Challenges they were trying to tackle

1. Poor alignment to mission and execution plan

Without proper alignment, teams worked on disparate goals and did not progress toward the core mission. This caused wasted effort and frustration and slowed the achievement of strategic objectives. Quantumics needed a way to align the team with top-level goals to ensure everyone was rowing in the same direction.

2. Unstructured goal-setting and performance tracking

With no system to manage objectives and track progress, Quantumics struggled to gauge performance and achievement. Goals were being set case-by-case with no unified process. They lacked data to inform good decision-making and course corrections. This led to confusion around expectations and priorities.

3. Underdeveloped feedback culture

Without robust mechanisms and a basis for giving feedback, problems went unaddressed until they caused major issues.

4. Unfamiliarity and resistance to OKRs

After understanding OKRs from JOP, Quantumics faced some familiar challenges with them. Unfamiliarity with OKRs led to low motivation and resistance to OKRs. They worried it would become an administrative burden versus a useful priority-setting tool.

With no experience using OKRs, they found it difficult to translate high-level strategic objectives into tangible goals for their unit.

How did JOP’s services help Quantumics overcome its challenges?

JOP began collaborative exercises with Quantumics AI’s top leaders to understand the above problems more deeply.

They understood where the roadblocks to these challenges were so that they could assign specific priorities and goals to relevant individuals.

Moreover, JOP began training and consulting the leaders to create meaningful OKRs and implement the related best practices.

1. Strategic planning workshops to define top company OKRs

JOP’s team of OKR and Strategy Execution Consultants held a month-long “OKR Starter Program” workshop with Quantumics’ leadership team to identify the company’s top objectives for the next quarter and guide the team to implement OKRs effectively.

With JOP Experts’ help, the executives narrowed the priorities and crafted focused company-level KRs like “Increase engaged monthly active users from A to B by the next Quarter” to support the core goal of achieving a PMF (Product Market Fit).

The workshop enabled thoughtful debate and buy-in across Quantumics’ executives on the 3-5 most important objectives. JOP’s facilitators helped the leaders map the execution plan to execute each OKR, including owners, key results, and success measures.

2. Creating and aligning OKRs across the organization

With the top company OKRs set, JOP’s OKR Consultants collaborated with the HR team and enabled them to cascade those goals down into team and individual OKRs.

JOP provided training on effectively translating strategy into executable objectives and creating OKRs by allowing the team members to develop OKRs and align them with the company objectives.

For example, the product team linked the company’s OKR on active users to their OKRs around reducing code errors. Marketing created supporting OKRs to promote the features.

This process created alignment across Quantumics’ 15+ employees (In-office and remote) while allowing autonomy for teams to define how they would contribute to the company’s top objectives. JOP guided the initial rollout and helped assign OKR owners across the business.

3. Training HR team to become OKR Champions

To make the OKR framework sustainable in their organization, JOP’s Expert identified OKR Champions from the Quantumics’ HR team to make them internal OKR experts. These Champions learned OKR fundamentals and best practices through weekly coaching calls and training resources.

The HR reps partnered with department heads to assign OKR owners across all teams. They monitored adoption through one-on-one meetings.

After the program, HR was equipped to continue evangelizing OKRs, providing support, and tracking results. They became Quantumics’ dedicated OKR champions, empowered to drive the framework across the business.

4. Quarterly OKR Retrospectives with JOP

At the end of each quarter, JOP facilitated workshops to review Quantumics’ OKR implementation and identify process improvements. The sessions gathered insights from managers and the OKR Champions on what worked well versus areas for refinement.

The retrospectives helped Quantumics improve its OKR process, such as increased focus on drafting measurable key results. They also enabled adjustments to company strategy based on learnings.

These quarterly working sessions cultivated buy-in by giving teams visibility into how their OKRs aligned with company objectives and empowered them to work collaboratively on these goals.

Results Quantumics has seen after implementing JOP’s services

1. Enhanced line of sight from work to company missions

With JOP’s help aligning everyone with the top-level goals throughout the organization, Quantumics’ teams gained a clearer line of sight from their day-to-day work to the company’s core mission.

Engineering teams could see how their objectives to ship key features mapped directly to moving top-level OKRs on customer acquisition and revenue growth.

By aligning around common OKRs, the team achieved tighter strategic alignment. Individuals understood how their contributions laddered up into the company’s most important goals. This unified teams around shared objectives versus working in silos.

2. More objective Performance Management

Using OKRs and key results enabled more objective evaluations of performance across teams—progress toward quarterly goals provided clear indicators of achievement versus more subjective assessments.

Managers could point to key result completion rates and objective progress to base performance conversations on tangible data. For example, asking the marketing team what roadblocks they are facing in achieving more qualified leads.

Tying evaluations and discussions to OKR progress also reinforced focus and priorities. Individuals were motivated to advance key objectives, knowing their work was being measured against those goals.

3. Unified OKR management and collaboration

Using JOP’s platform, the company centralized OKR management and collaboration in one online platform. Teams could monitor alignment with OKRs, provide feedback, and recognize peers toward shared objectives.

The increased transparency kept everyone on the same page. Managers could identify dependencies between teams and course corrections in real time if OKRs went off track. Public OKRs enhanced accountability across the organization.

JOP’s OKR Experts also mentored the team to use constructive and appreciative feedback on the platform. This especially helped to engage the remote team members.

4. Sustained support through OKR Champions

The trained HR OKR champions were critical to sustain momentum after JOP’s initial launch. They continue promoting OKRs, providing support, and tracking results across the business.

Complementing the internal champions, JOP’s experts facilitate quarterly retrospectives to analyze what’s working and identify improvements to keep OKR adoption on track. The outside perspective helps Quantumics benchmark against effective implementations.

This layered internal and external support ensures the OKR program remains a living, dynamic framework that evolves with the business.