case studies - Strategic Planning

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Everybody is busy! Utilization is great! We can't finish anything...

Baseline: Zero OKRs completed, underwhelming results, 2 waves of lay offs

Improvements: 5/5 OKRs completed, return to profitability goals, zero lay offs

• Organizational focus
• Cross-functional collaboration
• Objectives and key results achieved within timeframe
• Trust in leadership
• Transparency

After supporting the biggest business unit for the last quarter of the year, we realized that, even though employee utilization metric was above target, projects were often deferred to the following year, resulting in zero Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) being met, with over 100 still in progress. We met with the executive team to review the current situation and the negative impact of not completing OKRs on the business, including not meeting bonus triggers and recurring to layoffs to make up for the expected gains.

We conducted a prioritization exercise with the executive team to identify and define the highest priorities for the organization moving forward. 

The business unit concentrated on just five primary objectives and outcomes, rather than over a hundred per business unit. Introduced visual management for efficient tracking, eliminating the need for time-consuming presentations and allowing a focus on execution. Achieved all five out of five OKRs annually. The financial stability coming from completing the most critical objectives ensured no further layoffs.

The process was expanded to the rest of the business units making it an enterprise-wide approach to strategic planning and most importantly execution of the strategy.

Implemented visual management to be able to keep track without having to build presentations that consume time instead of focusing on execution.

Concentrated on just five primary objectives and outcomes, rather than over a hundred per business unit. Introduced visual management for efficient tracking, eliminating the need for time-consuming presentations and allowing a focus on execution. Achieved all five out of five OKRs annually. The financial stability of the company ensured no further layoffs.