instagram. What’s going on with Drunk Elephant? (**note: Drunk Elephant is the gold standard of clean/natural skincare**)

I’m basically a Drunk Elephant influencer (I wish!). I have a whole morning and night routine which I did before this but now I have more time to focus on it. 

When I started using these products I learned that a lot of the stuff we put on our face has chemicals (even if it’s “clean”)  so when you start using Drunk Elephant products, your skin might break out or become dry because it’s essentially “resetting” your skin. So the first week or so was rough but since then my skin has been glowing.

I would say my top favorite products are the T.L.C. Sukari Babyfacial, which you would use once a week and the F-Balm Electrolyte Waterfacial Mask which you can use daily. I use almost all of their products and love them all but I would say if you were going to invest in something those are my top favorites!

Last thing: any advice you have during this time?

It’s ok to be scared, or frustrated, or angry. Let yourself feel what you feel, there’s no right or wrong. So feel what you need to, cry, laugh, be lazy, be productive- everyday will look a little different but that’s not what matters. What matters is how quickly you can come back to gratitude. Just try to remember we’re all in this together.