Our Insights
Succeeding with OKRs

THE OKR PODCAST
THE OKR PODCAST
Why Before How
Deidre shares her thoughts on OKRs to kick off 2025 and get dialed in on the victories and advantages we want to create at our companies this year.

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Three Communication Moves That Accelerate Outcomes
Ditch the jargon and spark better team behaviors by reframing how you talk about OKRs. These three simple shifts put purpose first—making it easier for people to lean in, align, and move faster together.

THE OKR PODCAST
THE OKR PODCAST
Real X-Functional Alignment
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.

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Stellar Strategy Execution Using OKRs
Strategy execution is hard due to internal confusion, misalignment, and no single source of truth. WorkBoard OKRs create cross-functional alignment, a fast weekly cadence, and a clear link from strategy to team priorities and individual impact.

THE OKR PODCAST
THE OKR PODCAST
Purpose & Simplicity
Harry Blease from British telecom giant Virgin Media O2 started with the “why” of OKRs as the foundation for his implementation. He anchored on what leaders hoped to accomplish with OKRs – alignment, accountability, transparency.

THE OKR PODCAST
THE OKR PODCAST
Evolution & Revolution
Recorded live at WorkBoard’s Accelerate 2025 conference, this episode covers how organizations have matured their approach to OKRs, strategy execution and the connection with individual performance over the past few years and what's changing next.

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What World Class Looks Like
Companies that execute strategy very well do these 4 things as they implement WorkBoardAI. It's the source of higher clarity, purpose and progress.
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Yes, Alignment is Hard (and That’s a Good Thing)
Real alignment comes from debating options, from making trade offs not piling on. Reset your team’s expectations — it is hard, worthy and job of leaders.
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Strategy is Lost in Translation
When driving adoption of OKRs as a strategy execution framework, avoid losing sight of your business strategy by making a few simple changes in how you communicate.

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SOUND BITE
LRP, AOP, Hoshin Kanri, OKRs – Do They Work Together?
Each is designed to create clarity and accountability in a different time horizon – OKRs provide near term focus that propels organizations to their best long term results.

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OKRs in the Operating Rhythm
OKRs are a part of the business operating rhythm. Learn how they fit into the rhythm of the business as a key to accelerating strategy achievement.

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SOUND BITE
Faster Growth Requires Faster Forward Movement
As you implement OKRs, here are three things to consider as you think about how far and deep in your organization you'll drive alignment, how much transparency you really need, and of course, how fast you need it.

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SOUND BITE
Focus on Outcomes, Not Output
A good OKR process shifts the organization from an output to an Outcome Mindset™.

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SOUND BITE
Unlocking the Power of Teams with OKRs
Do you have a framework for your teams to achieve their best?
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Being Intentional About Results
Don't let the OKR process obscure its purpose, or lose sight of the fact that OKRs help teams agree on what matters and focus efforts there.

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OKRs for the Revenue Organization
For a long time, people kept OKRs separate from KPIs. The thinking was: don’t let OKRs just become revenue metrics. Don’t tie them to comp plans. Keep them aspirational. But in 2025, that separation adds confusion. OKRs and operating metrics should be visible together and serve different purposes. They need to work together.

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6 Powerful Insights from the Gartner CHRO Executive Summit
In a session on "Aligning Workforce Strategy with Business Goals," WorkBoard CEO Deidre Paknad, Birkenstock CHRO Michael Hoessl, and Rodan + Fields CHRO Jessica Raefield surfaced six powerful insights on what it takes to lead HR into the next era.
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Digital Banking Trends: Evolution from 2020 to 2026
See how digital banking evolved from 2020 to 2025—and what trends are shaping the future of finance.

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Three Ways OKRs Can Make You a Better Leader
The fastest way to improve as a leader is to get the foundations right. If you’re spinning trying to eke out 1% improvements, you’re probably missing the opportunity to transform your leadership and team’s performance. Here are 3 20-50% improvements you can make today.

THE OKR PODCAST
THE OKR PODCAST
OKRs for Agile, Outcome-Focused Organizations
Jeff Gothelf, business agility and OKR framework expert, organizational designer, author and speaker, sits down with Deidre to share his unique approach to cultivating a product-focused mindset across large, complex enterprise organizations.

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OKR First Principles
Using OKRs to align and achieve your best outcomes is quickly becoming a strategy execution norm... but this is not MBOs and KPIs with another name. WorkBoard CEO Deidre Paknad shares her first principles for OKR success.

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VIDEO
Outcome-Based Product Planning
In this presentation from Accelerate EU 2023, Jeff Gothelf, business agility and OKR framework expert, shares his unique approach to cultivating a product-focused mindset across enterprise organizations. Jeff uncovers how agile organizations manage to outcomes - and more importantly, how leaders can empower their people with the right framework for autonomy, discovery, and learning.

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OKRs are a Competitive Advantage
Jeff Gothelf, co-author of <em>Lean UX</em> and OKR expert, explains how teams that set their goals as OKRs have a unique competitive advantage in their market.

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VIDEO
The Future of Alignment: OKRs for Strategy Execution
Gee Rittenhouse, CEO, McAfee Enterprise, shares tips for successful strategy execution, and discusses how a digital operating rhythm can create the alignment and momentum needed to more quickly achieve your bold vision and business goals.

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The OKR Renaissance is Real
According to Gartner, the success of enterprises that operationalize organizational clarity with OKRs is what is fueling the renaissance in the practice.
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What Goes Wrong with OKRs?
Like all new things, adoption of the OKR process takes time, effort and commitment and you can improve every quarter. Learn about the 5 most common pitfalls that can occur - and how to avoid them.

THE OKR PODCAST
THE OKR PODCAST
Why Do OKRs Fail?
5 ways OKRs go sideways and why. Tried OKRs and they didn’t work or hearing that from a colleague? This episode talks about why OKRs fail, the root issues, and gives a fresh perspective gaining their true value.

THE OKR PODCAST
THE OKR PODCAST
OKRs at Google
Margo Georgiadis, former president of the Americas at Google for 8 years, leads a master class for executives on how Google uses OKRs.