Dreams with Deadlines

A Chief People Officer’s Approach To OKRs | Brad Wilkins, Chief People Officer currently at a Startup in “Stealth” Mode

Jun 27, 2022

57:21

Creator website

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 understanding how business works.
[02:25] Bradford defines the HR function and its multi-dimensional role in showcasing and aligning departments across the enterprise.
[03:30] About Bradford’s take on the freight industry and Loadsmart, a provider of digital solutions to manage industry logistics. As CPO, he was part of creating a powerful, scalable, synchronous clearinghouse for automating communications and industry flow.
[07:10] What it will mean for Loadsmart to provide an AI-driven platform that coordinates and connect not only shippers, who are the primary customers, but also carriers, ports, customs, warehouses – the many dispersed elements that have never before had access to shared data.
[10:00] Throughout his career and multiple engagements, Bradford has been building on OKRs that weren’t much more than KPIs when he started on the journey – a journey, he says, that never ends.
[12:00] Defining the core difference between an OKR and a KPI, based on the lens used and varying indicators.
[15:10] Bradford highlights the transformational impacts on company-wide meetings that focus cross-functionally and creatively to expand ideation and stretch goals.
[16:58] KPIs do have a place within organizations, particularly in areas where baseline goals are important for level-setting.
[17:42] About linking OKRs and evaluations, for Loadsmart a quarterly process based on four check-in questions focused on exceptionality.
[19:50] “Loadee” evals include results-focused OKR questions that flip the paradigm to emphasize effort and output rather than a check-the-box mentality.
[23:49] About CLEAR (Career Path, Learning Objectives, Expectations, Accountabilities & Rewards), an automated progression program that offers employees flexibility from quarter to quarter in how they pursue objective goals. Bradford shares examples from sales, where he recently rolled out a highly successful program.
[29:27] Accelerated by Covid, workplace culture is rebranding performance management to shift from a performative (long hours, butts in seats) mentality to an impact- and measures-based orientation.
[31:09] Ideation and expectations at the senior level in terms of how to bring OKR strategy to life, starting with the pyramid of progress:
- At the individual level it’s about initiatives and tasks and making progress towards long-term team objectives. Then measuring for key results.
- Expectations can be set top-down, but individuals are empowered bottom-up to try things, fail fast and drive initiatives autonomously.
- Ideation comes into play as observation and opportunity-oriented rather than imposed problem-oriented solutions as a starting point.
[34:45] Testing ideation is a critical next step in successful OKR deployment:
- Build tools (they can be fairly basic) to create evidence-based data analytics rather than blindly pursuing initiatives based on hearsay or intuition.
- Test adoption and outcomes via KPIs by tracking things like revenue.
[37:25] Bradford explains how he once used the creation of a cricket league for employees in India as a strategic initiative (including data metrics) to drive corporate OKRs like employee engagement and productivity. It was a fun and popular way to get there!
[40:48] Why employees have to be empowered to fail in order to be successful.
[42:45] Bradford’s advice for how people managers should respond when employees fail? (Which they inevitably must …)
- Whether an individual or a team: Do they have clarity as to what went wrong?
- Be prepared to do a retrospective to uncover the reasons for derailments.
- OKRs can be as critical for indicating what not to do as what to do.
- Meet regularly to go over OKRs and identify what’s red, yellow, green – and why.
- Is it psychologically safe for people to proactively raise a hand and get help?
- Leadership should not shy away from being vulnerable. Humility and authenticity trickle down through the ranks in liberating ways.
[46:10] When it comes to OKRs, sales is a somewhat different animal. There are, however, great opportunities to partner and leverage in a marketing context.
(46:52] Quick-Fire Questions:
- What’s your dream and, if you’ve got a deadline, what’s that? It’s changeable based on his evolving family life and the new dimensions it brings.
- What do you appreciate most about your team? Their openness to trying new things, which is critical when rolling out unfamiliar, innovative initiatives.
- What’s top of mind these days? Budget planning and performance.
- No. 1 tip for launching new OKR initiatives?
  - Less is more! It’s much easier to measure for quality through patient sequencing. It’s all about progress.
  - Are you developing metrics and milestones rather than “to do” lists?
  - When success is clearly defined and measurable, OKRs are lots of fun!