Transforming a Company with OKRs

A large multinational FMCG company faced challenges with siloed operations, rigid planning structures, and missed opportunities due to long planning cycles. Despite working at a fast pace and responding to emerging market opportunities, their traditional goal-setting framework hindered flexibility. In pursuit of improving agility, the company decided to adopt Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) as a new approach to enhance alignment, streamline work processes, and better respond to changing market conditions. We partnered with organizational leadership to guide this transition.

1. Traditional Planning & Governance: The company’s deep reliance on annual planning cycles, fixed budgets, and individual project funding made it difficult to adapt quickly to market changes. This static approach limited their ability to capitalize on unpredictable trends and innovations, which are critical in the FMCG sector. Moving from large, risky bets to smaller, more flexible opportunities required a change in mindset.
2. Cultural Shift: Transitioning to OKRs wasn’t just a procedural change but a cultural shift. The company needed to move from siloed operations to end-to-end collaboration, which meant breaking down traditional departmental boundaries. This required overcoming resistance to cross-functional collaboration, slow decision-making, and adapting the organizational structure to be more responsive to change.
3. Balancing Central Control & Regional Flexibility: The company struggled to find the right balance between centralized governance and regional autonomy. While global standards were necessary for efficiency, the regions required flexibility to address local market conditions. Aligning regional needs with global strategies, while maintaining a unified vision, presented a major challenge for the organization.
   

Download the Case Study to explore how this multinational FMCG company navigated these challenges and successfully implemented OKRs to drive agility.