CEO Says Cut Costs?
Got an App for That

The CEO says cut costs at the quarterly strategy meeting. After freaking out, your brain goes into problem-solving mode. How to deal with the immediate impacts? What am I going to cut?

A hiring freeze has been imposed, while the company is set to launch a new product next quarter. How will you pay for the final pieces of the project you had meant to outsource? There’s a website that needs to be built and nobody to build it. How are you gonna market the new product?

Relax, we have you covered. Our goal achievement app, MyObjectives, empowers teams to get more done collaboratively, by linking objectives across the organization to top-level company goals. The app, featuring scorecards for each team, sharpens role clarity and accountability (wave goodbye to that developer’s annoying pet projects that hit dead ends), improves communication on the vital projects that matter most to the business, and harnesses the energy and resourcefulness of every team and every individual across the company.

Do more with less

OK, so the CEO froze new hires and outsourcing across the company. You will need to get next quarter’s product launch done with the people and resources you have. The MyObjectives app sharpens team focus bringing people and resources together to get the job done. It starts with a clear vision from the executive team, and concrete goals from the product team that will ensure a successful launch. These goals are on scorecards visible to everyone at the company.

Team leaders of support groups and their teams, like engineering, software development, customer service, and marketing, work together to strategize S.M.A.R.T. objectives that will drive a measurably successful product launch, sparking productive conversations. Every employee is involved with creating their objectives, ensuring they have skin in the game. The teams work closely with executives and the product team to make sure they’re thinking through all aspects of the launch. The finalized objectives are loaded onto the scorecard, and it’s go time.

Engagement skyrockets

Abysmal employee engagement, a well-documented malady in corporate America, can be solved by MyObjectives. And this is an uber-important point for your cost-conscious CEO. Consider that only about 30% of employees are actively engaged on the job, according to a recent Gallup study.

That lowly number changes fast with our app. With a personal stake in the success of their company and a higher purpose, employees step up. Scorecards offer real-time feedback that drives action, with scores, badges, charts, and other visual indicators highlighting achievements and reflecting progress toward completing objectives. Challenges surface and are discussed.

The app gives clarity on who’s accountable for objectives and who’s supporting whom, team meetings become highly productive, and issues flagged for discussion on the scorecard are hammered out in an open, transparent way. The opposite of silos.

Teams are motivated to reach their agreed-upon score by the quarter end. Individuals on the team who fall behind are supported by the players who are out in front. It’s all about team, bro, players working together to win! Or, maybe even more motivating, to not lose.

Show ‘em the ROI

Let’s go back to that unimpressive 30% engagement number at the average company. That money you’re spending for the folks in Building 3202 to surf the net half the day is going straight down the downspouts. What if you got them engaged and productive? And the same thing happened in other zoned-out pockets across the company?

What if you increased engagement to 50% at your company? Depending on the size of your business that could be millions or even tens of millions of bucks in productivity gains.

Take a look at our ROI calculator to see the potential ROI that comes with a more engaged workforce.

CEO changes tune

Suddenly the conversation switches from “we need to cut costs,” to “wow, we’re in growth mode. Let’s ramp up with new hires and more resources.”

That’s where the CEO’s going with MyObjectives. And that’s a much more fun conversation than the other one where we started.

Take a tour of MyObjectives here, or contact us. We like to help CEOs whistle growth tunes.

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Paul Niven

Paul Niven is a management consultant, an author and a public speaker on the subjects of corporate strategy and performance management systems, like the Balanced Scorecard.

Ben Lamorte

Ben Lamorte is the founder and president of OKRs.com. He advises business leaders on the best methods for defining and making measurable progress on their most important goals.

OKRs with a Mission

Are Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) too focused on the short term? Not if you add the company mission to the equation.

So What’s the Score?

Scoring for the performance management system, OKRs, has evolved over time. And likely will continue to be fine-tuned.