South Africa is still reeling from our awe-inspiring Rugby World Cup Win, and now we can finally sit back, relax and reflect on our stellar win after all the elevated heart rates (well done Springboks – our heightened stress levels were most definitely worth it!)   A lot will be written about the Springboks in the weeks and months to come and how they played for something greater than themselves. Their humble, servant leadership style. Their exceptional teamwork and fierce loyalty to their teammates. And, of course, their game strategy.   For us, their ability to pri ..read more

In today’s diverse business landscape, many organisations have adopted OKRs (Objectives and Key Results), a goal management tool to help teams achieve their strategic objectives and take their business to new heights. Users of OKRs include the likes of Google, Uber and many other influential companies. But the implementation and use of OKRs alone aren’t enough. OKRs provide a valuable set of tools but the real impact of OKRs is unlocked when organisations shift their mindset. OKRs need to be effectively tailored and adopted into the company so that it serves them best. As John Doer ..read more

“If we hate meetings, can we be making good decisions and successfully leading our organisations? I don’t think so. There is simply no substitute for a good meeting – a dynamic, passionate, and focused engagement – when it comes to extracting the collective wisdom of a team.” – Death by Meeting, Patrick Lencioni Pat Lencioni purports that there is no substitute for a good meeting, and hopefully more of us would resonate with that sentiment. For a meeting where all attendees contribute, analyse, debate, resulting in a great decision. We also agree with Frederic Laloux when he says that ..read more

In today’s fast-paced and complex business environment, teams need more and better ways to increase the speed of execution. The differences between goal management and project management as methodologies contributing to the speed of execution are often under-appreciated. At a high level, goal management is a method of setting and achieving strategic goals that is distinct from project management. While the two may seem similar, they each have their benefits and limitations. differences between goal management and project management While project management has been widely recognised a ..read more

There’s the age-old adage that it’s about the journey, not the destination. When it comes to strategy execution, we often know the destination or strategic goals we are pursuing, but getting there – the actual journey – might be unclear and uncertain. This is part of the reason why strategy implementation isn’t easy and why 87% of all companies with a strategic plan fail in executing it. However, in other cases, we know which steps to take, but the exact outcome we’re aiming for isn’t clear. Whatever the unknowns are, applying OKRs in the right way will help navigate them. How OKRs ..read more

Just like a new year’s resolution, refreshing your business strategy is like breathing new life into your business goals and aspirations. However, a strategy reset is slightly more complex than those new year’s resolutions where you aim to hit the gym more than once a year or commit to finally reading that book that’s been on your shelf gathering dust for years. And that’s exactly why it is so important to take the time at the start of a new financial year to refresh your strategy and set your business objectives. Not only does it start the year off on the right note, but it also create ..read more

“Practice puts brains in your muscles.” – Sam Snead The words of this ex-professional golfer can teach us something when it comes to applying the OKR methodology. When we start our journey with OKRs, we spend so much time trying to understand the principles and the process before we can apply our minds to what we need to be doing over the next few months. Spending this time upfront is important – to start speaking the same language, to understand the ‘why’ behind setting outcomes as a team, and to realise the importance of shorter timeframes. But eventually, we want the methodology and ..read more

The OKR methodology is both a critical thinking framework, as well as an ongoing discipline. Setting OKRs once-off is not enough; instead, after each OKR cycle (we usually suggest following a quarterly cadence) you should have a ‘reflect and reset’ session. In the ‘reflect and reset session’, you typically reflect on the past OKR cycle and reset OKRs for the cycle ahead. The reflection element allows your team to celebrate the successes, unpack what didn’t work too well and think through how to adapt the methodology and business habits going forward to create a better foundation for su ..read more

We’ve reflected on the wide range of clients we journeyed with this year. From super-banks to startup fintechs; with local NGOs and multinational conglomerates; in sectors spanning financial services, technology, energy, education, consulting, logistics and payments. And all the strategy execution journeys have been special in their own way. It’s in the pursuit of goals that we find joy The “specialness” of a journey comes in one of two ways. Firstly, where successes are abundantly evident, and clients can state it explicitly. Some of the things we’ve heard from clients are: “It h ..read more

Most deadlines are arbitrary. We make them up as we go. Whether it’s a financial year-end or a cutoff time on a half-marathon, they’re all, in the end, fictitious. So why is it essential to ensure the contract is signed before the 28th of February? Deadlines like these – specifically top-down decreed deadlines – often cause anxiety and burnout in organisations. We want to explore how to eliminate the anxiety-inducing deadlines and use them to our benefit. The importance of deadlines One of the ways we create deadlines is through goal management methodologies like OKRs. Fictitious as ..read more