Corporate venture-building unit of a large global firm, with about ten internal startups
A corporate venture-building unit with about ten internal startups had adopted OKRs (objectives and key results), but its teams didn’t yet know how to use them well while juggling startup speed with a big firm’s senior stakeholders. I ran an OKR workshop for the unit, coached teams one by one, trained about 25 product managers and ran monthly OKR drop-ins. OKRs became part of how the teams worked. They dropped or pivoted weak ideas sooner, won sponsor backing more easily, and some ventures launched successfully and are still live today.
Workshops
What I did
A talk and a three-hour OKR-setting workshop for the whole unit
Coaching for individual teams as they set and reviewed their OKRs
Training for about 25 product managers on turning strategy into OKRs and using them with stakeholders
My OKR guide, for the teams to adapt as their own
Monthly OKR drop-in sessions for the wider community
Results
OKRs part of how the teams worked, with my OKR guide adapted to their own way of working and monthly drop-ins for more than 100 people
Sharper focus on customer value, and better conversations with managers and senior stakeholders
Weak ideas dropped or pivoted sooner, with people and money moved to stronger ones
Easier funding and sponsorship decisions with senior partners
Scaling ventures growing without their costs growing as fast
Some ventures becoming real lines of business for the firm, launched successfully and still live today
The venture unit helped spread OKRs further across the firm
Team leaders called the workshop really practical, and the product managers asked for more sessions
The situation
A large global firm had set up a venture-building unit with about ten internal startups, each building a new business. They had the energy of startups and the stakeholders of a big firm. Every team had to focus, keep its people engaged, and win support from senior leaders who weren’t used to working at startup speed.
The unit had chosen OKRs (objectives and key results) as its way of setting goals, and a tool to run them. What it didn’t have yet was teams who knew how to write good OKRs and use them to steer their work.
What we did
It started small, with sessions for three teams. Those went well, so the unit asked me to speak at its strategy week: a talk on how OKRs really work, then a three-hour workshop where every team drafted its own OKRs.
Over the following months I coached individual teams as they set their OKRs and reviewed how they were going. Then I trained about 25 product managers in two parts: turning strategy into OKRs, and using those OKRs with stakeholders. They worked in small groups on their own OKRs.
Finally I shared my OKR guide with the unit, and ran monthly OKR drop-in sessions for the wider community, open to anyone with a question.
What happened
Each phase led to the next. After the strategy-week talk, the unit’s founder picked up the key messages and repeated them to the whole unit. Team leaders called the workshop really practical, and the product managers asked for more sessions.
OKRs became part of how the teams worked. Over time they adapted my guide as they developed their own way of working, and the drop-ins grew into a wider community of more than 100 people.
That changed how the teams worked. They kept a sharper focus on the value they were creating for customers, and had better conversations with their managers and the firm’s senior leaders.
It also changed how the unit spent its money. Early-stage teams used their OKRs to test whether an idea was worth backing, so weak ideas were dropped or pivoted sooner, and people and money moved to stronger ones. One team pivoted when the evidence pointed elsewhere. Scaling ventures set goals that grew capacity without their costs growing as fast. Teams found it easier to win backing from senior partners, because their OKRs spoke in terms of value. And some ventures became real lines of business for the firm. Some were launched successfully and are still live today.
The venture unit then helped spread OKRs further across the firm.
What people said
Really liked the real examples and not too much theory.
Team leader