At a glance
- Client: Tradition Capital Bank, a mid-size bank in Minnesota built on one-on-one client relationships
- Industry: Banking & Finance
- Company size: 138 employees
- Challenge: Individual, yearly goals that pulled teams in different directions, duplicated work in silos, and an organic growth metric that hadn't moved in over a year
- Solution: WorkBoard AI as the OKR platform, with Wave Nine consulting at every step: an executive OKR workshop, onsite coaching, a trained team of internal coaches and weekly reporting
- Results: Organic growth moving again, full engagement by the third quarter, strategic alignment across departments, more transparency and a more even workload
The challenge: 138 people, too many directions
Even mid-size organizations struggle with strategic alignment, with teams working in silos and duplicating efforts that distract them from their larger goals.
Alignment was a key challenge for Tradition Capital Bank, a mid-size bank from Minnesota that is committed to forging one-on-one relationships with its clients. Tradition Bank is equally committed to its 138 employees, each of whom is featured on its website, and the executive team works to make sure everyone understands the role they play in the organization as a whole.
After four years of working with a goal-setting methodology called Traction, COO Jessica Porter found that dedicated employees and teams were often working at cross-purposes. Seeing little to no movement on important metrics such as organic growth, the executive team began exploring OKRs as a potential solution.
"We were moving in too many different directions, with multiple teams working on the same things, but in siloes. Others were getting stressed out because they didn't realize they played a part in someone else's priority, and it was hard to move the needle."
Jessica Porter, Chief Operations Officer (COO), Tradition Capital Bank
Struggling to find alignment
Before exploring OKRs, Tradition Bank had used the Traction methodology for four years, and Traction takes a very different approach to setting goals and evaluating progress.
In Traction, individual employees set goals for themselves called "rocks," which may only loosely connect to the larger team, department or company goals. OKRs, by contrast, are built on communication, collaboration and interconnected goals: a team sport through and through.
For a company struggling with alignment, the individual nature of Traction didn't produce the results the bank was hoping for. Traction's rocks are also set once a year, while OKRs are set quarterly, so the bank lacked the flexibility to iterate and rethink its goals along the way.
"With the Traction approach, each of our nearly 150 employees had an individual goal or 'rock,' which took us in 150 different directions."
Jessica Porter, Chief Operations Officer (COO), Tradition Capital Bank
"We had an important metric surrounding organic growth, but despite our work with Traction, it hadn't moved in over a year."
Jessica Porter, Chief Operations Officer (COO), Tradition Capital Bank
A board member recommended the OKR methodology, and Jessica began researching it, reading Measure What Matters and other foundational books. Convinced that OKRs could support alignment and help Tradition Bank reach its goals, the bank partnered with Wave Nine to launch a comprehensive OKR program.
The bank faced five challenges:
- Individual, yearly goals with little link to company priorities
- Teams duplicating work in silos without knowing it
- No clear view of who was working on what
- Top performers carrying more than their share of the work
- An organic growth metric that hadn't moved in over a year
Building an OKR culture
Jessica and her team researched OKR solutions and OKR consulting firms. They chose WorkBoard AI as their platform to track OKRs and plan-to-progress, and hired Wave Nine to consult them at every step and train their internal coaching staff.
From the initial executive OKR workshop, Tradition Bank worked with Wave Nine's consultants to set meaningful, action-based company OKRs and to think through how each one connected to the executive strategy.
Wave Nine went beyond identifying the metrics Tradition Bank already saw as priorities. It asked the right questions to help leaders formulate a clear path forward. As is often the case, an outside perspective helped them view their challenges from a different angle.
Tradition Bank achieved high adoption rates and employee engagement thanks to the full commitment of the executive team, and key metrics such as organic growth moved in the right direction. Over time, Wave Nine handed the reins over to internal coaches, taking more of an advisory role and empowering Tradition Bank to build a transparent, self-sufficient, OKR-based culture.
"As we moved into the third quarter, we started seeing full engagement in the program and real progress toward our goals. It wasn't just a matter of checking things off the list, it was everyone moving in the right direction."
Jessica Porter, Chief Operations Officer (COO), Tradition Capital Bank
Jessica and Wave Nine attribute the bank's OKR success to four things:
- Leadership support: strong backing from the leadership team
- Internal coaches: a strong team of internal coaches
- Onsite coaching: coaching on site from Wave Nine
- A steady rhythm: mid-quarter check-ins and weekly OKR updates in WorkBoard AI, up from bi-weekly
Greater oversight and a more even workload
Jessica also maintains that appointing a business sponsor or owner for the WorkBoard AI platform itself kept everyone on track and engaged.
As Tradition Bank's WorkBoard AI owner, Jessica regularly reviews updates in the system. She studies workstreams to understand where different teams focus their efforts, and she leaves comments so employees can dig even deeper. It also shows that management is just as engaged in the initiative, and that OKRs aren't a mindless, set-it-and-forget-it task.
Jessica's active engagement drove adoption and participation among employees, and it gave leaders transparency and insight into what everyone was working on. When she found two teams working on the same thing from different angles, she could coordinate them to maximize efficiency and make sure they weren't working against each other.
Throughout the engagement, Wave Nine was by her side, helping Tradition Bank develop its coaches, craft results-oriented OKRs and shape the larger strategy. Wave Nine also ran weekly reports to help managers see who was working on specific projects, so they could allocate tasks more efficiently.
In the past, top performers took on more than their fair share of work, and there was no way to tell whether tasks could be reassigned to someone capable of completing them. With Wave Nine's support and the oversight features in WorkBoard AI, Jessica and her managers can assign work more evenly, which improves efficiency and reduces the risk of burnout for the bank's highest performers.
"Wave Nine's staff was amazing and super accessible. They were always willing to roll up their sleeves and have a conversation. They were 'all in' on our success."
Jessica Porter, Chief Operations Officer (COO), Tradition Capital Bank
The results: alignment, transparency and organic growth
Once Tradition Bank saw movement on key metrics that had been stuck for so long, such as organic growth, the strengths of its OKR program became clear to the entire board and executive team. The OKR program brought the bank these benefits:
- Strategic alignment: employees from all departments can see how their work contributes to the company's overall success.
- Transparency: leaders and managers can see what different departments are working on and adjust their plans, so teams don't duplicate efforts or work against each other's goals.
- Organic growth: every department contributes, in its own way, to the key metrics around growth and other broad goals.
- Full engagement: by the third quarter of the program, the whole bank was engaged and making real progress toward its goals.
- A more even workload: managers assign work more evenly, reducing the risk of burnout for top performers.
The team-focused, fast-paced nature of OKRs, with quarterly goals and regular check-ins, gave this mid-size bank the flexibility and insight to manage change effectively. All that work helped the bank build a focused, efficient and collaborative workplace.
As Wave Nine steps back to let Tradition Bank's coaches take the lead, it remains available in a supporting role, helping the coaches refine their efforts, write quality OKRs and keep building an OKR culture that will stand the test of time.
WorkBoard AI showcase
How Tradition Capital Bank uses WorkBoard AI to see who is working on what and keep every team pointed at the same goals.
OKR Management
Teams update their key results weekly and review progress at mid-quarter check-ins. Green and red status shows at a glance which OKRs are on track, which gave the bank the confidence to set more ambitious goals.
Benefits:
- Quarterly goals that can be adjusted along the way
- A weekly, shared picture of progress
- A clear signal on when to raise the bar
Workstreams
As platform owner, the COO studies workstreams to see where each team focuses its effort, and comments to dig deeper. Weekly reports built on this data show managers who is working on which projects.
Benefits:
- Visible leadership engagement that drives adoption
- Work spread more evenly across the team
- Lower burnout risk for top performers
Alignment
Employees from every department see how their OKRs connect to company goals. Leaders use the same view to find teams tackling the same problem from different angles and bring them together.
Benefits:
- Every team linked to the bank's priorities
- Duplicate or conflicting efforts caught early
- Shared ownership of organic growth
What's next: setting ambitious OKRs and "leaning into the red"
"We're seeing a lot of green in the system. So we're going to work on setting more ambitious OKRs in the quarters ahead."
Jessica Porter, Chief Operations Officer (COO), Tradition Capital Bank
Green, on the WorkBoard AI platform, means that OKRs are on track for successful completion, and Tradition Bank consistently delivers on most of its OKRs. Wave Nine's consultants, however, encourage their clients to "lean into the red."
Red means that a goal is off track and needs attention, and some degree of red is to be expected when teams push themselves to do big things. That's why a 70% completion rate for OKRs is considered admirable: the best OKRs are both inspiring and ambitious.
Key takeaways for others implementing OKRs
- Executive engagement is essential to OKR success.
- A strong internal coaching community helps create an OKR-focused culture.
- Onsite coaching can be highly beneficial for organizations like Tradition Bank, where 95% of employees work onsite.
- A WorkBoard AI owner who stays on top of all activity, leaving comments and studying the big picture, offers powerful insights and increases engagement.
- Set ambitious OKRs, aim for 70% completion, and "lean into the red."
Today, Tradition Bank has embraced OKRs at every level of the organization, thanks to strong leadership, committed employees and a talented staff of internal coaches who eagerly put what they learn from Wave Nine into practice. As Wave Nine steps into an advisory role, Tradition Bank continues its work with OKRs, using them as a catalyst for growth, collaboration and communication around a shared company vision.
