Goal Diggers: OKR, KPIs, strategy, and people management.

OKR is essentially change management. Therefore, to ensure that OKR is the right framework for a large organization, they typically choose to run an OKR proof of concept (POC) with a department or team first.

We spoke to Jean-Luc Koning, OKR coach and co-founder of IN EXCELSIS, who ran the OKR POC with the IT team at The City of Quebec, the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec. After all, a city (governmental organization) is an organization, with similar concerns as any other organization. In this podcast Jean-Luc explains:

• Why the City of Quebec decided to run an OKR POC in the first place
• How their POC was set up
• What their expectations of the POC was
• What approach he took with their IT team
• The ideal length for an OKR POC
• Who exactly was involved in this OKR POC
• What processes were deliberately left out
• What feedback teams and team leads had regarding the POC
• Based on his learnings, what he would do differently in the next POC
• What success factors are needed for running a successful OKR proof of concept
• And, what the current status is of the City of Quebec after the POC

Tune in to learn more!

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Copyright 2023 Perdoo

Let's assume your business is a machine. There are different activities and processes your machine goes through in order for it to be fully functional and successful. Those activities include designing, building, and running the machine. But what does that truly mean for your business?

We spoke to Richard Russell, an OKR and Leadership Coach, about his analogy: your business is a machine. In this episode, we'll:

• Walk you through the analogy
• Discuss what each activity — design, build, and run — entails
• How people fit into these processes
• What role OKRs and KPIs play in these activities
• Share how and when you should move from one activity to another
• Explain how to balance efforts between each activity
• Provide best practices for successfully designing, building, and running your business

Tune in to learn more!

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Learn more about strategy, goals (OKRs & KPIs) & performance — visit the Perdoo Resources Hub.

Copyright 2023 Perdoo

OKR is an iterative process — it's essentially change management. The truth is that you may not succeed when implementing OKR for the first time, maybe not even the second time. And that's fine. OKR is a flexible and forgiving framework. Once you've mastered it, it will positively impact how you operate as a business. So don't give up just yet!

We spoke to Vlad Filippov, founder and CEO of Spark Equation, about his experience implementing and working with OKR. His first two attempts at implementing OKR didn't run as smoothly as planned. But each time he acquired learnings until he knew exactly what his organization needed to be successful with OKR. We talk about:

• How and when he knew his business needed a framework like OKR
• What he learned during his implementations
• How he finally became successful with OKR
• How he finally implemented OKR to everyone
• What changes he has seen in his organization now that they're successfully working with OKR
• What tools he uses to manage all moving parts of his business

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Learn more about strategy, goals (OKRs & KPIs) & growth — visit the Perdoo Resources Hub.

Copyright 2023 Perdoo

Every organization strives to have teams that perform well. However, the process of designing such high-performing teams and creating an environment in which people can thrive, is often an overlooked process. Why is that the case? Aren't people your most important resource after all? 

So, what are high-performing, empowered teams? And, how can you create such a work environment with the help of OKR? We spoke to Christina Wodtke, ex-OKR consultant, and author of Radical Focus and The team that managed itself, about:

• What the meaning of an empowered team is?
• What does it mean to consciously design and maintain a high-performing empowered team? 
• How do you design such a team?
• What do organizations get wrong when designing their teams?
• What role do goals (eg. OKRs) play in the empowerment of teams?
• And what is the process of goal grading in such teams? 

Tune in to learn more!

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Want to track your OKRs (and KPIs)? Head over to Perdoo and create a FREE account.

Learn more about strategy, goals (OKRs & KPIs) & growth — visit the Perdoo Resources Hub.

Copyright 2023 Perdoo

We live in times of immense uncertainty — which tends to lead to an unclear outlook on where your organization and teams are headed. Setting a sound strategy and subsequent goals to help you succeed becomes all the more difficult.

While the OKR framework may not be a solution for turbulent internal and external circumstances, it is a tool that can help provide an increased amount of certainty for organizations.

We spoke to Marco Alberti, founder and OKR coach at Murakamy about how organizations can navigate uncertainty with OKR and discussed the following:

• Is OKR a tool that can help organizations navigate internal and external instability?
• What are the benefits of using OKR during times of uncertainty?
• Why do organizations tend to abandon OKR in times of crisis? And how can organizations avoid this from happening?
• How can employees incorporate OKR into their work schedules, to stay focused but agile during times of uncertainty?

Tune in to learn more!

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Want to track your OKRs (and KPIs)? Head over to Perdoo and create a FREE account.

Learn more about strategy, goals (OKRs & KPIs) & growth — visit the Perdoo Resources Hub.

Copyright 2023 Perdoo

OKR is essentially a cumulation of goal management best practices that were collected over the past few decades and compiled into a framework. These OKR best practices act as guidelines to ensure your organization is set up for success.

Having said that, every organization is different. And the beauty of OKR is that it provides enough flexibility, enabling you to contextualize and adapt the framework to best fit your organization's needs. The OKR framework is flexible. But you might be wondering: how flexible?

We discuss the 5 key OKR best practices with Peter Kappus, an OKR expert, and organizational coach. These guidelines are typically interpreted quite strictly, resulting in many organizations failing with OKR or just abandoning the framework altogether.

But we'll uncover how you can use the given rules and adapt them to best suit you. Here are some of the things we discuss:

• Outcomes vs. outputs: When is it alright to have an output-focused Key Result?
• Annual and quarterly cadences: When is it ok for organizations not to use the default cadence?
• Can teams change OKRs mid-quarter?
• OKR progress: Can OKR progress only be driven by Key Results?
• Stretch OKRs: When should organizations work with stretch OKRs?
• Private OKRs: When can you have private/hidden OKRs?

Tune in to learn more!

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Want to track your OKRs (and KPIs)? Head over to Perdoo and create a FREE account.

Learn more about strategy, goals (OKRs & KPIs) & growth — visit the Perdoo Resources Hub.

Are you looking to roll out OKR to your entire organization and want to know what you may need to consider? Do you feel like it's a daunting task and don't know where to start?

Firstly, we can assure you that it's not as complex as it seems. And we spoke to Ben Lamorte, about everything you need to know to successfully roll out OKR to your entire organization.

Ben is the founder and coach at OKRs.com, co-author of Objectives and Key Results (2016), and author of The OKRs field book (2022). And as one of the first OKR consultants in the space, having helped hundreds of organizations (including companies like eBay, Adobe, Zalando) deploy OKR, Ben has a ton of great insights and experiences that can help you as you get started with the OKR roll out process.

Here are some of the topics we discuss:

01:15 - Intro on Ben Lamorte

07:30 - What is the first thing you should consider when looking to implement OKR?

13:35 - Is there a rollout approach that works best?

22:00 - Rolling out OKR to your entire organization

29:00 - Can any company implement OKR?

32:00 - How important is senior leadership backing when implementing OKR?

35:30 - How can you overcome resistance and ensure company-wide buy-in?

43:30 - How should organizations educate their teams on the OKR framework and integrate it into their work?

50:50 - Ben's no. 1 piece of advice when getting started with OKR

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Learn more about strategy, goals (OKRs & KPIs) & growth — visit the Perdoo Resources Hub.

Ever wondered if there is a "right time" to get started with OKR? Some may say it's best to start early — ingraining the framework within the organization from the start. Others may say it's only really needed when you have robust processes in place. Curious to hear what we think works best?

Having recently shifted from the startup to the scaleup phase, we spoke to Jesse Staats, CEO of The Linq Group, about his experience working with OKR and his thoughts on when organizations should start working with the framework. We also cover the following topics:

• Why The Linq Group started working with OKR
• Their shift from the startup to scaleup phase, and what classifies an org as a "scaleup"
• How OKR has supported their growth
• Whether OKR helped in their recent round of funding
• How they integrate personal growth goals into their OKR framework and the bigger picture
• The overall benefits experienced from using OKR

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Ready to track your OKRs the right way? Head over to Perdoo and create a FREE account.

Learn more about strategy, goals (OKRs & KPIs) & growth — visit the Perdoo Resources Hub.

Did you know that government organizations work with OKR as well? Truth be told, OKR is a tool that can benefit any organization — regardless of industry, size, or maturity — and that includes public sector organizations as well.

The Municipality of Amsterdam (Gemeente Amsterdam) has been working with OKR over the last 2 years and has witnessed a manifold of benefits and a shift in how they approach work. Curious to learn more about their experience with OKR so far?

We spoke to Wilma van Leeuwen, Program Manager Organizational Development at the Municipality of Amsterdam, to get a window into what it's been like, as a public sector organization, to be working with OKR. We'll discuss:

• What made Gemeente Amsterdam implement OKR
• Their rollout and expansion process
• The challenges faced
• The benefits experienced
• Advice to public sectors organizations looking to implement OKR

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If you're new to OKR or are just getting started, download The ultimate guide to OKR. We'll walk you through everything you need to know to get started with Objectives & Key Results.

And, if you're looking to master the art of setting great OKRs, head over to our newly published (revised edition) eBook on How to write great OKRs.

Start tracking your OKRs (& KPIs) for FREE! Create your own Perdoo account here.

If the last few years have taught us anything; it's that change is constant. We're often inclined to just adapt and accept such circumstances. But it's time to respond with strategic agility and engrain strategic foresight into our organizations, in order to build a desired future, not a compromised one.

So let's talk strategy! Together with Daniel Montgomery, Managing Director at Agile Strategies, we'll uncover:

• What strategy really is
• The meaning of strategic thinking and foresight
• How to respond to internal and external changes with strategic agility
• How OKR (Objectives and Key Results) boosts clarity on an organization's strategic choices

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Additonal resources: Playing to Win by Roger Martin & A.G. Lafley

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Want to learn how to set a great strategy? Head over to our blog post: Looking to get aligned? Put strategy first, OKR second

Looking to communicate and plan out your strategy in a way that everyone understands? Set up your Strategic Pillars and Strategic Timeline in Perdoo. You can get started here.