Dreams with Deadlines
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These are real stories of trials and victories in business. We'll talk about aligning teams and organizations around a common purpose, the ups-and-downs of goal management using Objectives and Key Results (OKRs), and everything in-between.
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6 days ago
On How to Get Your Team OKR-Ready | Natalie Webb, CEO at Cloud Peak Enterprise Group, LLC
When it comes to anything in the realm of OKRs, there are few practitioners anywhere with the depth of expertise and insight Host Jenny Herald’s guest brings to this episode of Dreams With Deadlines.
Natalie Webb, owner at Cloud Peak Enterprise Group LLC, has worked with the full spectrum of process and change management methodologies. But nothing, she says, delivers results on par with the OKR programs she has helped roll out over the years at companies across sectors from Health Care to Aviation, Manufacturing to FinTech.
Key Things Discussed
* How to get executives onboard with the level of transparency associated with tracking and measuring performance and other indicators
* What naysayers bring to the equation and how to open their minds, ease their fears and allay their concerns
* Why it’s important to keep teams honest about reporting their outcomes from quarter to quarter – not just wasting everyone’s time with “serial cloning”
* The cultural and financial effects to the bottom line when work and efficiencies are improved
* Tips for establishing new Standard Operating Procedures and ingraining teams with the benefits of OKRs
Show Notes
* [00:02:25] Jumping Right In: Natalie starts off with a look at transparency on the OKR journey and how that sits with executives across the gamut of business sectors
* [00:04:34] Where workplace culture fits into the conversation about OKR adoption, especially in times of upheaval and when there’s a lack of alignment across leadership
* [00:06:31] Turning Naysayers Around: Natalie shares the case study of an executive whose resistance she was able to surmount by listening effectively, building trust and breaking the process into digestible, credible pieces
* [00:09:20] What’s top of mind strategically for companies riding the tide of economic uncertainty:
* A “radical shift” from being understaffed and struggling to find quality hires to now enjoying an abundance of talented resources
* A strong focus on high-quality, selective hiring with an emphasis on DEI
* [00:13:10] About shifting efficiencies and maintaining revenue with fewer resources – both in terms of personnel and workplace tools
* [00:14:36] Inputs to Get to Outcomes: What it looks like to run KPIs and OKRs in tandem, leveraging their complementary nature and measurable results based on already ongoing performance metrics
* [00:17:05] Putting Serial Cloners on Notice: How Natalie audits and holds accountable leadership that phones in OKR results from quarter to quarter, undermining the hard work, collaboration and team efforts
* [00:20:22] Measuring the body of work for results and making course corrections in real time is critical to OKR success and requires foundational support, including:
* Linking directly to project plans
* Tracking milestones
* Creating transparency and visibility into processes
* Building humility into planning
* [00:23:35] How OKRs can be deployed to create the cross-leadership alignment and team habituation that ensures sustained change across the enterprise:
* Increased communication around goals and outcomes
* Increased understanding of interdependencies and dependencies
* Setting the stage for improved collaboration
* Accountability as a tool to increase efficiencies
* [00:27:11] Natalie’s best practices for enlisting executive leadership’s commitment to helping teams find the time to set, report and confer about OKRs and OKR progress:
* Create a streamlined, agile, one-stop-shop environment for all OKR processes
* Integrate regular and easily accessible project reporting functions
* Pause to assess – and celebrate – quarterly benchmarks, improved efficiencies/time savings and progress towards goals
* [00:29:36] Making It Stick: Natalie shares two examples of environments (health care, lithium-battery manufacturing) where sustained adoption occurred not because of enforcement or coercion but because leadership championed – and teams witnessed – direct benefits, including:
* Agility based on transparency
* Timely risk identification and mitigation
* Access to nimble course correction
* Rapid, effective inter-departmental communication and collaboration
* Time- and effort-saving efficiencies
* Clarity and recognition around the value of and purpose behind the work
* [00:35:19] Quick-Fire Questions for Natalie:
* What’s your Dream with a Deadline? A legacy of having helped clients whose work is about making important contributions, effecting positive change and touching lives. For instance, a hospice organization she works with in New York
* What are some strategies you’ve seen organizations deploy that boost the success of OKRs? Be truthful and forthright in calling out inflated objective or key results – sooner not later. Staying honest and authentic upfront saves time!
* What advice would you give to an OKR champion trying to turn around naysayers?
* Listen to and validate the skeptic’s concerns or fears on an ongoing basis
* Explain the purpose of the methodology and how it showcases bodies of work
* Emphasize that nothing is carved in stone and agility is built-in
* Figure out the key results and metrics that resonate and matter culturally
* Accept that there will always be naysayers – some of them harder to win over than others
About Our Guest:
Natalie Webb is an executive with 6+ years of OKR Expert experience and 15+ years’ experience in Global Consulting Engagements & Technical Leadership. She has led OKR implementations at 18+ global companies to include the framework, tools, facilitation of strategy sessions and 1000s of executive level coaching sessions. Her work spans industries from Healthcare, Aviation, Technical/Digital Transformation, FinTech, Manufacturing and Supply Chain. Natalie also has Big 5 Consulting Experience as Sr Engagement Leader and Principal on the Account Team.
Follow Our Guest:
Website | LinkedIn
Follow Dreams With Deadlines:
Host | Company Website | Blog | Instagram | Twitter
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Mar 7, 2023
On Embedding the Ageing Workforce in Corporate Strategy | Ellen Kocher, Health & Wellness Coach, Speaker & Author and Dominique Ben Dhaou, Career Coach, HR Expert & Author
This episode of Dreams with Deadlines with Host Jenny Herald showcases the work of two dynamic women – each with a complementary area of expertise – who have joined forces to address how over-50 workers factor into the future of our global economy.
Dominique Ben Dhaou and Ellen Kocher, co-authors of "Wake-Up, Shake-Up, Thrive!: How to Lift Up Your Life in Your 50’s and Beyond — Swiss Secrets to Not Growing Old," share with us their strategies for retaining older employees and building a sustainable framework for helping corporations of all sizes keep their organization’s healthy and nimble.
Key things discussed
* The fact that only 8% of companies internationally have included age in their Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives.
* Why it’s critical that we embrace a five-generation workplace model.
* The five dimensions of mental and physical health that corporate leaders and individual employees should be addressing.
* Why measuring efficiencies in the workplace is a holistic exercise, requiring a systematic assessment and trackable, qualitative measures.
* The co-authors’ book, "Wake-Up, Shake-Up, Thrive!: How to Lift Up Your Life in Your 50’s and Beyond — Swiss Secrets to Not Growing Old."
Show Notes
* [00:02:16] Introducing two women who are using their complementary talents to reshape workplace cultures with their vision for creating sustainable, purposeful employment for people of all ages.
* [00:03:06] About the huge demographic shifts that will impact the workplace of the (not-so-distant) future and how Dominique and Ellen are leveraging their decades of experience to help corporations navigate with customized, structured action plans.
* [00:06:47] A closer look at the challenges posed by a rapidly aging Western workforce, including impacts to productivity and availability of skilled workers.
* [00:08:10] Why embracing a five-generation workforce is relevant and its implications:
* Businesses are suffering the economic consequences of an insufficient supply of employees with the skills and competencies to serve clients.
* Older team members often feel disengaged, disenfranchised or dis-incented.
* Misconceptions and biases tend to flourish if left unchecked.
* Retaining (and respecting) older workers communicates a psychologically safe workplace which can cultivate loyalty in younger workers as well.
* [00:16:50] How Diversity, Equity & Inclusion initiatives include age in only eight percent of companies globally. The bright spot: 75% of CEOs recognize the importance of managing age diversity.
* [00:17:29] Looking at the many workplace stressors and how mental health and wellbeing have come to the fore as corporate and social priorities.
* [00:20:54] Breaking down the five dimensions of well-being and how they sustain(or undermine) workplace cultures. Those elements include:
* Physical.
* Emotional.
* Intellectual.
* Spiritual.
* Financial.
* [00:29:52] How Dominique and Ellen help companies embed employee actualization within overall corporate goals and outcomes. It starts with the checklist they have developed based on their combined decades of experience, including questions like:
* What are you doing?
* Are you happy with it?
* What are you not doing?
* Is it important to you or not?
* How do we create a roadmap that embeds those in corporate cultural priorities?
* What bottom-line impacts will these necessary changes have?
* [00:32:43] How Dominique and Ellen’s dynamic, nimble, hands-on approach builds bridges to change at every level of the enterprise while anticipating business impacts.
* [00:35:42] Measuring for Efficiencies: A study has shown that companies – large and small, regardless of nation or origin – are wasting 51.5% of payroll every month due to factors like operational dysfunction or disaffection among workers.
* [00:39:23] Case Study: Ellen shares the powerful example of how a bank in Geneva used the five dimensions to shift the mindsets of employees who, feeling undervalued by their employer, had been taking their assets elsewhere upon retirement.
* [00:42:00] About the tagline: “Don’t Grow Old Waiting” and how Wake-Up, Shake-Up, Thrive! was founded on a holistic platform that celebrates the privileges of being over-50.
* [00:43:48] Why over-50 workers and entrepreneurs are well-positioned for success due to demographic shifts that make them a renewable resource worth retaining!
* [00:46:52] The authors share insights into their book, "Wake-Up, Shake-Up, Thrive!: How to Lift Up Your Life in Your 50’s and Beyond — Swiss Secrets to Not Growing Old," their 2/3s “learning” and 1/3 “doing” formula and other tips for keeping workers engaged at every stage of growth and life.
* [00:50:23] Quick-Fire Questions for Dominique and Ellen:
* What’s your dream with a deadline? Boosting the numbers of companies that include over-50 workers in their DEI plans. Also: Getting things done, making an impact and living balanced, healthy, happy lives.
* Where should business leaders start in addressing the challenge of retaining and optimally integrating older members of the workforce? Consider bringing in experts to assess the organization and identify tools for measurable outcomes.
* What does a person who is thriving within an organization that is thriving look like? It’s someone who:
* Has clarity about why they’re working.
* Knows what their contributions are.
* Has healthy boundaries.
* Feels a sense of purpose and excitement about the job.
* Intentionally chooses to stay.
Relevant links
* Link for Deloitte study: "Workers wanted: How the 50plus age group can help tackle the looming labour shortage: Ageing workforce challenge in Switzerland."
* More about the work of the National Wellness Organization's Multicultural Competency Committee.
* The Surgeon General’s 2022 report: "Workplace Mental Health & Wellbeing."
* A link for McKinsey’s report, “Help Your Employees Find Purpose or Watch Them Leave” can be found here.
* "Wake-Up, Shake-Up, Thrive!: How to Lift Up Your Life in Your 50’s and Beyond — Swiss Secrets to Not Growing Old," by Ellen Kocher and Dominique Ben Dhaou.
About Our Guests:
Dominique Ben Dhaou, a co-founder of Wake-Up, Shake-Up & Thrive, initially built a corporate career that allowed her to travel the world beyond her native Switzerland, while simultaneously gaining vast experience as a C-suite executive. After 30 years in upper management of Human Resources, she realized that her career was draining rather than enlivening her. At 53, she embarked on a journey to entrepreneurship, both as a coach/consultant and co-author with Ellen Kocher of "Wake-Up, Shake-Up, Thrive!: How to Lift Up Your Life in Your 50’s and Beyond — Swiss Secrets to Not Growing Old." Their practices focuses on helping professionals reinvent their careers to be in alignment with their values and purpose.
With a master’s degree in Health and Wellness Coaching, as well as accreditations in Coaching, Workplace Wellness, Mindful Eating and Health, Ellen Kocher has built a second career around a non-diet, mindfulness-based approach to eating, physical activity, holistic health and self-care. She is a co-founder of Wake-Up, Shake-Up & Thrive as well as a co-author with Dominique Ben Dhaou of "Wake-Up, Shake-Up, Thrive!: How to Lift Up Your Life in Your 50’s and Beyond — Swiss Secrets to Not Growing Old."
Follow Our Guests:
Website | Dominique@LinkedIn | Ellen@LinkedIn
Follow Dreams With Deadlines:
Host | Company Website | Blog | Instagram | Twitter
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Feb 21, 2023
Why Start-Up OKRs Require a Mix of Measurable Results, Flexibility and Room to Evolve | Luca Cipriani, Head of Architecture, OKR Coach at Jimdo
From earliest stage start-up to coveted unicorns status, few people have had more of a front-row seat on helping grow businesses than Jenny Herald’s guest on this episode of Dreams With Deadlines.
Luca Cipriani, who is Head of Architecture and OKR Coach at Jimdo, knows intimately the strategic elements that make scaling ventures fly or fail – and he’s sharing his rules of the road. It all starts, he says, with building nimbleness and psychological safety into the blueprint from your start-up’s earliest days while keeping goals flexible without losing sight of the core North Star mission.
Key things discussed
* How integrating OKRs into processes from the outset ensures they are foundational at every stage of execution.
* What the goals should be in building a framework for your start-up journey.
* Why it’s important not to tie key initiatives too closely to key results.
* Which ingredients successful start-up cultures tend to share in common.
* What are some predictable barriers to building a healthy workplace – and how to head then off at the pass.
* The show wraps up with Luca’s thoughts on the importance of keeping OKRs simple and giving teams the room to evolve, experiment, iterate and surprise. How integrating OKRs into processes from the outset ensures they are foundational at every stage of execution.
* What the goals should be at the outset of a start-up journey.
* Why it’s important not to tie initiatives too closely to key results.
* Which ingredients successful start-up cultures tend to share in common.
* What constitute the most predictable barriers to building a healthy workplace – and how to head them off at the pass.
Show Notes
* [00:03:13] Getting Started on the Journey: About at what point in scaling Luca Introduces OKRs and other optimization solutions.
* [00:04:33] What are the goals when implementing OKRs at an early stage:
* Creating strong alignment from the outset.
* Instituting systems to measure as much as possible any relevant KPIs.
* Introducing rational metrics that can anchor young founders as they navigate the high-stakes, high-stress start-up phase.
* Establishing a framework for what success looks like and means.
* [00:06:23] Balancing Quality and Quantity: Luca recalls how he has helped start-ups create sustainable objectives through systematic, evolving feedback.
* [00:09:08] It’s a process: Why Luca believes OKR processes must necessarily be iterative and have built into them an assumption that there will be missteps as well as the need for reflections and adjustments along the way.
* [00:11:13] What it looks like to help founders or teams, at whatever stage, assess on an ongoing basis and roll those learnings into go-forward plans.
* [00:13:08] Luca explains how he deploys OKRs – and parses outcomes versus outputs and inputs – with early-stage start-ups that don’t yet have a well-established baseline.
* Companies must have a clear North Star.
* Putting initial metrics in place can be a way to get started getting started putting measurable processes in place.
* [00:15:12] How Luca helps start-ups move into a scaling phase, deploying OKR processes that keep companies on track with their vision and strategy:
* Top-up as well as bottom-down collaboration.
* Intentionally aligned KPIs understood across teams.
* Cross-department communication to promote consistent global goals.
* [00:18:33] Why it’s important not to tie specific initiatives to key results:
* It can yoke people to fruitless busy work.
* It reduces nimbleness.
* It thwarts creative problem-solving.
* It discourages experimentation.
* [00:20:38] Luca shares examples of unconventional wins and success stories worth millions of dollars saved through out-of-the-box flexibility with OKRs.
* [00:23:36] Going off the Rails: Illustrations (both real-world and in film) of how communication gaps, micromanagement and relentless pressure can take companies off course and away from core values by pursuing the extraction of value at any cost.
* [00:30:15] About mastery, purpose, autonomy and how flexible OKRs can be leveraged to motivate teams.
* [00:30:54] Taking a closer look at workplace cultures and the attributes Luca has seen in the unicorns with which he has worked:
* Maintaining a unity of purpose.
* Creating an environment in which all team members feel they’re contributing.
* Preserving inter-departmental intimacy and removing barriers to communication.
* Cultivating agency among teams to be autonomous and work autonomously (i.e. minimize micromanagement).
* Delegating judiciously – enough but not too much.
* Emphasizing unity of purpose.
* Fostering psychologically safety so that teams feel free to seek help and admit failure.
* [00:36:05] About the concept of aligning around the perfect number of OKR objectives. And that number is? One! Not because there aren’t other goals, but because the overarching focus needs to stay on the business’s true North Star.
* [00:37:09] What Luca sees as the most common barriers to building healthy, effective workplace teams:
* Lack of communication.
* Toxic behaviors that squelch authenticity and honesty.
* Siloed teams.
* Lack of direct interaction and feedback.
* Lack of autonomy or agency to self-organize, act independently and surprise.
* [00:40:28] A Round of Quick-Fire Questions for Luca:
* What’s your Dream with a Deadline? To have fewer things to do and to do them faster!
* What management techniques and practices do you believe have most helped the teams with which you’ve worked? Attention to detail, staying open-minded, helping people figure out how to raise the bar on quality.
* What advice would you give to keep teams focused while scaling up and incorporating OKRs? Set and communicate expectations clearly!
Relevant links:
* https://lab.okrbusiness.com
* More about Monsters, Inc.
* More about The Lego Movie.
* "Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us," by Daniel Pink.
* More about the views of OKR coach Christina Wodtke.
About Our Guest:
Luca Cipriani is an OKR Coach and Engineering Manager with great expertise in SaaS products and companies. A strong contributor to Open Source software, he also has a proven record in managing developers and other managers, scaling teams and SaaS businesses and making them successful.
Follow Our Guest:
Website | LinkedIn
Follow Dreams With Deadlines:
Host | Company Website | Blog | Instagram | Twitter
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Feb 7, 2023
OKRs in Action: Revolutionizing Management | Rianne Roggema, Founder at Practic
Key things discussed
* The use of OKRs in organizations and how to make them more effective.
* The importance of decoupling OKRs from financial incentives and using them to assign resources and help people achieve their objectives.
* Rianne shares her approach to getting buy-in from different teams and senior management, and her belief that the logic of OKRs is undeniable.
* A more radical approach to budgeting, using OKRs to drive budgeting, which provides a clear intent and strategy.
* The importance of showing that resources are available to help staff achieve their OKRs and how this approach can lead to a better and more strategic budget.
Show Notes
* [04:05] Rianne Roggema walks us through her career since becoming a managing director for the first time at 25, started her own business at 28, and sold her digital marketing agency, Irie Digital
* Became the CEO of a merged business, Duwun, and grew the team from 15-20 to 80 by the age of 30
* She was searching for a tool to manage such a large team, and got introduced to OKRs
* Her latest venture, Practic, helps leaders and entrepreneurs become better leaders by using OKRs
* Rianne Roggema started her career with a six-month internship at Rocket Internet in Myanmar, and then became the managing director of the company
* She started her own digital marketing agency, Irie Digital, but as the team grew, she realized she needed a better way to set clear goals and direction for the team, and that's how she got introduced to OKRs
* She found OKRs to be a good tool for managing her team and facilitating them to do their best, and that's why she started Practic to help other leaders and entrepreneurs to use OKRs in their businesses
* [07:17] Jenny and Rianne discuss the use of OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) in organizations
* Rianne started using OKRs with a team of 12 and believed it could work for small teams
* OKRs are a simple concept, but can become bloated if people add too much to it
* The introduction of OKRs can bring attention to bloatedness already present in the organization
* OKRs can help make bloated processes more organized and reduce them.
* [09:14] Jenny and Rianne discuss the implementation of OKRs in a newly merged business where the team initially struggled with them and did not like them. The CEO, Rianne Roggema, managed to solve some of the team's concerns by giving them more clarity around the company's goals and the employees' success criteria, as well as decoupling OKRs from financial incentives. After a half year of implementing OKRs in a new way, the team came to love them and even missed them at their new jobs.
* [12:28] The discussion on how to make OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) more effective in a business.
* The first step is to decouple OKRs from incentives, as linking them may cause people to be defensive and less open to discussing success and failure.
* The second step is to use OKRs to assign resources and help people achieve their objectives, rather than just monitoring and evaluating them. This helps increase acceptance and effectiveness of OKRs.
* The final topic discussed was incentives, as there are already systems in place for many businesses to assess performance and offer bonuses or promotions.
* Rianne talks about detaching these incentives from OKRs.
* [15:06] Making incentives work with OKRs. Rianne detached financial performance bonuses from OKRs but kept them as part of the annual performance conversation, with 50% of the assessment being based on OKRs and the other 50% on company values.
* Different people are incentivized differently, with salespeople usually motivated by bonuses and others more by job satisfaction.
* The clear goals set by OKRs help employees see how they are doing and being valued for their good work, which can lead to promotions but not necessarily direct financial bonuses.
* [17:13] Listeners can learn that OKRs are a simple management tool that can be adapted to fit an organization's specific needs. In this case, a media organization (Duwun) used a bottom-up approach, where local teams decided their own strategies and created their own OKRs, rather than a top-down approach where a central leadership team would dictate global OKRs. This approach worked for Duwun as it aligned with the company's DNA, which values local initiative in journalism. The local teams presented their OKRs and had discussions with top management for possible adjustments. Centralizing the OKRs would not have worked for Duwun, as journalism is contextual and varies by local market.
* [21:08] Rianne shares her approach to getting buy-in from different teams and top management. She believes that the logic of OKRs, including clear goals and measurable results, is undeniable and can be helpful in settling debates within a company.
* On a senior management level, Rianne exposes any unclarities or differences to well-intended managers, and most of the time, they agree to try OKRs.
* On a team level, Rianne stresses the importance of showing that resources are available to help staff achieve their OKRs.
* She gives an example of how she, as a manager, provided resources to her editor in chief to fulfill an OKR, which led to her team realizing the benefits of OKRs.
* [25:50] Rianne discusses a more radical approach to budgeting beyond the traditional annual planning and budgeting cycles.
* She shares that often, budgeting involves merely adjusting numbers in Excel to make them work, without a clear strategy behind it.
* To overcome this, Rianne suggests using OKRs to drive budgeting.
* OKRs can provide a clear intent and strategy, helping to link budgeting to specific goals such as launching a TV channel or getting into YouTube. By linking the budget to specific goals, Rianne believes it will lead to a better and more strategic budget.
* [29:53] Rianne believes that the success of OKRs depends on the leader. The leader must lead by example, show that OKRs are a priority, and make sure all conversations tie back to the OKRs. When OKRs are working effectively, meetings have clear goals, and ideas from team members are presented as OKRs. When team members propose projects as OKRs, it makes discussions between employees and managers easier.
* [33:28] Listeners can learn that the dynamic of conversations change when they focus on the progress made towards their OKRs rather than the day-to-day tasks.
* This helps people feel like they're manifesting results, making the experience more fulfilling.
* The concept of clear goals and trust is also emphasized, as trust within an organization is crucial for success.
* Managers should avoid over-managing and trust their employees to figure out how to achieve the agreed upon outcomes.
* Trust and clear goals are key to a successful outcome.
* [36:27] Quick Fire Questions for Rianne:
* What’s your Dream with a Deadline?
* Rianne Roggema wants to help other entrepreneurs find peace through OKRs by starting a group program for five entrepreneurs in mid-February with the goal of finding five entrepreneurs to join the program.
* What is a change in the business brought by OKRs that you are proud of?
* Rianne answered that the shift from micromanaging to people being able to use their own specialties and having clear goals led to better outcomes with less effort by the management.
* What is your advice for someone who has tried OKRs before but didn't work, and they want to try again?
* Rianne's advice for someone who tried OKRs previously and it didn't work is to be willing to admit that they need to get better and ask for help in implementing OKRs better, which she believes can solve many of the problems.
About Our Guest:
Rianne, the CEO and Founder of Practic, started her career at 25 as a managing director for Rocket Internet in Myanmar and later started her own digital marketing agency, Irie Digital. After strugglin…
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Jan 24, 2023
Empowering Teams and Overcoming Bureaucratic Roadblocks: An Insider's Guide | Jonathan Alloy, VP for Customer Experience and Innovation Consulting at Publicis Sapient
Key things discussed
* The challenges of implementing a customer-centric approach in a large organization and the strategies for overcoming silos and incentivizing teams to work together
* The importance of building resilience and pushing decision-making to the lowest possible level
* The value of creating a clear, actionable plan with options and risk management and the importance of scenario planning and how to navigate the bureaucratic process
* The importance and techniques for getting buy-in and alignment from multiple stakeholders and driving customer-centricity
* Insights on the future of banking and the role of innovation in achieving financial goals
* The need to reserve capacity for innovation and experimentation.
Show Notes
* [03:20] Jonathan walks us through his background and career trajectory in the financial technology and design thinking industry. He began as a consultant in public relations, then moved to the client side working on environmental sustainability at DuPont and financial innovation and literacy at Wells Fargo. He went on to lead design thinking at Credit Suisse, and now wants to scale it up on an industry-wide basis.
* [05:32] Jonathan discusses the issues with the customer experience in the banking industry, specifically with regards to the automated phone systems and the metrics used to measure customer satisfaction.
* The common experience of long hold times and poor customer service when calling companies, specifically mentioning the banking industry.
* The reasons behind this experience, such as internal incentives and metrics that focus on the wrong things.
* How the pandemic has exacerbated the problem and the opportunity for new market entrants to provide better service.
* The importance of viewing customer service and success as an investment, not a cost, and measuring success metrics such as first call resolution and true customer satisfaction.
* [10:10] Jonathan suggests that to change the mentality of companies to be more customer-centric, the focus should be on middle management, who can be partnered with to change the company's incentives, investments, and employee treatment in order to improve customer satisfaction and loyalty.
* Middle management plays a key role in translating strategy into operation plan
* The importance of changing the mentality internally, especially in customer success and financial departments
* Focusing on customer delight rather than just getting the last penny out of them
* The importance of investing in employees, providing living wages and benefits, the right training and technology support to enable them to do first-call resolution
* The push towards AI and automation in banking and how it should be approached, focusing on the customer's needs and simplifying the process.
* [14:35] Jonathan highlights the importance of empowering employees in the middle management level to make decisions and aligning their incentives with that of the company's goals, in order to achieve better customer satisfaction and long-term growth, rather than using fear, uncertainty and doubt to push for change.
* [21:44] Jonathan discusses the importance of starting with middle management in order to change the way companies operate and become more customer-centric.
* He emphasizes the importance of empowering employees to make decisions appropriate to their level of authority in order to drive change.
* Jenny highlights the importance of customer satisfaction and how lost business can occur when a customer has a substandard experience with a company and chooses not to recommend them to others.
* Jonathan gives an example of how a bank he worked for took a customer-centric approach to their payment products, but faced barriers that were not technological in nature but rather human and business-driven.
* [25:16] Jonathan talks about the difficulty of incentivizing teams to work together in large organizations where silos and competing incentives can prevent collaboration.
* He uses the example of creating a microsite for customers to make payments, which crosses different organizational lines and value streams.
* The main problem he faced was getting buy-in from peers who owned different product P&Ls, as they were incentivized to focus on other things.
* He attempted to address this by having in-person conversations and acknowledging the reality of the situation, building relationships, empathy and trust.
* He suggests using quantitative measurements and metrics that account for customer satisfaction and success, and empower people to make decisions appropriate to their level of authority.
* He also emphasizes the importance of building organizational incentives that align with customer satisfaction and success.
* [30:40] The conversation is about how to incentivize teams to work together, specifically in the context of a microsite that is customer-centric and crosses different organizational boundaries.
* The challenge is that different business units are incentivized to optimize spend for the outcomes that they think are most important given their remit.
* Jonathan shares how he had to sell the idea to his peers who owned different product P&Ls and get buy-in from them.
* He acknowledged the reality of the situation and built empathy and trust by being honest about what they were facing.
* He had multiple stakeholders and product owners involved in the project, including product managers and their supervisors.
* The next step after getting buy-in is to actually build it and sequence and prioritize it across multiple business areas, which poses its own set of challenges such as getting on the release calendars and limited capacity.
* The importance of scenario modeling to quantify the potential benefits of the project and make it less abstract for stakeholders
* The challenge of building a new section of the system that is customer-centric rather than product-centric and how it takes time to get approval from senior executives
* The loss of capacity and engagement with customers due to the disruption of the existing system, which is not built to serve customers but rather internal goals and incentives.
* [40:11] Jonathan Alloy discussed how he and his team got executive buy-in for a project to make the customer experience more human-centric and less product-focused.
* He emphasized the importance of understanding the executives' role in managing risk and presenting them with clear, actionable options.
* He also highlighted the importance of showing how risks will be mitigated and having control plans in place.
* He also acknowledged the complexity and bureaucracy that can be involved in getting new ideas approved in large companies and the potential for competitors to gain market share because of this.
* He emphasized the need for companies to reserve capacity for innovation and new ideas to stay competitive in the market.
* [46:42] This part of the conversation highlights the positive outcome of the project, and that it resulted in the company becoming more customer-centric rather than product-centric.
* Jonathan also discussed the importance of considering the customer experience when implementing new technologies like AI and chatbots, and how focusing on cost savings alone can lead to a poor customer experience.
* He also talked about how innovation in customer experience can come from outside of large financial institutions, and how empowering employees to make good decisions on behalf of the business can lead to great solutions that serve the customer experience.
* [50:54] Quick Fire Questions for Jonathan:
* What’s your Dream with a Deadline?
* Jonathan Alloy's dream with a deadline is to drive a race car as he has never done it before and thinks it would be an amazing experience.
* What do you appreciate most about the people you work or have worked with?
* Jonathan appreciates t…
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Jan 10, 2023
Exploring the Connection Between Business Agility and OKRs in Private Equity | Yuval Yeret, Enterprise Agility Consultant at AgileSparks North America
Key things discussed
* The connection between business agility and OKRs in private equity
* The role of OKRs in alignment and focus within an organization
* The principles shared by various frameworks such as OKRs, Scrum, and SAFe
* The importance of understanding and implementing frameworks effectively
* The benefits of dynamic team organization and shuffling based on OKRs
* The value of discussing outcomes rather than specifying outputs and having conversations about OKRs
* The dangers of chasing the next shiny thing without fully understanding and implementing it
* The connection between agile principles and OKR success
* The role of transparency, collaboration, and psychological safety in creating a successful environment for progress and continuous improvement
* The challenges and opportunities in improving work environments and creating meaningful progress in organizations.
Show Notes
* [03:04] Yuval walks us through his background in IT and product development and begins using agile practices in his work. After moving to the US in 2015, he started consulting and coaching different types of organizations and began incorporating OKRs into his work with agile processes and helping organizations improve their use of OKRs.
* [04:33] Yuval walks us through his experience in private equity
* The role of OKRs and business agility in private equity
* The investment hypothesis
* How to apply agility to the process of finding the right way to reshape your go-to-market strategy
* [09:03] Yuval dives deep on when OKRs are not applicable
* [11:03] Yuval shares his insights and examples of best applications of OKRs
* OKRs are an alignment framework
* [12:43] A look at how Prezi, a presentation software, and their OKR-friendly way of managing the work in their organization
* [14:47] A look at the different frameworks (OKR, Scrum, SAFe)
* [16:03] The pitfalls of not getting the value or understanding the different frameworks
* How organizations struggle to get value out of OKRs
* [19:41] High-level overview of Ron Jeffries and Scrum
* One of the three founders of the Extreme Programming software development and The Agile Manifesto
* Ron Jeffries’ article: “We Tried Baseball and It Didn't Work”
* [20:35] What makes Scrum great?
* A relatively simple and lightweight framework that's really laser focused on achieving empiricism
* The structure of Scrum and how it can be used to develop the business
* How to create a rhythm of making progress in an environmental uncertainty with Scrum
* [28:06] Scrum became popular and spread quickly
* Many people using Scrum did not fully understand the principles and applied it with traditional project management approaches
* These people saw Scrum as a template rather than a continuous improvement process
* This led to the development of "Scrum Theater" or "Zombie Scrum" where people were just going through the motions of Scrum without fully understanding and implementing its principles
* When an approach becomes too popular, the knowledge about it becomes thinned out and there are more people who are just following it because it is popular, leading to more haters of the approach
* [33:31] Yuval discusses how OKRs should be used for goal alignment and focus on outcomes, in conjunction with evidence-based management. He stresses the importance of empiricism and empowering teams to achieve outcomes.
* [37:06] Yuval is discussing the concept of empowerment in agile processes and how it leads to better solutions and motivated employees. He emphasizes the importance of providing teams with the necessary knowledge and expertise and allowing them the autonomy to come up with and execute experiments within certain constraints. He also discusses the role of frequent feedback and access to leadership in empowering teams.
* [42:06] Jenny and Yuval are discussing how empowering teams to achieve a specific goal can lead to innovative solutions and improved business performance.
* The importance of empowering teams to achieve goals and the motivation and effectiveness of empowered teams
* The role of constraints in providing direction for teams while still allowing for flexibility and creativity
* The value of fast feedback loops and cross-functional collaboration in achieving outcomes
* The dangers of micromanaging and a lack of safety in communication
* The concept of "scheduled chicken" in which multiple groups work towards a deadline without being transparent about issues or challenges.
* The use of OKRs to align organizations around goals and focus on outcomes
* The benefits of using empiricism and focusing on outcomes rather than activities
* The concept of evidence-based management, which involves continuously evaluating progress and adjusting course as needed
* [46:25] Quick Fire Questions for Yuval:
* What’s your Dream with a Deadline?
* Yuval's goal is to help organizations create environments that allow people to have an impact on work processes and to provide more case studies on this topic in the next few years.
* Can you share an example of a meaty strategy execution challenge, and how did they overcome it?
Relevant links:
* Prezi's product development approach
* Ron Jeffries, one of the three founders of the Extreme Programming software development
* Fixing OKR Theater Using Agile/Scrum Principles
* Ron Jeffries’ article on Scrum: “We Tried Baseball and It Didn't Work”
* Scrum.org Evidence-Based Management Guide
* Yuval Yeret’s article on OKR Theater and OKRs in Name Only
* Zombie Scrum, an article by Barry Overeem on Scrum.org
* "Fixing your OKRs”, an article by Yuval Yeret
About Our Guest:
Yuval Yeret is an expert on agile methodologies and OKRs, with experience in coaching and consulting a variety of organizations on their agility journey. With a background in IT and product development, he has helped businesses improve value and profitability through private equity deals and digital transformations.
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Dec 13, 2022
Leveraging OKRs and Replicable Processes to Recruit, Hire, Train and Retain Talent | Jem Pauley, Senior Operations Partner at Talentful
Key Things Discussed
* The tools that Talentful provides clients ramping up and expanding (much as Talentful itself has been doing throughout its steep-growth startup trajectory).
* Why strategy, replicable work, decisions and change are among four key areas on which to focus when it comes to creating and implementing OKRs.
* The data-driven tools Talentful’s state-of-the-art methodology leverages to help clients identify, onboard and retain talent.
* How to manage competing demands and balance long-term, proactive startup development standards and priorities against near-term reactionary fire drills.
Show Notes
* [00:02:13] Jenny introduces Jem, who shares her journey from teacher to recruiting at a time when Talentful was just launching in London.
* [00:04:53] What Talentful brings to the table as a personalized intermediary aligning and optimizing companies’ hiring goals, practices and execution.
* [00:06:00] Some of the tools Jem deploys to help clients:
* Creating new Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to leverage metrics.
* Training/interview prep.
* Hiring qualified identified applicants.
* [00:07:13] About Jem’s transition into an operational role and engaging Talentful’s employee base through the use of Objectives and Key Results (OKRs)
* [00:08:11] Activity within companies typically fits into one of four buckets:
* Strategy.
* Replicable work.
* Decisions.
* Change.
* [00:08:48] Jem highlights her areas of focus (strategy and replicable work) and the role that OKRs play in keeping operations on track.
* [00:09:53] Standardization of replicable work practices and how OKRs serve as a framework to support the process.
* [00:11:38] How “pushing down decision-making where the data lives” enables teams to make the right decisions when leadership is not in the room.
* [00:13:39] What a data-driven approach means in the context of onsite client consulting and aggregating metrics to understand timeline, pipeline and other activity.
* [00:14:43] Jem explains outdated versus state-of-the-art hiring practices Talentful has developed to get the right people in the right roles at the right time.
* [00:17:38] About the context-driven nature of recruiting – including the nuance of
* understanding candidates, contours of individual roles and fit with team cultures.
* [00:18:58] Weighing in on talent retention – what it takes and the culture as well as strategies that
* Talentful deploys within fluid, often challenging, distributed workplace:
* Knowledge sharing: Communication through channels like Slack is candid and supportive.
* Heavy emphasis on collaboration over competition
* [00:23:29] Jem traces the impacts of a steep growth trajectory and the challenges it has manifested throughout Talentful’s growth and development, including:
* Siloing of work across geographies and departments.
* Lack of global cultural understanding and shared definitions.
* Lack of clearly articulated SOPs.
* Time lag in communicating replicable models.
* Fragmented data and segmented/overlapping systems.
* [00:26:43] Strategies that Jem and the operations team use to advance understanding and move teams cross-departmentally towards OKRs include:
* Writing down procedures and making sure everyone is on the same page.
* Defining and validating data points.
* Using metrics to establish baseline workplace integration and functionality.
* [00:30:22] Insights on ramping up new team members quickly and effectively through strategies such as:
* Establishing clear, standardized, replicable procedures.
* Using tech tools, such as video resources, to optimize and customize training.
* Providing data-driven decision points.
* Fostering safety and permission to fail.
* Deploying seasoned talent to share institutional knowledge with new team members.
* [00:33:58] Getting down to startup priorities among competing urgent demands, balancing long-term proactive development against near-term reactionary fires.
* [00:36:13] About making judgment calls for “edge case” clients with regard to bending SOPs based on mitigating factors (like revenue, length or ease of engagement).
* [00:36:48] Jem explains “edge case” accommodations and scaling back Talentful’s team of “Talent Directors” as the result of economic downturn.
* [00:39:53] A shout out to VUGA – volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity – and weighing investments and resource allocation against future goals and realities.
* [00:40:08] Wrapping up with Quickfire Questions for Jem:
* What’s your Dream with a Deadline? Mastering CrossFit and feeling confident enough to enter a competition when she’s “very much someone who doesn't want to compete unless I think I have a chance of winning.”
* Does Talentful have a bragging channel? Jem is looking to convert a “goals channel” to a space reserved for kudos and celebrating team wins of all kinds.
* As a seasoned veteran, what advice would you give someone just launching strategic OKRs? Don’t underestimate the amount of time it takes to roll out an effective program. Don’t rush! Brainstorm, establish sound metrics and get teams fully onboard.
About Our Guest:
When Jem Pauley joined Talentful five years ago, she was among a small group of people with a shared vision to change the perception of recruitment. Now with a team of 100+ talent partners working in London, Berlin and the US, Talentful is helping clients recruit, hire and retain talent while navigating a steep growth trajectory of its own
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Nov 29, 2022
Tomorrow Is Today: A Look at Corporate Inroads Into Sustainability and Accountability | Guenter Rottenfusser, Social Impact, Sustainability & Entrepreneur
Key Things Discussed:
* Where ESG and CSR overlap in their mandates to develop better corporate citizens.
* The UN’s 17 Goals for Sustainable Development and how that’s going.
* The challenges associated with creating reliable, long-term metrics by which to track individual company efforts to reach carbon neutrality.
* The difference between – and examples of – carbon offsetting and insetting.
* Innovative technologies Guenter is involved with and what’s on his horizon.
* The episode wraps with some lively Quick Fire Questions that will leave you inspired to join Guenter in driving hard towards creating the environmental solutions we need!
Show Notes
* [02:20] Guenter brings us up to speed on his career trajectory, from academia (where he acquired advanced mathematical and analytical skills) to the Boston Consulting Group, where he was introduced to a steep learning curve across industry sectors.
* [03:25] Defining the E, S and G of ESG, a framework for supporting Environmental, Social and Governance measures for corporate responsibility:
* Provides a common language to discuss non-financial indicators and parameters.
* Connects corporate impacts in a global context.
* [06:50] While there is overlap, ESG and CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) are not completely interchangeable.
* CSR has traditionally been a somewhat vague, even random, corporate commitment to philanthropy, community engagement, stockholder expectations and compliance/risk mitigation.
* ESG is the framework or vehicle through which to measure and quantify social impacts beyond financial metrics, the boardroom or day-to-day business.
* [10:28] Guenter places ESG within the context of 17 Sustainable Development Goals defined by the UN, including challenges such as hunger, poverty, health, economic development.
* [13:00] Does ESG impact the bottom line? Guenter argues yes and that evidence suggests that environmental and social elements in particular pay off in terms of both overall corporate and global health.
* [16:26] Challenges and Concerns:
* What metrics can be put in place based on hard indicators such as CO2 emissions developed based on sector-relevant resources and practices.
* Large accounting firms and regulatory control will also have a role to play.
* [18:42] Affordability, especially for small- and medium-sized businesses, will be determined in large part by scaling of technology and automation in the coming years.
* [19:44] Impact measures and the fuzziness around defining them because of a lack of longitudinal tracking measures and the murkiness of long-term timelines.
* [22:17] Guenter’s thoughts about developing corporate solutions and plans for capturing impact measures in terms of political and scientific indicators:
* Using a flexible framework for collecting data.
* Implementing pro bono efforts to help environmental nonprofits.
* [26:25] Guenter explains the difference between carbon offset and inset: Buy your way out versus build your way out? It’s nuanced!
* [30:07] Guenter gets granular with specific examples of offsetting methods, relative levels of impact available through programs in place today as well as innovative new technologies under development to scale efforts to stabilize and sequester carbon.
* [33:04] Guenter shares projects he’s excited about with Sinkco Labs, which is developing a carbon-neutral alternative protein source, as well as a new app in beta testing that will offer consumers a simple way to get an ongoing read of their carbon footprint based on travel, dining out and other lifestyle patterns.
* [38:54] Quick Fire Questions for Guenter:
* What Is Your Dream With A Deadline? Helping all sectors – but most especially the corporate world – realize their pledges to be profitable as well as socially and environmentally responsible.
* What do you appreciate about the teams you work with? The passion for common goals, excellence and pursuing a mission to make a difference.
* What challenge have you overcome and how did you do it? By pivoting in the right way at the right point in time. It’s about stepping back to reassess, even if it means shifting your direction or strategy.
* Advice for effective team-wide and company-wide goalsetting? Focus on creating a shared vision that excites and enfranchises all stakeholders, which will lead to high levels of buy-in, satisfaction and success across the enterprise.
* What’s top of mind for you these days? Moving forward with projects in progress in order to grow, grow, grow, scale, scale, scale and meet our global challenge
Relevant links:
* The UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
* Sinkco Labs
* Compenshare
About Our Guest:
Guenter Rottenfusser is a strategist, global social impact and sustainability expert currently working with several CO2 reduction and removal start ups, most prominently Sinkco Labs and Compenshare. He has been named an EWOR fellow and previously consulted for the Boston Consulting Group.
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Nov 15, 2022
Digital Transformation Starts with Bold Goals | Karen Thomas-Bland, Founder & Director of Seven Transformation Ltd.
Key Things Discussed
* Factors that contribute to the 70% failure rate among companies attempting to execute transformation, which can be attributed to:
* Lack of audacious, bold goal-setting on the part of leaders.
* Lack of clear-cut KPIs.
* Lack of alignment among key stakeholders and leadership messaging.
* Lack of transparency and buy-in across teams and missions.
* OKRs and communications that ensure smooth adoption of initiatives.
* Common challenges associated with M&A scenarios – and critical tactics to ensure a smooth and human-centered integration.
* Why it’s okay to fail – and preferably to fail fast. Then learn from it!
* An insider’s look at the composition of boards, their roles and responsibilities as well as the need for more diversity.
Show Notes
* [00:01:20] About Karen’s migration from focusing on business psychology to a strategic, inter-disciplinary global consulting role with KPMG and IBM.
* [00:03:08] How 12 years ago Karen made the decision to go out on her own, providing three things:
* Consulting with companies navigating transformation, M&As and other strategic initiatives.
* Serving on boards.
* Angel investing.
* [00:05:08] Karen reflects on the whys behind a 70% failure rate among companies attempting to execute transformation:
* A reluctance on the part of company cultures to act audaciously and boldly.
* A lack of clear-cut KPIs.
* Non-alignment among key stakeholders and in leadership messaging.
* Not having “the recipe” for securing buy-in across the enterprise.
* [00:09:28] About digital transformation and what does it actually entails:
* The first priority is creating a mindset shift within the business and organization.
* Clearly define customer needs and the consumer landscape. “It always starts with where you think the market will go.”
* Deploy the same technology – platforms and apps – both internally and externally.
* [00:14:06] Karen shares factors that set the stage for successful adoption of change:
* Research and metrics to understand customer behavior.
* Consider necessarily cultural changes.
* Roll out pilot programs – but don’t stay in pilot mode too long. Prepare to scale.
* Align customer-facing technologies with those used inside the enterprise.
* Be prepared to fail. Do it fast – and learn!
* Ensure that leadership is coming along on the journey.
* [00:20:44] About all things M&A and special challenges and tactics for managing them.
* #1: Make sure the value case is clearly understood from the outset.
* #2: Understand the multiple cultures at play on both sides of the acquisition.
* #3: Create an integration management function to ensure the initiative has structure, stewardship and clear communications.
* #4: Don’t neglect ripples within the customer base. Address concerns and offer transparency around changes.
* #5: Maintain clear objectives and key results to measure financial outcomes, growth and cost synergies.
* [00:25:12] Karen shares her key top-line metrics on the scorecard for M&A success:
* Growth in shareholder value.
* The rate of talent retention and attraction.
* Employee insight surveys. Positive or negative? Inspired or disaffected?
* Customer retention and satisfaction data.
* Track the valuation of cost savings synergies as well as growth synergies.
* Implement Day 1 operational performance and resource management.
* [00:28:45] When, whether and how to deploy OKRs:
* Be bold with intention from the outset to win hearts and minds.
* Prioritize team engagement with the mission.
* Establish key metrics to analyze customer, employee, financial, processes, technology.
* Think first about what you should measure – then consider whether that objective is achievable.
* [00:33:12] Strategies for managing M&A leadership integration and reorganization:
* Anxiety is par for the course and expected. Ditto ego!
* Make fairness and transparency a central feature of any go-forward plan.
* Make decisions swiftly to maintain stability.
* Build relationships and understand people’s motivations upfront to smooth transition.
* Prepare to be a coach and mentor through the emotional upheaval and insecurities.
* [00:37:22] Why measuring for success in transitioning merged workplaces has to do with retention, which is quantitative, but also must be assessed in qualitative experiences. Did people feel respected and supported whatever the outcome?
* [00:40:06] Karen shares perspective on serving with nine private equity-backed boards, both as chair and a non-exec.:
* The role has evolved in recent years.
* You are responsible for serving multiple constituencies, including shareholders, employees, governance, compliance and public perception/reputation.
* Composition of boards depends on multiple factors, such as skills sets required.
* OKRs have an important role to play in guiding the oversight provided by boards.
* [00:47:22] Quick Fire Questions for Karen:
* What’s your Dream with a Deadline? Twofold: Her family’s health and happiness and, personally, to get her book written and “out there.”
* Can you describe a strategy execution challenge you’ve faced and how you responded? Moving an energy company through transformation inside multiple cultures and with limited digital capability or capacity among employees.
* What advice would you give to boards that aren't looking at OKRs right now? Why should they use them? “It's an old saying, but I always go to what gets measured gets done or what gets measured gets managed.” It’s critically important to establish a goal (doesn’t have to be comprehensive) and put some OKRs under it.
* What’s top of mind for you these days? Tough times economically on the horizon and what that will mean for priorities such as diversity and green initiatives.
About Our Guest:
Karen is an Interim Executive Committee member, Consultant and NED with 25 years’ experience leading complex enterprise-wide transformations and M&A integrations to $105bn turnover. Her interim and consulting clients over the last eleven years have included Accenture, Microsoft, EY, Invesco, National Grid, RELX Group and PE funds where she has successfully led major programs of change. She has been on private equity backed boards to drive value creation and achieve a major fundraise or exit, working alongside major investors. Karen has proven expertise in strategy and transformation of complex global businesses involving the creation of new and disruptive operating models to reduce cost, grow the top line, extract greater value from data and technology, create new dynamic cultures and deliver customer centric and digitally delivered customer experiences.
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Nov 1, 2022
How a 200-Year-Old Bank is Implementing OKR-Based Digital Transformation | Michael Goitein, Enterprise Agile and OKRs Coach at KeyBank
Key Things Discussed
* A variety of initiatives that Mike and his team have introduced and the how they’ve brought stakeholders along for the ride.
* The difference between Outcomes and Outputs, as well as creative strategic visioning versus analytical, project-based planning.
* Key ingredients to highlight in the pursuit of cross-functional buy-in.
* Two major indicators for successful OKR adoption.
* The power of an aspirational mindset shift from “committed” to “stretch” goals.
* Why discovery, time, transparency and collaboration will advance your OKR framework every time – no matter how complex or tradition-bound the enterprise.
Show Notes
* [02:34] Mike walks us through his career trajectory, from digital publishing to e-commerce, mobile computing to a longer-term shift into IT consulting and coaching.
* [03:54] A look at KeyBank’s decision to acquire Hello Wallet, an app to support customer loyalty, financial health and smarter decision-making.
* The young team brought fresh energy.
* The integration has served as a model for other fintech acquisitions.
* [05:41] About 200-year-old KeyBank – the 20th largest in the U.S. with assets of about $180 billion – and the role that Mike’s team plays in moving the institution from analog to digital, from on-prem to cloud and all the mindsets that go along with change.
* [06:52] Mike highlights initiatives and strategy development at KeyBank:
* Infrastructure improvements to create the runway for innovation.
* Fintech acquisitions.
* Hack-a-thons to test resiliency.
* [08:29] Outcome versus Outputs:
* Outcomes are strategy-focused, enabling a different future and new capabilities.
* Outputs are more analytical and project-based.
* [09:32] About OKRs and cross-functional development, reaching across silos to enable restructuring and transformational initiatives through outcome-oriented teams.
* [13:39] Mike explains why initiatives like his at KeyBank succeed by offering recurring value, embracing system shifts and integrating clearly defined OKRs from the outset – then staying grounded and aligned with the original vision.
* [17:23] How an Agile Transformation initiative launched discussions within KeyBank – including its coaching team and a global consultant, resulting in an OKR framework.
* [18:06] Challenges that arose out of KeyBank’s transition to a new OKR orientation:
* Not simply substituting OKR measures for a previous KPI approach. They are different animals.
* Shifting away old systems and the Project Management Orientation that is especially common among legacy companies.
* [19:42] “Stretch” versus “Committed” Goals: Part of Mike’s mandate is to help KeyBank stretch beyond setting easily achievable goals – a comfort zone for established organizations – to become more nimble, swing for the stands and accept that failure is part of the process.
* [21:38] How Mike evangelizes for sufficient time for implementation and a leadership orientation towards aspirational goals. Cross-functional, structural change takes patience and persistence.
* [24:03] Two Major Factors for OKR Adoption Success:
* Creative, strategy-led focus (rather than an analytical, planning approach).
* A substantial discovery process built on teams digging deep and creating a collective vision for how to work cross-functionally over the long haul.
* [24:58] What “discovery” looks like at KeyBank, which includes working collaboratively with both the business and technology sides of the house and using an outcomes- and value-based framework.
* [26:41] Velocity and efficiency are great, but effectiveness is the goal. Using continuous discovery – with small, nimble assays – accelerates desired measurable outcomes.
* [28:54] What happens to all those measures? Do teams throw them out? Story points and velocity can be helpful, but outcomes-based, empowered collaboration and creativity are king.
* [31:29] Are OKRs just a burden? Not when teams work together to strengthen and evolve existing processes that aren’t stymied by planning and task-based systems. Solid leadership, transparency, communication and coaching enable success!
* [35:27] Quick Fire Questions for Mike:
* What’s your Dream With a Deadline?
* Step by step, over the coming year or two, Mike would like to see KeyBank leadership and teams working collaboratively across the enterprise. Each chapter of that journey may be a chapter for a book!
* What do you appreciate about your team?
* They are caring, thoughtful and extremely committed to agile coaching with a range and depth of skills to offer.
* What execution challenge has KeyBank faced?
* As a legacy organization, it has been a process for the CEO and leadership team to execute over time on digital transformation and migrate to a more nimble mode of operations.
* What nuggets of advice do you have for a business just starting out with OKRs?
* Linking client-centricity with creative strategy is critical – and then hiring good people and putting in place a program that's effective in setting goals and effectively delivering against them.
* What’s top of mind for you these days at KeyBank?
* Continuing to do the hard work to make transformational breakthroughs and move together as a team to best serve our customers every day.
Relevant links
* Hello Wallet, the financial fitness app.
* Christina Wodtke’s book about OKRs: "Radical Focus: Achieving Your Most Important Goals with Objectives and Key Results."
* Mike’s recent article about "Why You'll Miss Your OKRs Again This Cycle."
* Teresa Torres and her opportunity solution tree’s role in Continuous Discovery.
* Reflections by Roger Martin on Strategy versus Planning.
About Our Guest
Michael Goitein, enterprise agile and OKRs coach at KeyBank, is a global technology leader, innovator, author and certified Agile transformer who strategically directs and delivers multi-million-dollar, enterprise-level digital, mobile, big data, and high-tech solutions for Fortune 200 clients. He leads local and globally-distributed teams coaching, innovating, executing, and delivering end-to-end mobile and digital projects.
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Oct 18, 2022
OKR Strategies Demand Clarity, Flexibility and Hard Decisions | Antonio Civita, Founder at STRTGY
Key Things Discussed
* The core mission at STRTGY, an Italian company that works internationally to mobilize teams around nimble, adaptable management structures and systems suited to today’s fluid marketplace.
* What’s required to effectively implement OKRs – including leadership buy-in and carefully defined and clearly communicated objectives.
* The things that founders have and their employees want – authority, agency and autonomy.
* The power of real numbers and ongoing iterations to measure and optimize OKR roll outs.
* And finally… We get the scoop on Antonio’s unique 12-week program for successful OKR adoption – from developing strategy to energizing teams to establishing a culture that embraces robust feedback to optimize procedures over time.
Show Notes
* [00:02:32] Antonio explains STRTGY’s core mission, which includes mobilizing teams and making older management structures more nimble and adaptable.
* [00:03:37] STRGY’s ultimate goals revo…
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Oct 4, 2022
Why Story-Driven Marketing Drives Brand Loyalty, Revenue & Workplace Connection | Gideon Pridor, CMO and Chief Storyteller at Workvivo
Key things discussed:
* The need for deeper, more authentic connection within distributed workplaces.
* Workvivo’s highly interactive approach to intranet communications based in collaboration, posting and sharing – not top-down C-Suite communiques.
* The strategy behind story-driven marketing – a transparent, human-centered approach that inspires customer loyalty and engagement.
* Case studies and some of the specific tools Gidi and his team use to generate compelling content that in turn drives revenue – a correlation too often overlooked by bottom line-driven leadership teams.
* The blended approach Workvivo takes to incorporating OKRs that are both transactional and inspirational – a nimble combo when it comes to maintaining employee commitment and achieving objectives in the midst of rapid growth.
* And finally … Speaking of scaling, Gidi explain how knitting our company cultures together through shared stories not only supports the Holy Grail of employee…
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Sep 20, 2022
Data-Driven Accountability? Moving Industry Towards Global Net Zero Emissions | David de Picciotto, CEO & Co-Founder at Pledge
Key Things Discussed
* The growing demands among consumers for corporate accountability and sustainable practices – particularly among top offenders in the travel and supply chain transportation industries.
* Why old-school, top-down industry averages provide a far less precise measure of climate impacts than the accurate, granular, bottom-up data collection and tracking technologies available today.
* How meaningful carbon reduction will require a portfolio approach based on a mix of methodologies developed for large companies that can ultimately be rolled out as scalable, affordable solutions for smaller ones.
* Advice for companies interested in establishing proactive programs to reduce their footprint through data collection, offsetting and insetting strategies.
* What’s behind corporate “greenwashing,” which is often the unintended consequence of sustainability programs that lack accreditation, expertise and committed resources.
* How the team at Pledge is par…
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Sep 6, 2022
The Netflix of Nonfiction: OKRs & Agility Are Remaking a Legacy Media Giant | Mayur Gupta, Former Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer at Gannett
Key Things Discussed
* Mayur’s personal evolution from engineer to marketing and growth strategist.
* What it looks like to marshal a major shift in alignment within a traditional news organization whose first priority is to remain a trusted source.
* How Mayur was tasked with expanding Gannett’s platform and reach through a customer-obsessed focus on experience, engagement and retention.
* The various teams – or “pods” – that worked cross-functionally to execute on a broad range of OKRs while never losing sight of the organization’s foundational “North Stars.”
* The critical role that marketing has to play in aligning teams that are laser-focused on building a brand that is not only beloved but positioned for increased market share and growth.
NOTE: This episode was recorded when Mayur was the Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer at Gannett. He has since moved on to Kraken Digital Asset Exchange as their Chief Marketing Officer.
Show Notes
* [00:03:57…
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Aug 23, 2022
Want to Optimize Your OKR Implementation? Check Out These Best Practices. | Markus Müller, Co-Founder at Stealth Startup
Key Things Discussed
* Product development strategy and implementation in a fluid, multi-national company with distributed teams and competing priorities.
* A framework for grouping outward- and inward-facing teams into “tribes” dealing with consumer experience, field operations and digital platform development.
* OKRs in the strategy-to-product pipeline context, including managing backlogs, the role of data and building out effective systems for discovery.
* How to prioritize stakeholder meetings to pinpoint progress, ensure transparency and make room for necessary adjustments to the product roadmap.
* The Top Four pitfalls companies fall prey to in the implementation of OKRs.
Show Notes
* [00:02:51] Markus shares an overview of his career, which encompasses entrepreneurial efforts, product management, coaching/consulting with startups in various stages of development.
* [00:03:52] About the juncture at which Markus entered the mobility space in 2018, joining a ve…
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Aug 9, 2022
How to Set Your Organization up for Successful OKR Adoption | Felipe Castro, Speaker, Author and OKR Evangelist
Key Things Discussed
* The crucial mindset shift that must occur in shifting to a new model.
* Three components necessary to set teams up for long-term success.
* Data analytics, education and why OKRs depend on bringing teams along.
* Common organizational problems that OKRs quickly uncover and highlight.
* Elements to develop and instill for better (not more) management.
* The pitfalls of a cascading management style.
* Setting the stage for successful OKR implementation.
Show Notes
* [00:02:44] A quick hello to this episode’s guest, OKR expert Felipe Castro.
* [00:03:59] Why OKR? Customers give lots of reasons – ranging from weak (the boss read a book or everyone’s doing it) to borderline vague (accountability or transparency).
* [00:04:36] The Tinkerbell Approach: The common misperception (or delusion!) that a little bit of fairy dust is all it takes to take a traditional enterprise to Google-level OKR success.
* [00:05:34] Adopting OKR is not a goal…
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Jul 26, 2022
Capitalism Allows ESG to Win | Catherine Duggan, Head of Sustainability for Financial Services Advisory at Grant Thornton Ireland
Key Things Discussed
* Even though sustainability has been around as a concept since the United Nations defined it in 1987, progress
* has been slow and time is running out.
* ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) requirements and the role they play in good citizenship and
* environmental stewardship.
* A Call to Arms: Climate change has accelerated steadily and experts now believe that, absent drastic adjustments to business practices and carbon emissions, the window to prevent irreversible impacts shuts in 2030.
* There are scientists out there, especially in the oil and gas sectors, with deep expertise and nature-based solutions to mitigate climate change.
* What it might look like if industry leaders were brave enough to pivot and become “energy companies” instead of “gas and oil companies.”
* The uniquely influential role that large financial institutions are positioned to play in pressuring corporations to hedge against climate change-related exposur…
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Jul 12, 2022
Qualities of a Great Chief of Staff | Laurie Arron, Executive Coach to C-Suite Leaders and Chiefs of Staff
Key Things Discussed
* “Rewirement” and Laurie’s career pivot into coaching.
* The specific roles and functions that chiefs of staff serve.
* The three C’s that form the basis of Laurie’s trusted advisory practice.
* Block-and-tackle tools and systems to optimize leadership goals and efficacy.
* The unique cross-industry opportunity that Laurie’s ChiefSpace group coaching program offers chiefs of staff – especially those who are operating in isolation.
* Valuable lessons learned, especially when it comes to speaking up early and often!
Show Notes
* 00:03:48] About the many hats that Laurie wore during a long career at AT&T and the venture she has more recently launched as a business coach for high-level leaders.
* [00:04:53] “Rewirement” and what it means to pivot – not into retirement but into an opportunity to leverage skills sets, experience and passions in new ways.
* [00:07:31] About the 3C’s that form the basis of Laurie’s trusted advi…
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Jun 27, 2022
A Chief People Officer’s Approach To OKRs | Brad Wilkins, Chief People Officer currently at a Startup in “Stealth” Mode
Key Things Discussed
* How OKRs can shift company cultures towards more outcomes-based approaches – especially relevant for Covid-inspired distributed workers.
* The difference between OKRs, KPIs, and their sometimes complementary goals.
* How to infuse company-wide meetings and employee evaluations with OKR-oriented measures and priorities.
* Deployment of CLEAR – Career Path, Learning Objectives, Expectations, Accountabilities & Rewards – in a sales context.
* How leaders who are vulnerable to personal challenges set a tone that trickles down and encourages OKR adoption throughout the ranks.
* Why creating an environment where it’s safe for employees to ask questions – and fail – is a key element to successful OKR implementation.
* Tips and tactics for anyone getting ready to adopt an OKR approach.
Show Notes
* [00:20] Growing up in a big, rambunctious family, Bradford realized early on that he was energized by two things: Making people happy and unders…
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Jun 13, 2022
Lessons Learned Over 4 Years Of Implementing A Company-wide OKR System | Lavanya Gopinath, Director of Operations at Chargebee
Key Things Discussed
- What led to the decision to implement an OKR system at ChargeBee
- Reducing the number of priorities teams were focusing on and mapping all these out
- Getting company buy-in on implementing OKRs by having the leadership team paint the vision of what it is and why it’s important
- Learnings, experimentation, and refinements made since the program has been implemented
[00:02:54] About Lavanya’s origin story and how she came to stewarding objectives and key results (OKRs) at the billing and revenue management platform Chargebee.
[00:04:49] How and why OKRs play a pivotal operational role at Chargebee.
[00:06:12] About prioritizing goals in a way that quickly aligns leadership and teams.
[00:06:59] The Chargebee journey has not been without stumbling blocks.
[00:08:24] Defining key results: What to communicate about and when.
[00:09:29] About the Why: Strategies for motivating teams to adopt OKR processes.
[00:12:19] How Chargebee articulated cultural va…
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Apr 4, 2022
How to make hybrid work really work | Alexis Monville, Chief of Staff to the CTO at Red Hat, Author, and Keynote Speaker
Alexis is a firm believer that change starts with the self. He is the author of two books: Changing Your Team From The Inside and I am a Software Engineer and I am in Charge.
We discuss how they’re making hybrid work work at Red Hat. He shares a wonderful technique called impact mapping which he uses to facilitate OKR setting sessions. And Alexis shares an example of how incentive structures can reinforce collaborative behaviour.
“I bumped into so many issues trying to help people work with each other where the root cause were their individual incentives.” – Alexis (30:17)
* (01:27) A day in the life of Alexis Monville
* (02:53) How Red Hat is supporting hybrid work
* (08:09) Culture on a plate
* (12:17) What is the most important thing right now?
* (16:00) Impact mapping OKRs
* (19:55) A not-so-great method to facilitate OKR creation
* (27:05) Customers get the answer to their question in their first call, 80% of the time
* (30:17) Individual incentives as t…
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Mar 7, 2022
Groupon's unique experience of starting OKRs during the pandemic | Christine Stone, Global Head Product & Engineering Operations & Strategy, & TPMO
“...if OKRs are focused on our growth as a company, there's a second area that's equally critical and that's our business strength.”- Christine (20:47)
What You Will Learn in this Episode:
* (01:09) Christine on getting Groupon back to agile.
* (06:13) Why she is an advocate for other women in technology.
* (12:17) How COVID was a forcing function for Groupon to innovate.
* (15:45) Pre-requisites for working with OKRs.
* (17:41) How Groupon's OKR process works.
* (21:28) The three things OKRs cannot solve—organizational indecision, a lack of discipline, and a lack of muscle around estimating.
* (33:05) OKRs and portfolio management.
* (36:51) OKRs and day-to-day delivery.
* (39:20) The three places we need to measure performance: business growth, business strength, and personal development.
* (41:33) Christine answers quick fire questions.
Relevant Links:
* Website
* LinkedIn
* Instagram
* Twitter
* Want Progress? Measure
* OKRs do not measure…
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Feb 8, 2022
Using a ‘Silicon Valley For the Rest of Us’ Approach for OKRs | Dan Montgomery, author, founder and Managing Director of Agile Strategies, and OKR Thought Leader
“If you don’t bring OKRs into the regular management agenda, you will set it and forget it.”- Dan (20:47)
What You Will Learn in this Episode:
* (02:20) Dan on his interest in people’s organization plus the different career paths he’s undertaken.
* (03:35) Why he wrote his book Start less, Finish More, which is about strategic agility.
* (04:56) How to do more strategic thinking – begin with the end in mind rather than focusing on a to-do list.
* (07:04) How to create a minimum viable strategy – creating holistic value for all your business’s stakeholders.
* (10:37) The difference between the traditional mechanical business planning and today’s trying and scaling strategy.
* (13:48) The 5-steps of building strategic agility as outlined in his book; access, focus, commit, act, and learn.
* (29:34) Overburdened matrix – not being agile and operating in silos plus how to use shared OKRs to cut across those silos.
* (33:09) Dan answers more quick-fire…
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Jan 20, 2022
Agile and OKRs: publishing your API in a standardized format called Objectives and Key Results | Allan Kelly, Agile coach, guide, author, and keynote speaker
So, your organization has passed down a mandate that you’re going to do OKRs. Now what? In this episode, I’m joined by Allan Kelly. Allan is an agile coach, author of 7 books, and keynote speaker. His introduction to OKRs was exactly this—it came down as a mandate and he had to figure things out. He’s got some controversial ideas around maintaining a backlog (spoiler: he thinks it’s okay to nuke your backlog and start anew every quarter). He believes it’s okay to not achieve your Key Results. In his mind, there’s something far more important—delivering business benefit. We’ll discuss these things and more.
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Dec 7, 2021
What happens after OKRs? | Jeff Gothelf, coach, speaker, author, and consultant
“At that time, I never would have said that or thought that, but in hindsight, being in a band is like being in startups.” – Jeff [02:04]
What You Will Learn in this Episode:
* [01:31] Who Jeff is and what he’s all about
* [04:50] What Jeff means by “planning season”
* [08:19] A better way of planning
* [14:59] Adjusting the definition and borders of planning
* [16:00] The freedom of assumptions and hypotheses
* [18:42] How Jeff defines value
* [20:55] Introducing friction instead of fuel
* [24:18] Why organizations should be thinking agilely
* [28:45] Organizational roadmaps and how they work with OKRs
* [34:50] What organizations do after OKRs and what that looks like
* [38:17] Whether Jeff is considering putting out books
* [39:12] Quickfire questions
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Nov 15, 2021
On acknowledging uncertainty, using randomness to break out of bias, and how OKRs are networks | Chris Butler, Global Head of Product Operations at Cognizant
Chris Butler is a Chaotic Good Product Manager, the Global Head of Product Operations at Cognizant, a writer, and a speaker. He worked previously as a product leader at Microsoft, Facebook, KAYAK, and Waze. Jenny and Chris discuss a broad range of topics including— the future of AI products, uncertainly, randomness, OKRs as networks and trojan horses, issues with hierarchies, and the adversarial mindset.
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Oct 29, 2021
On defining customer value by working backwards | Richard Russell, OKR and Leadership coach
Richard Russell is an independent OKR and Leadership coach who held leadership positions at Amazon, Google, and Deutsche Bank. While working at Amazon, he learned the “working backwards framework” and uses it now in helping companies achieve results using the OKR methodology. Jenny and Richard discuss the advantages of working within large organizations, measuring value, the importance of listening, and more.
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Oct 14, 2021
On aligning networks and strategy to drive change | Maya Townsend, Founder and Lead Consultant of Partnering Resources
Maya Townsend is the Founder and Lead Consultant of Partnering Resources, a management consulting agency that tackles big-picture organizational challenges. An expert in organizational networks, Maya breaks down the three types of influencers and which type holds the most influence. She shares her most profound insights from her 25-year career and gives examples of times she successfully aligned companies’ networks and strategies.
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Sep 23, 2021
What a Chief of Staff Brings to a Startup | John Quayle, Chief of Staff at Four Growers
John Quayle is an Operations Professional for small businesses, startups, and brands that are economies of one. Three months ago, he became the Chief of Staff at Four Growers, a startup that’s revolutionizing farming with robots that can pick ripe fruit in greenhouses. Jenny and John discuss false limitations, OKRs, what exactly is the role of a Chief of Staff, and explore the art of planning goals.
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Aug 13, 2021
Product Strategy, Consumer Science, and Culture at Netflix | Gibson Biddle, former VP Product/CPO at Netflix/Chegg. Now speaker, teacher, & workshop host.
In this episode, Jenny Herald is joined by Gibson Biddle, former VP of Product at Netflix and CPO at Chegg. He’s now a speaker, teacher, and workshop host. They discuss many of his tools, models, and frameworks — like GLEE and SMT, how culture is not a touchy-feely soft thing but rather describes the skills and behaviors expected of everyone in an organization. Gib puts Jenny in the hot seat a few times as they examine some Netflix case studies together.
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Jul 15, 2021
The Second Order of OKRs Questions, Part 2 | Ben Lamorte, OKRs coach, Author, Founder of OKRs.com
What should you do at the end of an OKR cycle? What does it mean to be a Key Result champion? What do you do if you know you won't make any impact on your OKRs this quarter? How do you make a metric that matters? In Part 2 of an interview with Ben Lamorte—an OKRs coach, author, and founder of OKRs.com—we'll discuss these questions and more.
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Jun 24, 2021
The Second Order of OKRs Questions, Part 1 | Ben Lamorte, OKRs coach, Author, Founder of OKRs.com
Founder of OKRs.com, Ben Lamorte, has more OKR coaching experience than anyone on the planet. In part one of this interview, Jenny asks Ben about his background, latest book, current trends, OKR deployment parameters, and experience working with huge companies.
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Jun 9, 2021
To get OKRs right, forget about features | Mike Palowski, Chief Product Officer at Smallpdf
In this episode, Jenny Herald is joined by Mike Pilawski, the Chief Product Officer at Smallpdf where he leads product, design, and data teams. Prior to joining Smallpdf, Mike has held leadership roles in product, engineering, marketing, and data at Typeform, Leanplum, Vungle, and NativeX. In this episode, we chat about the Dimensions of Organizational Blueprints, how one goes about marrying up agility and OKRs for product and engineering teams, and the two camps concerning OKRs and performance management, and more.
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May 26, 2021
What are you doing to make an impact? | Caroline Franczia, Founder of Uppercut First
After working years in corporate America, startups, and scaleups, Caroline Franczia founded Uppercut First, a consultancy for startup founders. She’s a columnist for Maddyness UK, the author of Popcorn for the New CEO, an OKR expert, and an advocate for women. Her recent article—“I’ve never felt this awake”: Caroline Franczia on Thelma, Louise and inclusion—is about her personal experience as a woman in tech. She believes diversity and inclusion needs to be baked into the business strategy. In order for employees to stick around, they need to feel a sense of purpose, ownership, and that they make an impact. In this episode, we chat about the ROI of closing the gender gap, using a Value Pyramid to set the foundation for company-level OKRs, and what makes OKR programs fail or succeed.
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May 13, 2021
Lessons from implementing OKRs at Free Now | Flavia Neves, Director of Product Management at Spotify (former VP of Product at Free Now)
In this episode, Jenny Herald interviews Flavia Neves, Director of Product Management at Spotify and former VP of Product at Free Now. Flavia shares Free Now’s OKR journey. Listening to their experience is like going through the hero’s journey. She's gathered some lessons learned and provides advice to organization's considering adopting OKRs. There is pre-work required to make them work. Tune in to find what you need to make your OKR program successful.
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Apr 28, 2021
Diversity & Inclusion Q&A | Vessy Tasheva, Founder of Vessy.com
In this episode, Jenny Herald and Vessy Tasheva answer questions that came from participants that joined a Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Roundtable discussion. Unfortunately, we did not have an opportunity to cover all the questions during the event and decided to record an episode to cover them.
We were asked the following:
* I had a man opt-out of our Diversity Advisory Council because of the literature required to read, which included critical race theory and LGBTQ+, due to his religious beliefs. How should I respond to him?
* Are you seeing any discussion of universal design as part of D&I?
* What do you think about colleges and universities having anti-racism statements and some are creating anti-racism training?
* How do we make sure the nice things we discuss and the slogans we proudly recite don’t stay in the classroom and on the walls, but to really start live and breathe them?
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Apr 21, 2021
Embedding D&I in business strategy | Vessy Tasheva, Founder of Vessy.com
* (0:00) Intro
* (1:35) Vessy’s Background
* (2:58) What is D&I?
* (4:07) The state of D&I
* (6:56) How D&I is misunderstood
* (13:44) Chief Diversity Officers on the C-Suite
* (19:14) Connecting D&I to OKR
* (22:08) Everyone has value
* (27:10) Negative D&I trends
* (30:30) Measuring and tracking the success of D&I efforts
* (38:50) Rapid fire questions
* (42:48) Outro
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Apr 8, 2021
Shaping the future or waiting to be instructed by it | Peter Kerr, Managing Director of Auxin OKR
In this episode, Jenny is joined by Peter Kerr, Managing Director of Auxin OKR. He’s had the opportunity and privilege of working with senior executives from some of the largest, most well-known companies in the world. Peter shares some incredible stories from his experiences with these leaders on maintaining relevance in the market, working through political infighting, the need for human connection in a digital world, and how OKRs can help aid all of the above.
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Mar 24, 2021
Fast-tracking an OKR program into existence in 3 weeks | Adam Bonifant, VP of Customer Success at ORock Technologies & Tim Meinhardt, CEO of Atruity
In this episode, Jenny Herald interviews Adam Bonifant, VP of Customer Success at ORock Technologies, and Tim Meinhardt, CEO of Atruity. We'll discuss the ins-and-outs of fast-tracking an OKR program into existence. ORock Technologies was able to get OKRs up-and-running in a span of 3 weeks, with Adam co-championing the program and Tim serving as their guide. Find out what they learned at the onset of their OKR journey.
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Mar 9, 2021
The recipe for unleashing enterprise value | Dan Weikart, Director and Enterprise Agile Coach at Cprime
In this episode, Jenny is joined by Dan Weikart, Director and Enterprise Agile Coach at Cprime. We discuss the immutable and foundational ingredients necessary for unlocking enterprise value. We’ll get practical and, at times, somewhat prescriptive.
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Feb 23, 2021
Living the OKR life | David Anderson, OKR Systems Coach at Auxin OKR
On this episode of Dreams with Deadlines, Jenny Herald interviews David Anderson, an OKR Systems Coach at Auxin OKR. David explains what a Blue Zone is and how it relates to OKRs, what it means to live the OKR life, and how motocross racing relates to business. He's passionate about the environment and plans to grow the world’s largest electric bike company. He says it is impossible to scale a belief without a system.
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Feb 9, 2021
Building strategic agility | Dan Montgomery, author of Start Less, Finish More: Building Strategic Agility with Objectives and Key Results, founder and Managing Director of Agile Strategies, and OKR Thought Leader
On this episode of Dreams with Deadlines, Jenny Herald interviews Dan Montgomery, author of Start less, Finish More: Building Strategic Agility with Objectives and Key Results, founder and Managing Director of Agile Strategies, and OKR Thought Leader. He goes through the five steps outlined in his book— Assess, Focus, Commit, Act, and Learn. They also discuss OKRs in relation to a concept pilots use called OODA loop (observe–orient–decide–act).
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Jan 27, 2021
Delegating decision making so it's safe to be risky | Godehard Gerling, Managing Partner at go3consulting
On this episode of Dreams with Deadlines, Jenny Herald interviews Godehard Gerling, Managing Partner at go3consulting in Germany. Godehard shares how he persuades traditional European companies to build products with intent, adopt OKRs, and release their leadership grip to allow teams on lower levels to make decisions. He says that in these uncertain times, being safe in business is risky.
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Jan 12, 2021
The use of storytelling and OKRs to express the case for change | Ash Seddeek, Chief Excitement Officer at the Executive Greatness Institute
On this episode of Dreams with Deadlines, Jenny Herald interviews Ash Seddeek, Chief Excitement Officer at the Executive Greatness Institute. Ash coaches senior leaders at large companies on storytelling, executive presence, strategic communication, the importance of reflection and ‘meeting with self,’ leadership transitions, and OKR rollouts. He believes the right story can connect, inspire, and move an entire company in the right direction. He is a best-selling author and co-author of Road To Success with Jack Canfield and MEANING, a bestseller on leadership communications.
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Dec 8, 2020
How to make OKRs work for SMBs | Russell Cummings, Management Consultant and Business Coach with Shifft Consulting
Russell Cummings is an experienced Management Consultant and Business Coach with Shifft Consulting. Russ has spent the last 35 years working with dynamic family businesses that want to grow. He is Australian-based but currently services clients across Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United Kingdom. In this episode, we cover a lot of ground like the 2 ways OKRs can help small businesses, a walk-through of how to cascade OKRs, how to approach tracking metrics when you’re first starting out, and the dangers of being efficient in the wrong places at the wrong times.
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Nov 24, 2020
The Agile mindset umbrella protecting us from the Waterfall rain | Kit Friend, Agile Coach & Atlassian Partnership lead for EMEA at Accenture
Kit Friend is an Agile Coach, proud geek, and Atlassian Partnership lead for EMEA at Accenture (despite his enthusiasm, these views are currently officially only his own). In this special episode of the Voices of OKRs series, we discuss where it might make sense to apply the Waterfall model (and yes, in some cases this would be a reasonable approach), the many ways to be agile—from the “Seen more rarely currently approaches” like Lean to those we should “Approach with caution” like the “Spotify model,” and how organizations should be thinking about mapping work to value, data to strategy.
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Nov 10, 2020
What it's really like to drive an OKR deployment at scale | Pedro Signorelli, Founder of Pragmatic Management Consulting
Pedro is the founder of Pragmatic Management Consulting. Previously, he was Head of Management at Nextel Brazil where he implemented OKRs for more than 1700 employees. In this episode, he shares his story and experience with us. We get to hear what Nextel Brazil’s OKR lifecycle looked like. We’ll spend some time talking about how their pilot failed and how they were able to turn things around. Pedro goes over the importance of executive sponsorship, how that sponsorship played out in practice, their OKR calendar and check-in process, and how they had tied compensation to OKRs at that time but why he wouldn’t recommend that in practice today.
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Oct 27, 2020
Creating situations where everybody can lead | Tim Whitmire, Founder of CXN Advisory
Tim Whitmire is the founder of CXN Advisory, where he coaches executives on strategy, goal setting, alignment and execution. He is the co-founder of F3 Nation and co-author, with David Redding, of Freed to Lead: F3 and the Unshackling of the Modern-day Warrior. F3 is a network of free, peer-led workouts for men in the United States and has grown to more than 30 states and 2,000+ scheduled workouts a week through volunteer efforts. F3 participants apply a distinctive lexicon of terms during their workouts. How do these F3 concepts relate to OKRs? Find out in today’s episode.
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Oct 13, 2020
OKR+As: Objectives, Key Results and Actions | Carsten Ley, Co-Founder of Asia PMO
Carsten Ley is the co-founder of Asia PMO – a leading digital transformation & agile consulting company, specializing in implementing OKRs and other revolutionary project management techniques in Southeast Asia. In this first episode of a 12-part series on “Voices of OKR,” Carsten and I discuss:
* The difference between customer data and feedback
* How to begin using OKRs via a task force
* Command-and-control culture versus participative culture
* OKRA - Objectives, Key Results, and Actions
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Sep 29, 2020
Debugging an organization | Mathias Meyer, former CEO at Travis CI & CTO at Reaction Commerce
Mathias Meyer is an engineer turned founder, a former CEO at Travis CI and CTO at Reaction Commerce. In this episode, we discuss how a simple process, architectural decision records, created the space for his team to make and document decisions; what it means to debug an organization; how to approach OKRs via an evolutionary approach—from not tracking anything to tracking something; the engineering metrics he ended up tracking and more.
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Sep 15, 2020
Aligning vectors, cage fighting and PM benching | Srikant Vemuri, Manager of Product and Technology at Frontier Car Group as the CEO of Technology
Srikant Vemuri has held leadership roles in overseeing the design and launch of breakthrough products in the B2B, Adtech, and Big Data spaces for industry innovators such as Seerene, Womply, Aarki, and Adchemy. Currently, he's managing product and technology at Frontier Car Group as the CEO of Technology. In this episode, Srikant shares what he's learned during his journey—filled with bruises, scars, blood, tears, and his share of successes. He's got this exciting idea of balancing great product concepts and a CEO's strategy—he calls it the "cage fight." We discuss Product Management benching. He's taken the term from sports and applies it in business. Find out what he thinks PMs should be doing when benched. And we spend quite a bit of time talking about OKRs, and a personal KPI he monitors to gauge his teams' health. He believes this KPI is foundational for OKRs to be successful.
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Sep 1, 2020
Jobs to be Done, Part 2 | Alan Klement, Author of When Coffee and Kale Compete
Alan Klement is known for developing the theories of Jobs to be Done and Market Modernization and inventing new methodologies and methods for engineering growth. His latest venture is Revealed — a market research and growth guidance firm that helps organizations grow, align, and reveal market insights. He's the author of When Coffee and Kale Compete and is writing a sequel called Jobs to be Done: Understanding Needs. Predicting Adoption. This is part two of our conversation. In this episode, we discuss OKRs and Jobs to be Done, the two goals that product people should take into consideration, the importance of a feed forward communication culture, and we get a sneak peek into some concepts and models from Alan's new book. Let's jump in.
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Aug 18, 2020
Jobs to be Done, Part 1 | Alan Klement, Author of When Coffee and Kale Compete
Alan Klement is known for developing the theories of Jobs to be Done and Market Modernization and inventing new methodologies and methods for engineering growth. His latest venture is Revealed — a market research and growth guidance firm that helps organizations grow, align, and reveal market insights. He's the author of When Coffee and Kale Compete and is writing a sequel called Jobs to be Done: Understanding Needs. Predicting Adoption. It's due in Summer 2020. My conversation with Alan is broken down into two parts. In this episode, we discuss the Taylorism versus Humanism approach to explaining OKRs, and how understanding needs means understanding how they're created, how they grow and shrink, and get eliminated. We cover the "voice of the customer" and its flaws and how Lean startup solves problems that come with the "voice of the customer" approach.
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Aug 4, 2020
TACOS and OKRs: Values and Frameworks | Scott Shapiro, Principal Product Marketing Manager for B2B & Account Management Customer Experience at Qualtrics
In this episode, we hear from Scott Shapiro, Principal Product Marketing Manager for B2B/Account Management Customer Experience at Qualtrics. We get an inside look at how it felt when Qualtrics was pre-IPO and everyone thought it was going to happen—but gotcha—it didn't happen. We hear a lot nowadays that things are slowing down due to this global pandemic. Scott shares his findings from research they’ve been doing. They’re seeing an acceleration of what was already happening. Hear what they’ve learned. Qualtrics has a set of principles called Tacos. Find out what that means and how Tacos shape how they operate. We talk about OKRs and how to go from activity to delivering value.
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Jul 21, 2020
Balancing autonomy and alignment | Rohit Gupta, Head of Product at Honeypot.io
Joining me today is Rohit Gupta. He is the Head of Product at Honeypot.io and leads the Product Management, Product Design and large parts of the Engineering teams. In this episode, we discuss ways his team is staying socially connected during the Coronavirus pandemic, Honeypot’s dream and how his organization is pursuing it, the power of the reverse recruitment model in hiring, and the key learnings Honeypot weaved into their OKRs process to make the methodology work for them.
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Jul 6, 2020
Sold: the journey from mediocrity to excellence | Dennis Gräf, Business Strategy Manager at Kolibri Games
Dennis Gräf is a Business Strategy Manager at Kolibri Games. Ubisoft acquired his company in January 2020. Kolibri is one of the leaders of the “idle” games genre. One of their most popular games, Idle Miner Tycoon, has been downloaded by more than 104 million players. In this episode, Dennis shares Kolibri’s journey with OKRs. We discuss the transition of everyone working from an office to everyone working from home, how he pulse checked the leadership team and the organization before introducing an OKRs tool, how their OKRs process works and has evolved, and the hard lessons the organization had to learn along the way.
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Jun 22, 2020
A culture of ownership | Gene Hammett, Managing Director, Co-Founder & Executive Coach at Core Elevation
Gene Hammett is a leading expert on high-growth company culture and leadership. He has interviewed more than 530 CEOs of high-growth companies to understand the core principles of fast growth. In this episode, we examine what leaders of fast-growth companies have in common and what leaders should anchor to during these challenging times. We discuss what's more important in business, the employees or the customers. In Gene's worldview, accountability is too low a bar. Listen in to hear what he believes we need to strive for instead.
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Jun 8, 2020
Create high five situations | Blake Thomas, Director of Engineering at NoRedInk
Joining me is Blake Thomas, the Director of Engineering at NoRedInk. He’s learned a lot while working with engineers for over two decades. On this episode, you’ll hear us chat about the 2 modes of failure, why we experience issues with people updating their OKRs (and what we can do about it), how to prevent “OKR Theatre,” the universal reality of today’s workforce and more.
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May 26, 2020
The continuous improvement mindset | Rob Bayley, Senior Product Manager at Auvik Networks Inc
Joining me today is Rob Bayley. Rob is currently a Senior Product Manager at Auvik Networks Inc. Previously, he was a Director of Product at Roadmunk and a Senior Product Manager at NetSuite. He's got a decade of Product Management experience under his belt. On this episode, Rob shares his thoughts on Product Management from the lens of an individual contributor, manager and leader, the dangers of cascading goals, the key to making OKR work, and how to utilize evidence based decision making when you're at a pre-product stage.
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May 18, 2020
Build teams of changemakers | Prar Johnson, Head Of Design (Experience Platform) at Atlassian
Prar Johnson’s a changemaker who has over 19 years of experience—spent some time shaping products at Nokia, T-Mobile, Skype Microsoft, Soundcloud, Shopify, and now Atlassian. On this episode, you’ll hear her explanation for why product strategy is hard, the time she made a tough call using a consensus-driven approach, what data the Atlassian design team uses to shape their OKRs, how she got involved with the birth of what is now known as Microsoft Teams and more.
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May 12, 2020
Process can drive outcomes | Andrew Wallace, Managing Director and CPO of SmileBack
Our guest for Episode 2 is Andrew Wallace. He’s the Managing Director and CPO of SmileBack. Previously, he was the Director of Product Management at Chefs Plate. Chefs Plate was acquired by the German meal kit company, HelloFresh, in 2018. In this episode, you’ll hear Andrew’s thoughts on the importance of knowing and having a shared vision, how Chef’s Plate planned to exit with a certain buyer in mind who ended up not being the buyer in the end, how sometimes a business needs to build unique technology in-house, why simple dreams are good, what Andrew’s learned from his experience at Chefs Plate and transferred to SmileBack and more.
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May 4, 2020
Always take accountability | Ryan McMinn, Head of Product & current steward of Microsoft OneNote & Sticky Notes
Taking Important Leadership Notes
Did you know that many historical impactful figures had some form of notetaking habit actively reflecting on their experiences? Research shows you forget 60% of the information that comes into you daily. It also shows that notetakers retain 95% of that information.
In this episode of Dreams with Deadlines, Jenny speaks with Ryan McMinn, the head of product for Microsoft OneNote and Sticky Notes. Ryan who has been with Microsoft for 13 years insists on being a good leader for his team and offering customers product value. He shares how OneNote has developed and grown as a product putting into consideration the target customer over the years.
Listen in to learn why you need to become a notetaker as it helps with reflecting on experiences which is what creates knowledge and wisdom. You will also hear the importance of learning by going through things first hand and gaining experience while finding ways to get over them fast enough.
“It’s very hard…
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