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 values and objectives designed to resonate across the enterprise.

[00:13:39] About Chargebee’s key objectives: growth, value-add, an empathetic ethic, fast learning cycles.

[00:14:49] How outside OKR coaches helped define and respond to challenges.

[00:16:49] Learning Curve Lessons: The process takes time and people need prodding. 

[00:18:00] About experimentation and failing fast, which are part of the OKR journey.

[00:20:43] How Chargebee layers OKR and operations into quarter-end close-outs. 

[00:23:27] Rules of the Road: How to set your OKR process up for success.

[00:23:35] The role of internal OKR champions deployed across all business functions.

[00:25:54] How OKR champions are identified and recruited.

[00:27:57] About the cadence of Chargebee’s quarterly and annual OKR milestones.

[00:29:49] What occurs during monthly OKR reviews and how the tracking works.

[00:32:39] Rolling out recognition at the functional level.

[00:33:29] Special ways of honoring (and reinforcing) individual contributors.

[00:34:50] About blending OKR methodology with other performance metrics.  

[00:37:14] How OKRs differ by function and in a cross-functional context.

[00:38:19] What’s comes next in Chargebee’s evolving OKR journey.

[00:40:26] Quick-fire questions.

[00:43:07] Operational issues that are top of mind for Lavanya.

Relevant links:

Webinar featuring Lavanya: How Chargebee Uses OKRs to Inspire Collaboration and Manage Hypergrowth.

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