At Betterworks, we’re constantly looking to the future of work, anticipating current and new needs within enterprise organizations and designing a best-in-class platform and experience that will continuously support and scale growth. In order to further understand how organizations are pursuing alignment initiatives, we researched and surveyed 215 industry leaders about their views on strategic alignment software and the practical implementation of these methodologies within an organization.
For the most part, we found a strong desire for senior-level decision-makers to implement organizational initiatives with an overwhelming number of leaders reporting that strategic alignment has positively impacted their organizations.
Interestingly, 13% of the business leaders surveyed reported that they did not use strategic alignment software. But most importantly, 55% of those surveyed who did not use strategic alignment software reported that they do in fact plan to implement a solution soon. As we move from the tumultuous and uncertain 2020 into a new future of hybrid work environments, the need for company-wide understanding, involvement, and engagement is paramount.
So if you count yourself among those who do not already have an OKR and strategic alignment software in use, here’s why 2021 is the year to get started!
The impact of strategic alignment software is undeniable
- Strategic alignment software (and our Betterworks solution for that matter) allow users to directly engage with specific challenges such as: cadenced feedback, regular goal setting, and implementation of company-wide OKRs. At Betterworks, our conversations, feedback & recognition, and goals & OKRs modules provide leadership and teams with better ways to encourage employee engagement and performance. This comes at a particularly difficult time for leaders to get an accurate pulse on the cultural health of their organization remotely.
- The OKR and performance metrics in Betterworks provide users with a high degree of visibility to track and adjust internal initiatives and strategies. Users are tracking platform utilization, employee performance, OKR progress, OKR setting, and quarterly financials. The ease and usability of a platform as the center of truth for performance and goal metrics further solidifies the importance of these employee-first initiatives.
- Users are meeting their challenges head-on with a substantial increase in the completion of reviews, frequency of check-ins, number of OKRs set and met, volume of peer recognition, and understanding of company goals since adopting Betterworks. Initiatives coupled with inclusive software mean a higher and faster adoption rate across all employees.
- Successful OKR tracking leads to goals being more consistently met or exceeded! Imagine if you could quickly adjust your resources to ensure that you’re always meeting progress metrics, and knowing how close you are to your goal in real-time.
- Betterworks provides customization to make sure that the platform fully addresses company challenges. With customer success managers guiding leadership through creating a bespoke system that reflects the needs and direction of each organization, the higher the success rate of implementing new software.
Implementing strategic alignment software is easier than you think
A concern with adopting new software is that there’s always a chance the software will cause fatigue from managers and employees alike, and subsequently adoption and engagement will decline. That’s why at Betterworks we designed our platform for ease with use and adaptability.
When researching your own strategic alignment solution, be sure to look for a platform that’s easy to navigate, has clear modules, and provides you with a “bird’s eye view” of your goals and the goals of your organization. And as we all know, any platform that introduces new methodologies or ways of work comes with a learning curve (some worse than others) – that’s why it’s also so important to find a team that is there with you every step of the way.
Support networks are out there
At Betterworks, one of the keys to successful implementation is the ongoing support and guidance we provide our customers. We take the time to thoroughly train new and existing customers on every aspect of our solution, and we work with you to ensure that you’re leveraging the right integrations for your team so your solution can be seamlessly baked into your existing work. OKR methodology is here to help you strategically meet your goals and move your company vision forward. This work is meant to support everything you do, not be some added frustrating task!
The training we provide to onboard customers to our platform covers all the material required to make teams comfortable with each module. And if someone has a question, they can always rely on the Betterworks team for support – a cornerstone of our business model and dedication to our customers’ success.
Lastly, when we’re not working to safely navigate a pandemic, we meet you where you are, on-site. Not only do the on-sites allow us to troubleshoot your local system, but they also allow you to share additional context about any pain points you may want to address with your build.
Strategic alignment helps you lead with transparency
Transparency in the workplace is increasingly becoming a top priority as more and more employees appreciate and seek clarity. And if hybrid work environments quickly becoming a key theme for 2021, there’s never been a better time to embrace clear and transparent communication.
Our platform allows individual contributors to track all of the work that goes into their role, not just work that is tied to review requirements. This means that additional time spent on training, covering other roles, and providing support is actually visible. Having a system that collects this information helps cut through bias, meaning Betterworks works like an artifact of a person’s performance. The burden of proof is thus released from the shoulders of individual contributors and tracked in a transparent, cohesive system.
Tying an individual’s work to the overarching goals and OKRs of a company is also paramount to an employee’s engagement within an organization. It’s important for employees to see how their tasks connect to the bigger picture. This provides the opportunity to see how daily work affects progress in real-time, rather than waiting for quarterly town hall updates.
Metrics, engagement, and OKR tracking make all the difference
The Betterworks solution allows customers to easily track a number of different performance metrics across their company with a high degree of visibility. They are prioritizing metrics that help them adjust internal strategies to ensure that their company is meeting their personnel and business development goals. These metrics center on the level of employee engagement with Betterworks’ modules and the utilization of OKRs for tracking progress.
OKR tracking allows for prioritization across organizations: from individual contributors, to teams, to C-Suite. Customers have seen significant improvements emerge from the more effective implementation of OKR tracking that the Betterworks platform facilitates. When they link OKRs to specific projects and initiatives in Betterworks, these projects are more likely to have successful outcomes than under prior tracking methods.
Since progress to OKRs are tracked in real-time, you do not have to wait until quarterly reporting to see that a project or initiative is off track. Rather, you can quickly adjust personnel and resources to ensure that specific outcomes are met while understanding the problems that led to the potential delay.
Why does this matter?
We’ve found that many measurable results stem from OKR methodologies. Out of the senior-level decision-makers who are implementing strategic alignment software, nearly all of them overwhelmingly report that strategic alignment has positively impacted their companies. In fact, survey results suggest that quarterly revenue, employee satisfaction, and strategic goal setting have all increased due to strategic alignment. Over a third of companies that measure revenue in relation to strategic alignment report an increase in quarterly revenue by 3 to 4% while over half report an increase of greater than 4%.
Read our report to learn how you can increase your revenue while improving employee engagement today.
