The OKR Podcast

Jaclyn Pedersen, Director of OKR Strategy and Alignment at GHX, lays out how she's improving alignment and execution in 2025, from strategy execution workshops with cross-functional VPs, to really intentional retrospectives focused on learning and actually making changes, to making accountability easier for everyone.  She shares her secrets to getting everyone to embrace her OKR practices and being of real value to the CEO.  Don't miss this episode - it's overflowing with ways to raise your impact this year!

Bharath Oruganti, EVP at Q2 Inc, has a real drive for leadership excellence.  Changing his management model and cadence, he's eliminated any confusion about the strategic priorities, simplified work for his team, and ensures he spots risks to those priorities in less than a week to maximize his outcomes. Hear his leadership epiphany and the high functioning operating rhythm that is propelling his organization's success.

Explore the power of Objectives and Key Results to drive enterprise performance while maintaining flexibility. Dive into the balance between strategic change and routine, ensuring clarity and teamwork thrive. Discover the importance of continuous improvement over rigid standards. Engage in insightful discussions about prioritization, trade-offs, and the need for ongoing adaptation in business practices. Transform your approach to performance management by blending transparency with effective measurement.

Guest Alexis Kearns, Chief People Officer at GHX, shares her approach to OKRs and performance management, the hard conversations, team OKRs and effective managers, and the CEO-CHRO partnership.  She starts with first principles to authentically elevate performance, with healthy respect for the worthy but difficult work of managing people and teams.

This episode features a fireside chat with Aprimo CEO Erik Huddleston about the importance of a structured operating model for driving strategic execution, recorded live on stage at the 2024 Accelerate Conference.  Read Deidre's companion blog article on driving peak performance with operating rhythm and rigor.

In this episode, Deidre Paknad sits down with Tina Murphy, CEO of GHX, to discuss the potential of genAI as a transformative force to accelerate GHX's mission of providing affordable quality healthcare. They discuss the challenges and opportunities of adopting AI, addressing employee fears, and fostering AI fluency within the organization, as well as the broader implications of AI in driving organizational efficiency and innovation.

Tiffany Christner, Chief of Staff - Cloud Platform and Engineering at Boeing discusses how WorkBoard, the OKR framework, and consistent operating rituals create a safe space for her organization to collaborate on driving aspirational outcomes.

Explore the proactive use of OKRs to drive success through lead measures and strategic alignment. Learn about orchestrating execution, managing performance, and the efficiency of short meetings. Align key results weekly for adaptive decision-making and successful outcomes.

As the VP of Execution and Transformation in the Office of the CEO at VMWare, Joel Neeb led the operating model transformation with stellar results. In this episode, Joel and Deidre talk about better alignment between CEOs and CHROs and the power of managers in the middle to unlock strategy achievement.

Deidre Paknad, WorkBoard CEO, discusses the signs of unprepared managers in a dynamic world. Managers need to exhibit effective behaviors, adapt to continuous change, and lead strategy execution. Equipping managers with tools like OKRs and generative AI helps drive performance.