Employee Goals on the Wall at Lululemon

Lululemon, the athletic clothing company, employs a unique strategy with their employees: everyone has their 1,5, and 10 year goals for personal, health, and career on the wall in each store. Interested, I checked this out at Ponce City Market and sure enough, a dozen sheets of paper were on the wall near the fitting rooms, one sheet for each employee. On each paper, there were two paragraphs written by the employee describing themselves followed by SMART goals. This approach — all employees transparently sharing their goals — is amazing for accountability, growth, and alignment.

Before writing out their goals, each employee is asked to create a 10-year personal vision by answering the following questions:

• What will I love?
• What will I have accomplished?
• Who will surround me?

Then, with that vision in place, the next step is to write out goals, in order of necessary accomplishment, to achieve that vision:

• Personal
  • 10 year goals
  • 5 year goals
  • 1 year goals
• Health
  • 10 year goals
  • 5 year goals
  • 1 year goals
• Career
  • 10 year goals
  • 5 year goals
  • 1 year goals

Considering Lululemon started in 1998 and is now worth $7 billion (NASDAQ:LULU), there’s something special about figuring out what motivates people and building an organization that helps them achieve their goals.

What else? What are some more thoughts on Lululemon having all employees create goals and sharing them with everyone else, including customers?