---
title: "lululemon Case Study: Change Operating Model | Levvel"
description: How lululemon Guest Support and Levvel built a change operating model to manage change across three regions at once, with governance, roles and tools that travel.
image: https://levvel.ca/hubfs/Levvel%20Logos/Levvel_Featured_Solutions_Services_1200x630.png
---

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[Home](https://levvel.ca/?hsLang=en-ca) › Case study

Client case study · lululemon Guest Support

# Building a change operating model that travels

How lululemon Guest Support and Levvel designed the structures to manage change across three regions at once, before scale exposed the gaps.

At a glance

Client

lululemon, Guest Support

Client lead

Shadi El Baba, VP Guest Support

Challenge

Change was delivered well on a program-by-program basis, but nothing managed it in its entirety across a function scaling into EMEA and APAC

Engagement

Change operating model and phased capability roadmap, co-designed with the Guest Support Change team

What was built

A three-layer operating model, two governance forums, defined roles, a playbook, a Change Agent Network design, and intake, capacity and measurement tooling

Stage

Design complete; roadmap beginning to roll out

The challenge

## Delivering change well, one program at a time

lululemon’s Guest Support function was delivering change well, one program at a time. What it lacked was a structural way to manage everything happening at once.

Governance forums existed but had no authority to pause or sequence work. Change arrived through several doors simultaneously. Success was measured at go-live, not at adoption.

The risks were clear. Without a formal capacity model, there was no defensible way to decline more change than the organization could absorb. Without adoption governed as an outcome, change could look complete at launch and never land with Guests and Educators.

The change team knew how change worked in North America. But its governance forums and informal networks were designed around how one region operates. As Guest Support scaled into EMEA and APAC, consistency, decision rights and adoption standards had to travel across three regions, and no model yet existed for that.

> “As we expanded across three regions, the gaps became clear. We needed a plan to close them and create a consistent way forward.”
> 
> **Shadi El Baba**, VP Guest Support, lululemon

The approach

## An extension of the team, not a vendor handing off a deck

Levvel worked alongside the Guest Support Change team throughout. Three choices shaped the work:

### Weekly working sessions

With the Guest Support Change team throughout the engagement.

### Built on what existed

The model and roadmap extended lululemon’s own structures rather than imposing a generic template.

### Decisions labelled as decisions

Every output was marked as either a firm decision or a recommendation still open for debate. That discipline is what made the output usable.

> “Levvel weighed multiple structural options with honest pros and cons rather than selling one answer.”
> 
> **Shadi El Baba**, VP Guest Support, lululemon

The turning point

## System constraints, not people constraints

The shift came when the team recognized these were system constraints, not people constraints. That reframe took pressure off individuals. It let Guest Support treat the operating model as a structural fix rather than a performance problem.

> “They were willing to be direct about our people not being the limitation, our system was. Once we recognized that, we could focus on fixing it instead of asking individuals to work around it.”
> 
> **Shadi El Baba**, VP Guest Support, lululemon

What was built

## From informal structures to a designed operating model

Guest Support moved from a handful of informal, overlapping structures to a fully designed change operating model.

Component · What it gives Guest Support

Three-layer operating model

Named decision rights at each layer

Two standing governance forums

A defined home for decisions about change across the function

Defined roles

Clear accountabilities from Executive Sponsor through People Leader

Phased capability roadmap

Every capability sequenced into a phased plan with a named owner

Change playbook

A practical guide the team can run day to day

Change Agent Network

A network designed and ready to stand up

Intake and triage rubric

Scores each incoming change on risk and level of effort

Portfolio capacity model

Headcount-agnostic; shows the demand the actual workload places on the team

Adoption dashboard

Flags escalation automatically when effectiveness stalls

“Levvel does not stop at the recommendation. They weighed multiple structural options with honest pros and cons rather than selling one answer, and they left behind functioning tools rather than slideware. That combination of evidence, candour and hand-off-ready assets is valuable.”

**Shadi El Baba**, VP Guest Support, lululemon

Your next step

## Managing more change than your structure was built for?

See how we help organizations design a change operating model, or talk to us about where yours stands.

[Book a free consultation](https://outlook.office.com/book/BookafreeconsultationwithLevvel@levvel.ca/)[Change with no operating model](https://levvel.ca/solutions/change-operating-model?hsLang=en-ca)[Our Operating Model service](https://levvel.ca/operating-model?hsLang=en-ca)

Levvel is grateful to work on treaty lands and territory of the Indigenous Peoples (Inuit, First Nations, and Métis), also called Canada. These lands and cultures continue to benefit us all, and it is our desire to return genuine benefit with open hearts. We encourage all Levvel employees, consultants, clients, and partners to learn more about the Indigenous cultures, Indigenous territories, and effects of colonization in their region. We are dedicated to reducing the educational, employment and technical skill gaps that exist between Indigenous and non-Indigenous talent.

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- [All OCM Solutions](https://levvel.ca/organizational-change-management-solutions?hsLang=en-ca)
- [AI rollout](https://levvel.ca/ai-rollout?hsLang=en-ca)
- [Transformation check](https://levvel.ca/pulse-check-assessment?hsLang=en-ca)
- [Change maturity](https://levvel.ca/change-maturity?hsLang=en-ca)
- [Executive alignment](https://levvel.ca/executive-alignment?hsLang=en-ca)
- [Change operating model](https://levvel.ca/change-operating-model?hsLang=en-ca)
- [Leadership alignment](https://levvel.ca/leadership-alignment?hsLang=en-ca)
- [Change fatigue](https://levvel.ca/change-fatigue?hsLang=en-ca)

#### How We Work

- [Balanced Change™ Model](https://levvel.ca/how-we-work?hsLang=en-ca)
- [Services](https://levvel.ca/organizational-change-management-services?hsLang=en-ca)
- [Assessments](https://levvel.ca/organizational-change-management-assessments?hsLang=en-ca)
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#### About

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