Leadership Engagement: How NewStore Drove OKR Adoption Across the Organization

In the dynamic world of modern business, the ability to swiftly adapt, align teams, and execute on strategic priorities is paramount. Increasingly, forward-thinking organizations are turning to OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) as a powerful framework to foster focus, transparency, and measurable progress.

However, as countless companies have discovered, the true key to unlocking OKRs transformative potential lies in leadership engagement from the outset. Without wholehearted executive commitment and robust change management, even the most well-intentioned OKR initiatives can falter.

In this case study from NewStore, we'll explore proven strategies and actionable steps for engaging leadership and driving organization-wide adoption, drawing insights from OKR pioneers and seasoned practitioners. Let's dive in.

The Imperative: Why Leadership Engagement Matters

At its core, the OKR methodology represents a fundamental shift in how companies set, communicate, and track their most critical objectives. Rather than ambiguous, siloed goal-setting or rigid annual plans, OKRs promote transparency, cross-functional collaboration, and continuous realignment as situations evolve.

This transformative mindset shift requires true top-down commitment and embodiment from executive teams. As Elie Casamitjana, Founder and OKR Coach at OKRmentors, emphasized, "Successful OKR implementation requires leadership to be on board. Why? Because leadership owns the 'why' – why we're all here. And they drive decisions on priorities before OKR implementation."

Without active leadership involvement, OKRs risk becoming a disconnected, checkbox-driven exercise rather than a catalyzing force for change. Executives must lead by example, defining the organization's overarching "Objectives" that will guide team-level efforts and empower truly cross-functional collaboration.

Moreover, sustained leadership engagement is critical to fostering the cultural shifts that allow OKRs to truly thrive. As Nuno Silva Pereira, Lead Agility & OKRs Coach at NewStore, noted, "OKRs will end up uncovering a lot of things around the organization – and that's when it becomes trickier. Culture has an impact on your ability to use OKRs well."

From empowering a growth mindset around failure to breaking down siloed thinking, executive teams must champion and reinforce the principles that bring OKRs to life. Without this consistent commitment from the top, organizations risk implementation inertia, resistance to change, and a breakdown in organizational alignment.

In essence, as Sara Gomes Santos, fellow Senior Agility & OKRs Coach at NewStore, summarized, "The root problem is that the vast majority of teams are struggling to get any value out of OKRs because the role of leadership is largely missing in action."

Step 1: Align on the "Why" and craft a compelling vision

Any successful change initiative begins by articulating a clear, compelling vision for what that change will enable. The same principle applies when seeking to engage leadership around OKRs.

Start by facilitating in-depth discussions to unpack the core drivers and strategic advantages your organization aims to unlock through OKRs. Promote an open dialogue around the current challenges, inefficiencies, or growth bottlenecks that a robust OKR program could alleviate.

As Nuno and Sara outlined, some key benefits to highlight include:

• Shared success through enhanced cross-functional collaboration.

• Radical focus by aligning all efforts toward measurable, prioritized outcomes.

• Transparency into progress, bottlenecks, and necessary adjustments.

However, avoid framing OKRs as a panacea. As Nuno cautioned, "Don't expect OKRs will be a silver bullet. They're simple but not simplistic."

Instead, position OKRs as a powerful vehicle for realizing your company's overarching vision and strategic objectives more effectively. Anchor the narrative in specific competitive advantages like accelerated innovation, increased agility to capitalize on market shifts, or measurable gains in key performance metrics.

Once you've crystallized the "Why" in a way that resonates with leadership's mindset and priorities, memorialize that vision through concise messaging, clear visualizations, and consistent reinforcement.

Step 2: Identify an Executive Sponsor and Internal Champions

With a compelling vision established, the next critical step is identifying executive-level OKRs champions who will drive engagement from the top down.

Seek a respected leader who intrinsically understands the value proposition you've crafted and can act as an impassioned internal advocate. As this vital sponsor, their role is to:

• Secure buy-in and ongoing commitment from peers on the Executive team.

• Allocate resources and budget required for implementation.

• Actively participate in – and role model – OKR cycles and processes.

Simultaneously, assemble a cross-functional team of OKR champions from across business units and hierarchical levels. These engaged employees will serve as ground-level ambassadors, providing training, hands-on support, and feedback channels throughout the implementation process.

As Sara emphasized, "We started by bringing in an expert to help, and decided that the agility team would be responsible for supporting this OKR initiative."

In cultivating both executive and grassroots champions, be judicious in identifying individuals who are eagerly bought into the OKR vision. As with any substantial change effort, having vocal detractors embedded within your core team can undermine progress and erode momentum.

Step 3: Initiate Executive immersion and hands-on learning

With an engaged leadership sponsor and an enthusiastic guiding coalition established, the next pivotal phase involves immersing executives in the OKR methodology itself. This hands-on learning experience serves two critical purposes:

1. It cultivates first-hand understanding of how OKRs function, allowing leadership to expertly communicate the "what" alongside the "why" to the broader organization.

2. It provides a forum for grappling with the challenges of effective OKR-setting, bridging the gap between conceptual alignment and pragmatic implementation.
   
   

As Nuno shared from his experience at NewStore, "Executive workshops are the most time-consuming but most important session of them all. We use 'shuttle diplomacy' – talking on the side with executives to prepare, checking for alignment on session expectations."

Through a series of immersive workshops and planning sessions facilitated by an experienced OKRs coach, engage leadership teams in activities like:

• Drafting and pressure-testing the company's high-level strategic OKRs.

• Mapping key results to defined objectives and learning to distinguish between outputs and outcomes.

• Reviewing and refining each other's contributions through a process of respectful critique.

• Discussing and resolving challenges around prioritization and goal conflicts.

This immersive process serves to highlight common pitfalls and develop the "OKR muscles" leadership will need to steer effective implementation. As Nuno affirmed, "Building OKRs isn't easy; it's hard. The number of cycles needed before autonomy depends on willingness to embrace change."

Be prepared for these interactive sessions to reveal areas requiring further improvement or shifts in entrenched mindsets. Rather than shying away, lean into these exposed roadblocks as opportunities to shape the organizational transformation required for OKRs to ultimately thrive.

Step 4: Craft and launch preliminary OKRs publicly

With executive-level immersion well underway, the next critical milestone involves drafting, refining, and unveiling your organization's first set of preliminary OKRs to mobilize the broader company.

Apply the lessons and insight gleaned from leadership workshops to craft an initial set of 3-5 top-level OKRs that:

• Map to the clearly communicated vision and overarching strategic objectives.

• Exemplify robust, outcome-oriented key results (not output-based activities).

• Concentrate efforts around a manageable set of catalyzing priorities.

• Incorporate input and feedback from OKR champions and cross-functional stakeholders.

While iterative improvement is inevitable, this first public draft of OKRs serves as a powerful galvanizing force. As Nuno described, "Company OKRs are the big rocks the company needs to move, requiring cross-functional work to achieve. And the executive team are the owners of these top-level OKRs."

With executive leadership publicly unveiling and championing these highly visible OKRs, you reinforce top-down commitment and set the example for transparency, clarity, and accountability. Celebrate the appetite for evolution by proactively soliciting feedback and structuring channels for input from teams across the organization.

As Sara recapped, "We decided to communicate the draft OKRs so we could invite feedback. This helps teams start crafting their own OKRs, aligned but not simply cascaded from the top."

Step 5: Implement consistent communication and feedback loops

With company-level OKRs now activated, the sustained engagement required from leadership transitions to continuous, multi-directional communication.

From the top-down, leadership must reinforce the defined Objectives and their strategic importance through:

• Prominent visibility at company-wide meetings, town halls, and internal comms.

• Thorough explanations connecting how team-level OKRs support broader outcomes.

• Celebrations of progress, impact stories, and examples of effective execution.

As Elie Casamitjana emphasized, "Leadership owns the 'why' – that's why leadership needs to be on board. They drive decisions on priorities before OKR implementation, so it can't work without them."

However, feedback must also flow bottom-up, with leadership demonstrating an eagerness to receive constructive input. Establish and promote accessible avenues for:

• Product teams to raise risks around execution capacity, dependencies, or misalignment.

• Process/cultural issues or adoption roadblocks to be escalated for resolution.

• Best practices, lessons learned, and continuous improvement proposals to be shared.

As Sara shared, "The feedback expected helps the company understand if the big rocks are possible, identify roadblocks or risks upfront, tap into collective intelligence, and create ownership through involvement."

Executive responsiveness and commitment to iteration based on this input is paramount for building OKR program credibility and cementing bi-directional accountability.

Step 6: Model participatory OKRs review and retrospection

While cascading top-down directives may be familiar territory for traditional leadership teams, the participatory review and retrospection cycles of OKRs demand a profound shift in executive engagement and vulnerability.

As Nuno emphazied, "Review and retrospect are key. We facilitate reflection workshops with the executive team – the main purpose is to learn. And as we know, we don't learn from experience but by reflecting on our experience."

To model this paradigm shift for the broader organization, Executives must lead by example – carving out dedicated time to openly discuss:

• Progress, roadblocks, and misses in their defined Objectives and Key Results.

• Adjustments, prioritizations and trade-offs required based on new information.

• Root causes behind execution challenges, surfacing issues around alignment, resources, or processes.

• Opportunities for enhanced enablement, support, or cross-functional collaboration.

These open forums demand humility, willingness to be wrong, and a relentless focus on forward progress rather than ego preservation. They challenge leadership to embody the very growth mindset OKRs seek to instill while reinforcing principles of transparency and accountability.

As Sara reflected, "Just having objectives defined and checked at the quarter's end defeats the purpose. Checking progress is vastly important."

By participating authentically in this cycle, executives legitimize it as a highly visible priority while accelerating organizational learning, alignment, and continuous improvement.

Step 7: Allocate sustained resources for coaching and enablement

Given the deep-rooted shifts in behavior and mindset effective OKR implementation requires, engaged leadership must also translate into allocating resources for comprehensive coaching, training, and enablement.

As Sara recounted of NewStore's journey, "We started by bringing an expert consultant to help train us and teach us about OKRs."

While initial implementation coaching is critical, many organizations underestimate the need for ongoing support as OKR practices evolve and scale. Consistent guidance is required to:

• Expand education on OKR nuances as more teams and functions are onboarded.

• Reinforce processes and provide targeted coaching as complexity increases.

• Objectively assess systemic friction points or areas for further improvement.

• Upskill internal OKR champions to self-sustain mentorship long-term.

As Nuno highlighted, even executive-level mastery demands dedicated investment: "Executive workshops are the most time-consuming. This is far the most important session as an OKR coach."

Ultimately, the resources allocated toward coaching shouldn't be treated as a fixed cost, but as an empowerment engine. A robust OKRs program done right accelerates organizational focus, agility, and measurable impact – fueling the company's growth trajectory and multiplying investment returns.

Step 8: Champion cultural realignment through lived values

Sustaining leadership's engaged commitment through OKRs' toughest hurdles requires understanding their role transcends goal-setting, metrics, or process implementation. At its core, OKR adoption is a transformation of corporate culture, mindsets, and ways of working. Executives must be at the vanguard of championing this cultural evolution.

As Sara acknowledged regarding NewStore's experience, "If the company culture doesn't allow failing to learn, if it's still a feature factory rather than empowered product teams able to fail...OKRs won't be a good fit."

Even seemingly straightforward OKR principles like prioritizing outcomes over outputs can require deep-rooted shifts in how teams approach their work and how leaders engage.

By authentically living the values OKRs promote – candid transparency, continuous learning, cross-functional collaboration, and an embrace of setbacks as vehicles for growth – leadership shapes behavior through potent examples.

As Nuno reflected, "Culture has a major impact on OKR effectiveness. If failing isn't an option in your culture, don't use OKRs. You need willingness to embrace change."

Moreover, executives hold the authority to dismantle roadblocks and legacy artifacts that hinder successful transformation, whether redefining incentive structures, reorganizing team interactions, or refraining established processes.

Transformational leadership, as exemplified through OKR commitment, unlocks transformational growth.

Step 9: Celebrate milestones and recognize change catalysts

While cultivating vulnerability and discomfort around retrospection is paramount, leaderships role in reinforcing adoption extends to proactively celebrating progress and impact.

Public recognition of OKR milestones achieved, key results unlocked, and outcomes delivered serves to:

• Reinforce desired behaviors by spotlighting examples to emulate.

• Build excitement and sustain momentum during the arduous phases of change.

• Surface examples of effective execution for horizontal sharing of best practices.

• Promote transparency by making success stories visible to the entire company

• Nurture the growth mindset and desire for continuous improvement.

These celebrations needn't be elaborate, a particular shout-out in a company meeting, featuring impact stories in internal communications, or simply a thoughtful note of appreciation directed at specific teams or individuals can fuel continued engagement.

As Nuno encouraged, "Remember to celebrate success along the way.”

By recognizing and elevating OKRs change catalysts publicly, leadership reinforces the criticality of the methodology while fostering the culture required for it to become self-sustaining.

Step 10: Embrace OKRs as a Perpetual Evolution, Not a Finite Initiative

For organizations accustomed to annual planning cycles, big bang transformations, or checklist-based change programs, the most challenging aspect of OKRs for leadership to internalize is their inherent perpetuity.

For Executive commitment to endure, leadership must recognize OKR implementation as an infinite journey fueled by ongoing prioritization, iteration, and continuous improvement.

"OKRs become trickier the further you progress because they end up uncovering organizational roadblocks, dependencies, and capability gaps." observed Nuno. "You have to be prepared for that in order for change to start happening."

Adopting OKRs isn't about flicking a switch and declaring the job complete. It's about harnessing the methodology as a catalyst for evolving how the organization aligns, operates, and adapts in perpetuity. Accordingly, leadership's ownership and engagement is never truly "done."

To embrace this reality, Executives must:

• Instill patience around the timeline for cultural entrenchment and fluency.

• Maintain openness to proactively dismantling legacy dysfunction as it surfaces.

• Stay vigilant about complacency or resting on perceived "OKR maturity" laurels.

• Foster an insatiable appetite for identifying new areas of potential improvement.

As Sara summarized, "OKRs are guiding lights, this marathon never finishes. There's no finish line. You need to keep learning and improving."

It's a demanding posture, but one that averts organizational stagnation in favor of agility and perpetual optimization.

Conclusion: Leadership Engagement is OKRs single greatest enabler

While tactical steps in implementation matter greatly, engaged leadership is the catalyst that elevates OKRs from tactical timeboxes to a transformative cultural force.

As we've explored, leaderships committed and sustained involvement is required to:

• Articulate a compelling "Why" that resonates with strategic priorities.

• Champion the behavioral and mindset shifts OKRs demand through lived examples.

• Break down silos and roadblocks that could derail effective execution.

• Foster transparency, cross-team alignment, and insatiable improvement.

• Recognize progress while nurturing accountability for continuous evolution.

Or as Nuno summarized with powerful simplicity, "Remember, OKRs are guiding lights."

By beaconing that light from the highest levels, leadership charts the course for tapping into OKRs unparalleled potential as an engine of alignment, meaningful impact, and sustained competitive advantage.

The path is arduous, demanding relentless commitment, humility, and appetite for change. But the ultimate prize – an organization focused and united in accelerating towards its most crucial outcomes – is well worth the journey for those executives willing to lead it.