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In this live presentation from the Accelerate Conference, Kate Villari, Senior Director of Transformation, Strategy & Performance at AstraZeneca, discusses how AstraZeneca approaches enterprise transformation and how global IT is using OKRs and WorkBoard to create stability in a volatile environment. The conversation covers priority-setting and transparency, cross-functional alignment, establishing a digital operating rhythm with weekly progress visibility, scaling execution through organizational growth, and navigating cultural and regulatory realities in a heavily regulated pharma industry—including the practice of “embracing the red.”
The Challenge
- Priority overload in a high-change environment:
Global IT was generating “more ideas than we can execute,” and without a clear, transparent mechanism to capture and rank priorities, work defaulted to “everything feels urgent,” with urgent work routinely displacing important work.
- Low clarity for a newly formed function:
When the Strategy & Performance team was stood up (as a larger team) in November 2020, colleagues lacked understanding of the team’s priorities and how day-to-day work connected to the broader global IT strategy.
- Inconsistent operating rhythm and reliance on manual status reporting:
Prior to the digital operating rhythm, visibility required extra effort (e.g., ad hoc requests, additional PowerPoint/status packaging), limiting timely, routine insight into progress and risks.
- Cultural and regulatory headwinds against outcome-based execution:
In a heavily regulated pharma context, teams were conditioned to avoid showing “red” and faced pushback/resistance to changing how work is planned and measured, slowing OKR adoption and performance transparency.
The WorkBoardAI Solution
- Faster, cleaner decision-making through transparent prioritization:
WorkBoard enabled AstraZeneca IT to clearly communicate “here’s what we’re going to do… by when… and what you can expect,” helping the organization manage demand that exceeded capacity without losing focus.
- Measured lift in alignment and understanding within one quarter:
After one full quarter using OKRs (supported by WorkBoard) in Strategy & Performance, team members moved into a positive survey range for understanding functional priorities and how those priorities align to the global IT strategy.
- Always-on visibility to progress—without extra reporting burden:
Leaders could see “progress to plan every single week,” including on-the-fly mobile access, without asking teams for additional work or “extra PowerPoint,” strengthening accountability and speed of course-correction.
- More resilient execution during org change (scaling and integration):
When the team doubled in size by adding a new group, they set goals in two weeks (faster than the prior quarter) and quickly incorporated new joiners’ ideas—evidence of a repeatable operating model that scaled with the organization.
Conclusion
With WorkBoardAI supporting OKRs and the digital operating rhythm, AstraZeneca IT improved strategy-to-execution clarity and operating cadence: leadership gained weekly visibility into progress-to-plan without incremental reporting overhead, the Strategy & Performance team reached positive survey results on understanding and strategic alignment after one quarter, and a newly doubled team set organizational goals in two weeks—faster than the previous cycle—while maintaining transparent prioritization amid demand exceeding capacity.
