Challenge
Focusing on What Truly Matters
SITA, a global leader in air travel technology, faced a familiar challenge: well-intentioned planning meetings that resulted in sprawling to-do lists, unclear priorities, and limited visibility into execution. Teams struggled to align on what really mattered and lacked a structured framework to focus their energy.
As the organization aimed to strengthen its product strategy and market penetration, they needed to:
- Establish Strategic Focus: Move away from tactical task lists and define outcome-based objectives that drive real progress.
- Improve Cross-Team Collaboration: Ensure alignment across SITA Airport Operations and related departments.
- Build Visibility: Create a system to track progress, surface bottlenecks, and prioritize high-impact work.
- Enable Internal Ownership: Empower internal staff to manage the OKR program sustainably after just two quarters of external support.
“It really helped to have Wave Nine. The problem is that everyone moves into to-do-list mode. Wave Nine helped us concentrate on those things that really moved the needle.” — Peter Drummond, VP of Product Management, SITA
The Solution: A Gradual Shift from Guidance to Ownership
From Hands-On Training to Internal Capability
SITA partnered with Wave Nine to implement a guided OKR rollout designed for long-term sustainability. The rollout was structured over three quarters:
- Quarter 1: Wave Nine led live OKR-setting workshops, introducing best practices and helping teams craft outcome-oriented goals aligned with company strategy.
- Quarter 2: SITA began leading the OKR process internally, with ongoing check-ins and coaching from Wave Nine to reinforce good habits.
- Quarter 3: The team had fully embraced OKRs, achieving greater clarity and profitability, and laid the groundwork for future integration with their Balanced Scorecard system.
By combining OKR education, coaching, and real-world application, SITA created a self-sufficient internal OKR engine that continues to drive strategic alignment and operational focus across the company.
