Bring Out the Talent: A Learning and Development Podcast

Aligning L&D for Impact: Driving Corporate Goals with Strategic OKRs

• Maria Melfa & Jocelyn Allen

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In today's ever-changing business landscape, aligning learning and development with organizational goals is not just strategic, it’s essential. In fact, according to an ATD report, organizations that have strong alignment between L&D and business goals achieve 13% higher mean revenue per employee.

In this episode of 'Bring Out the Talent,' we welcome Dr. Jessica Brown, CEO & Founder of Cultivate2Generate. With a background spanning 15 years in consulting and coaching, Dr. Brown has dedicated her career to empowering organizations by enriching their people and enhancing their systems. We will dive into how strategic OKRs can effectively bridge the gap between L&D initiatives and broader corporate goals. We discuss strategies to foster an engaging workplace culture that aligns with long-term organizational success.

Tune in and gain valuable insights on this powerful business strategy tool that will keep your team focused on the most important areas to achieve company goals and success.

SPEAKER_02:

Bring out the talent. Bring out the talent.

SPEAKER_00:

Bring out the talent. Welcome to Bring Out the Talent, a podcast featuring learning and development experts discussing innovative approaches and industry insights. Tune in to hear our talent help develop yours. Now here are your hosts, GTA's CEO and President Maria Melfa and Talent Manager Jocelyn Allen.

SPEAKER_02:

Hello, everybody. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, whatever time it is based on when you're listening. to this episode. Thank you so much for joining us. It's Jocelyn. I'm here flying solo once again. Maria, we miss you. We hope you're feeling better. But as listeners, I got you. And I'm here today with another great episode on a learning and development topic that should help you and your organizations excel. This one with our special guest, Dr. Jessica Brown, is on aligning L&D for impact, driving corporate goals with strategic OKRs. In today's ever-changing business landscape, aligning learning and development with organizational goals is not just strategic, it's essential. According to an ATD report, organizations that have strong alignment between L&D and business goals achieve 13% higher mean revenue per employee, highlighting the significant impact of strategic L&D practices on business performance. In this episode of Bring Out the Talent, we welcome Dr. Jessica Brown, CEO and founder of Cultivate to Generate. With a background spanning 15 years in consulting and coaching, Dr. Brown has dedicated her career to empowering organizations by enriching their people and enhancing their systems. Her commitment is to help build companies where employees feel both inspired and proud, driven by a strong mission, thoughtful leadership, and a culture that engages and motivates. Today, we dive into how strategic OKRs can effectively bridge the gap between L&D initiatives and broader corporate goals. We'll discuss strategies to foster an engaging workplace culture that aligns with long-term organizational success. Whether you aim to refine your company's learning strategies or better integrate them with your overall objectives, this discussion promises you invaluable insights. Welcome Jessica to the show.

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you so much. Very glad to be here.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, we're excited to have you. I was telling you before the episode started that OKRs are something that we do here at TTA. And we used to map our goals and successes in the form of KPIs. So knowing both sides of the game, I feel what's great about OKRs is the digestion of it all. Like it makes... An OKR, it's an objective and it's a key result. And what do those things mean? And how are we bridging the gap? Like all of the language that we used in the beginning is really about understanding what it is your goals are and how to get there. So I love OKRs because I feel like it's something easy, easier to understand than like a key performance indicator, right? There's more meat and potatoes in it. So Since I might have listeners who are still on KPIs, which is still a great form and may not know as much about OKRs, can you explain exactly what it is and what makes it different and maybe a little bit more manageable? Absolutely. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01:

So O stands for objective. I consider a good objective having the what and the why. And I think This is where some of the digestion comes from because instead of throwing a number out right at the first thing, we have really clear why we're doing it first. So there's some inspirational aspect to the objective. And a key result, KR, is the metric that you measure the outcome and what success would look like if you really achieve that objective. And these can very much bleed together. Many times KPIs can be part of some of your, your KRs. But what I really like to distinguish KPIs and KRs from is that to me, KPIs are performance. They are job performance, which means This is the bare minimum most that we expect of you signing on to your job and agreeing to this job description. So to me, KPIs, you can be fired for, put on performance improvement plans for, because you're not meeting that bare minimum. And sadly, it's a bare minimum sometimes, but that average that we need you to hit. Key results in OKRs are meant to be more strategic. All too often, organizations do not include all the layers of the organization and strategy, and therefore, you've only got, like you mentioned the 13 number, only 13 to 18% of the lowest levels of the organization of any idea about strategy. And strategy is really the whole where the organization's going. So a key result of OKR for an individual, a team, a department, and the organization is about strategy. It's more aspirational, meaning we're not going to fire you if you don't hit that key result because we want you to shoot high. We don't want you to shoot for bare minimum. We want you to be aspirational. And that's where Google really brought out OKRs is because if you look at Google's first three key results, every year, the first year, they barely met half of their key results. Instead of backing away, they more than doubled their key result goal for the next year. So by the third year, they actually achieved it because they kept being very aspirational. So I really like to distinguish the two by saying performance is in a KPI because you really can be let go or put on a plan or moved out of your position because you're not meeting that performance level. Strategy is where are you taking us next? How are we improving? How are we getting to the next level over the next period of time?

SPEAKER_02:

Right. Yes, I and I agree with you. I think that that's what makes it a little like you get the aha moments from OKRs, right, versus, OK, I understand what I have to do and how I'm going to be. I don't like this term, but rated effectively, like on my job, right? And you can even have KPIs within an OKR, right? That says if we're starting here and we want to get to this goal, these would be some things that would show us that we're heading in the right direction. This is a KP, this, but overall an OKR is something that promotes growth, right? And I think who doesn't want that in an organization? We're not here to be stale. We're here to scale. So, oh, and that rhymed. I'm going to tag that. Why do you think OKRs are so important to today's business environment? What's going on in our climate right now that makes it having OKRs and understanding them so imperative?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I think that you just hit on it, that aha moment. At every level of the organization, we know that we're facing workforce issues. People, if they're not engaged, they're not staying. They're pursuing entrepreneurship. So we really need to find ways to keep people engaged. And the way that we do that is by having a great environment that I feel I contribute to, that I know how I'm contributing to that big, great, big impact we're making with our company and our organization. And so when OKRs are done well, Each layer of the organization, from the big organizational goals for the next four years or one year, down to a department, to a team, to an individual, understands how they contribute and how their team contributes up the scale to accomplishing. And so that gets people's hearts involved and engaged, and that gets their minds engaged. Agreed. The other thing, real quick, sorry. No, don't be

SPEAKER_02:

sorry. Go.

SPEAKER_01:

The empowerment, when OKRs are first started or people at the lower levels feel as though they're originally dictated down, and some organizations do do it that way, but it's meant to be the seniors setting them and then the teens writing their own to contribute.

SPEAKER_03:

So

SPEAKER_01:

that there's this empowerment where I get to choose what the priorities are. Do I take a moment to align with my leader and make sure I'm on the right track? But there's this engagement of writing OKRs with your team. And again, it all depends on how the organization does it. But the way we kind of recommend it and do it is the leader's writing OKRs with their team at the same time. Everyone is engaged in writing the plan, writing the metrics, writing where we're going. So there's a lot more empowerment in your job to be innovative, to say where we're going next, and to be involved in the decision making, which a lot of people are craving in their organizations.

SPEAKER_02:

Right. I agree with that, too. And I don't think it's reflective of any type of role. I think it's what you said earlier. It's reflective of the heart and making connections and understanding based on really effectively planned OKRs. The people who are ready to contribute and therefore have The best interest, the wherewithal, the knowledge will understand what they need to do, help the company bridge the gap, therefore become more informed and a better support system and more empowered as an individual to feel like my opinion matters. My thoughts and my success is a part of this success. And it's amazing what that mind frame can do towards individual contribution. I get very passionate about this subject, so I'm very in line with you. Now, corporate goals, like if we're talking about corporate level organizations, a lot of their focus is like financials, right? And maybe customer metrics. How can organizations incorporate L&D and employee engagement scores into into their OKRs to ensure a more holistic approach if they are only thinking about that kind of first level, right? Like, well, how do we make more money and how do we retain more customers? How do we add that kind of nuance into the heart? Like you said, how do you add heart into something that's so kind of structured in a way?

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely. Absolutely. So this one hits it right on the nose. As first, let me say, I, a strategy, strategic planner, so OKRs is one of the tools in my toolbox. I see this so much in helping organizations write their goals. It's very, and understandably so, because those are huge survival mechanisms, right? If we don't have the financials, or the customers. We won't have the financials. We won't have any employees. But one of the tools that is very historical in strategic planning is called the balance scorecard. Maybe some of you have heard about it. Maybe you haven't. The balance scorecard is a very simple premise that all organizations, public, private, nonprofit, whatever type of organization, are working towards four main goals. Sometimes they're called a little different, but for layman's terms, financials, customers, those two are always hit pretty clearly. Operations. So are we being operationally effective? The IT, the technology, the processes, are we efficient and effective equality in those? And then the last one that we always miss is that culture, that employee, that organizational capacity and training and development aspect. So whenever I'm working with organizations leadership to write OKRs, you best have at least at a minimum, and you really got to argue about even more than this, right? Because we don't want too many OKRs and we're working on a bunch of things. If we're given these four buckets, To start our thinking, we make sure that we hit all four of those. So your financials would include revenue, increased number of customers, partnerships, things around marketing if you want to track total number of leads. But really, that leads is a level lower. It doesn't even need to be at that organizational level. You've got customers. Those are your customer satisfaction. Those are your Increased number of products that meet customer needs. That's delivering quicker to the customer. Things like that. You've got your operational. How efficient are we? Are we using less manpower to get the same amount done now that we've implemented technology? Our quality ratings. Those could also be operational and customer. Sometimes those mix a little. And then you have your employee and culture one. Really, I like to focus employee and culture. It's called organizational capacity a lot, but it focuses to me on, are we creating a culture that empowers people, helps them reach their potential, grows them, keeps them here? And those are all your retention metrics, your employee engagement metrics, the number of development hours, the number of mentoring hours, even the number, the ability to implement OKRs and have your strategy met and people being engaged in OKRs can be in there. So those kind of capture, if you think about it, most of the buckets of results and goals organizations, the top level would be shooting for.

SPEAKER_02:

Right. And so how about the, what about like the learning and development metrics? So we talk about those kind of like four buckets and all are necessary to be in alignment with the business and then who's in the business. And like you said, culture and then customers and finance to kind of wrap it all up. But how, how do L&D leaders align with the initiatives for those goals, those four buckets, while also including their L&D metrics.

SPEAKER_01:

So each layer of the organization is going to have about, we recommend no more than five, but about four. If you're senior leadership, you're organizational OKRs, there's four of them. then you as a department leader, it's all going to depend again on whether L&D is a full department or if it's a team of HR. But L&D, just like every other team or department, is going to take their moment in alignment and in planning, that we call it, Once the level above you has written their OKRs. So, for example, for easiest, let's use L&D as a full department. The organizational leadership is going to go right through the big four goals. They're going to write a goal on employee culture. We'll start with that one because that one's the most obvious. They're going to have employee engagement. Well, what engages employees? Things like training. being able to grow myself, career path, mentoring, coaching. Those all come from learning and development. A lot of times there's other things that can, if there's not any employee, okay, or the organizational, okay, or bond employees, if there's not specific training spelled out, a lot of times there will be a certain number of trainings offered a year. And then we actually say improve that, but we'll talk about that in a sec. A lot of times L&D can miss out on some of the other organizations contributing to some of the other organizational goals. For example, Our customer service. Well, guess who improves our customer service representatives and their ability to provide better customer service? Well, let's do some training on that. Let's do some role playing. Let's do some exercises and actually call in and test our people here and there and just practice. When an organization is looking to expand outside of their current offering, or services. L&D is a perfect department to be able to find cost-effective, highly rated training and identify the people in the organization that would best be able to move that service forward or work with the department that has that person. And so L&D plays a huge role in keeping employees engaged and keeping the organization mentally moving forward.

SPEAKER_02:

Right. I'm glad you said that because it's kind of it's like the major umbrella of OKRs, I think, in general, because learning and development can be so many things. And anytime you're doing something new and you need either change management or training like you are in L&D now. So it's even though it could be purely financial that you're focusing on, like that one pillar that you're focusing on it. If you need, like I said, if you need any of those things, you're in L&D now. So like it's important to make sure that those areas are being focused on as you develop like into your OKRs and therefore the journey of success that you're on or the path that you're mapping out. So what are some, I know you gave like a couple of high level examples of, well, if you're doing this, then here's a path that we should focus on. Let's do customer centric training. What are some other maybe more thorough examples of some ways of the more effective L&D objectives that you've encountered that support those broader corporate goals, but focus on aspects like the training quality, the employee retention, the employee engagement.

SPEAKER_01:

So if you were to think about an organizational level goal, cultivate a culture that employees are engaged and thriving to retain top talent. That has a what and a why. What do we want to work on? A culture that people are engaged in thriving. Why? To retain or to obtain. My metrics, you mentioned, I would have 90% employee engagement rating. That's our goal. That's our key result. We want at least four, and I'm just talking kind of low level, we want at least four employee trainings with 95% attendance. So out of the people that sign up, we want 95% of those people to follow through at least four trainings we have in the year. L&D, again, pretending that they're a department that directly reports into a CEO or the top leader. Their OKR would now become looking at those key results and the objective and seeing and asking themselves, where do we contribute? So for example, they might come up with that objective that says enhance our training and development programs to keep employees engaged and to reach their potential. What do we want to do? Training and development programs. And again, as a department, because OKRs, until you get to the bottom level, we very much consider OKRs team OKRs. The leader owns them. But they're team level OPRs, right? They're organizational, department, team level. Unless you have all the way down to the individual level, most organizations don't go that low. It's really those team level. So as a team, how are we going to contribute? Well, we already have a key result in the organizational goal that is directly ours. So we're going to take that key result and own four employee trainings with 95% attendance. Because that one, we are the only ones that really push that. Employee engagement isn't all ours, right? That's leadership, that's culture, that's other things. So we're going to do 100% of a need survey with at least 50% response rate. And we're hoping and we're working towards what you mentioned, 95% satisfaction rates across all trainings. So that's just one OKR that the L&D department would have. They might have one on something brand new in a mentoring program. They might have something on supporting a change management program. But L&D is going to look at the financial goal. at the organizational level and say, how do I contribute? And we say, we're going to help build the capacity to deliver the service. And we're going to do X trainings on either some key program or some service delivery, et cetera. And so it's hard to give like specific examples, right? Without that alignment concept. But I think. Once you understand, it's really about looking at the team above you. If you're a team, hell indeed, that reports into HR, you're going to look at HR's goals or objectives and key results. And then HR is going to look at the organizational level. And you're always going to want to have that what and why. But I think, well, I mean, you mentioned them, right? Change, anything going on with change management might be one. But the key is not to make them tasks. That's the biggest key. Because it's not a checklist. So a lot of times I will kind of be the why bird. Why? Why? Why? But why? So what we want, we'll just do a lot of times L&D will have four trainings. We're going to have 20 trainings. Well, who cares? You're going to have 20 trainings and no one show up. Did you accomplish the objective of actually getting people engaged? And thriving, no. Same with marketing. Write a blog. Okay, well, who cares if no one reads the blog? So how many views, how many blogs with X number of views where you actually get to move that number forward?

SPEAKER_02:

Right. That's what I love about it is that it does, it forces you, for lack of a better word, to understand if this is really the right direction to go in. Like if you can't answer that question of why, well enough to prove that it supports your business and your goals then it's time to move on to the next thing scratch that like scrap that move on and i that's what i really love about the okrs is like for my team they're very much aware of what i am responsible for for our team for okrs and then here's the key results that we get there so how are we as a team going to bridge the gap between these two things what are the actions that we're taking that's going to get us there And then it's like, it's ever evolving. So it's like on a week to week basis, it's like, this didn't really work. So like, here's what I'm thinking now. And it's still, it's still in, it's still, you were just all, you're agile in the in-between, but you've, you've recognized what you want to do. And then, like you said, it's not just about getting the blog done, but it's the fact that 500 people read it in the first week that it was out there. Right. I just, it's, it's so amazing. it just makes the connection in my brain. Like my synapses are all firing where it's like, oh yeah, that makes sense. And so I love using these for exactly that reason. It hones in on agility and collaboration. And like, what else do you need? You know what I mean? Everything else comes after that.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, and the agility is perfect because a lot of times when you first start people working towards OKRs, It is really, really difficult for people not to jump to the how. They're like, well, let's do this and let's do that. And you're like, whoa, whoa, what's the objective? Where would we be even going this year? Where are we focusing our time, attention, energy, and resources? So if your objective is clear, so for example, if your objective is cultivate a culture that employees are engaged, thriving to retain top team, your key results are written right in there. A culture that employees are engaged, they thrive in, so that's some kind of employee satisfaction rating, whether it's engagement or satisfaction or engaged in training, and retention. So at a minimum, you better have three key results actually measuring your objective. All too often, people are focused with the how, and like you said, We don't know the perfect how yet. If we do something one week and the metric isn't changing after one or two weeks of doing something, we're not doing the right thing. We need to move. If our whole plan is built on this one how, we've already went too deep. And now we've wasted time writing that plan. So it's interesting writing strategic plans where people aren't getting to write every inch of the project.

SPEAKER_02:

So I've heard you mention leadership a couple of times. You mentioned the CEO of a little bit earlier delivering messaging and things like that. So it seems very important that the C-suite and these higher levels are a key voice in advocating for OKRs and integrating them, right? It starts from the top. So how can senior leaders be persuaded to be more like take a more active role in the process of creating OKRs? What is it? Is it what's in it for them? How are we motivating people to stick to it and work through it?

SPEAKER_01:

It's a definitely what's in it for them. When the OKRs are meant to be a tool for the C-suite to effectively leaders don't do the work they do. orchestrate and manage the people that do the work. And at the C-level, it is really hard to be able to touch every level of the organization. And that's what OKRs allows you to do if done right. I personally do not prefer to work with organizations where the C-suite is involved because I really do not see as much success. I find ADHR or some other designated person kind of pulling teeth to get people to update metrics or rewrite their OKRs for the quarter or the cycle. And it becomes really hard for that person. So I think it really needs to start at the top and hopefully they can see the benefit. We know leadership speaks in numbers. So coming with that data, 13% that you mentioned, just L&D. Multiply that towards every department and team in your organization having OKRs. The organizations of alignment at this level see anywhere from 36% to 56% more profit, better cost effectiveness, efficiency. I mean, the whole gamut. So really, this is a tool for leadership to do the work that they've been designated to do at the level of their

SPEAKER_02:

organization. OKRs? Does it have anything to do with communication or things of that? What sort of skills are we learning by putting departments together for setting OKRs?

SPEAKER_01:

I think cross-collaboration is essential in anything, right? But the way that OKRs are set up, an organizational OKR is what we call a superordinate goal. It is so big, it cannot be achieved by one team or the other. So when we do OKRs, we really kind of preach about the alignment process. Not all organizations really make sure to do what we call alignment up and down and across. So like when you were talking about L&D earlier, It's really also up for L&D to not just go up the chain and look at the organizational goals, but understand they are a pivotal support to the other teams that they work alongside. And going to them and saying, well, sales, are you guys going to need any training this year? Oh, sales already has some training planned in their OKRs. I didn't even know that. Right? oh, hey, customer service, do you have any plans for learning needs or training this year? There's a lot of departments that are pivotal support to the other departments. And so that cross-alignment, sales and marketing have to align and share the roadmap. Now, it doesn't mean they're on the same team and have the same OKRs. That means when they're in the writing process of OKRs, they go and talk to each other and say, oh, you were going to, oh, OK, well, I'll wait to do that next quarter, et cetera.

SPEAKER_02:

And what they, I feel like what I've seen a lot, too, is that the OKRs are dependent on each other, especially if it comes to, like you said, marketing and sales pairings. If I'm doing this, what is that going to do for the sales department? And therefore, what should their OKR be if this is a new asset that they have to work with, right? And vice versa. If I'm trying to achieve this goal, what do I need marketing to do to help kind of open the door for that to happen? I've seen that in so many manners that to the point where The way that we, and I kind of want to ask you about this after, but we use a specific tool to track these things. So we'll put like the account owners on them. And a lot of times it's every department team lead that's on there as the responsible party, because that one thing needs all four departments to contribute to. So everybody has it on their thing, but they're each in tracking their individual action or key result and the collaborative effort is the percentage of which we've achieved that goal for. The tracking tool makes it easy to see that, but I mean, almost every single one of the objectives has another party tied to it.

SPEAKER_01:

That's where I distinguish to contributor and collaborator, right? Contributor, my result, sales has to achieve that revenue for the organizational goal to be met. They can't do that without marketing, but marketing doesn't own that sales revenue number. They own lead generation that gets sales. So they are a collaborator to get sales to win, but marketing doesn't own that. So it's kind of, yeah, as well as sales to customer success and customer service, right? That handoff from, if you sell them something we don't really provide, I can't, the whole thing. The whole system, the whole journey.

SPEAKER_02:

Right. Absolutely. So as far as tools goes, I'm curious if there are any particular tools or technology that you use yourself or in organizations to track OKRs or how do you work around that? Like what are they? I guess it is some form of measurement, but I'm thinking more tracking. How do you what do you suggest people use to stay in line and actually see their progress as it's happening?

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely. So. I do collaborate with several different products. I don't necessarily push one or the other. I think every organization really has to. One, already has certain IT and platforms involved. Two, it's really hard to add one more login to the system. So I have found OKR tools and then what I call OKR Plus. tools. And I do migrate towards the OKR Plus tools, which also some have LMSs, some have career pathing, some have surveys where you can do your impulse checks and employee engagement surveys right in there. They have note tracking for OKR meetings when you're actually in execution and having the meetings that you should be having. So whenever you can kind of expand that usage, I do like those. I don't necessarily want to name shop any today, but all of them are pretty good. GTM Hub, I worked with Unlock OKR actually. I worked with A lot of the originals that have now been kind of sold even to bigger conglomerates, creating that plus feeling, interestingly. So must have a tool. I say this to every training I've ever had. Everyone, for the most part, sets, whether you really set it hard or not, some type of New Year's resolution. And most of us fizzle out by the end of the month. That's the same thing as a strategic plan right now. So really, planning OKRs is effective because it creates, if you do it right, an execution process, what I call strategic management, right? You don't just plan it. It's a consistent management process. And the tool helps manage that in a simple process where CEOs can see exactly where results are just by logging in.

UNKNOWN:

Right.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I think it's essential. I think if you don't have one, there's like there's there's just no way. I mean, unless you have one of those brains and really jealous of that can just like compartmentalize things without a written to do list, then like kudos to you. But otherwise, it's like, how do you you have you have to physically look at things in the system that are recording data and you got to track that data that tells you where you're going. So I without a tool like that. You can get lost in the weeds and forget where you're going and then forget about it quarter to quarter. What you've achieved this first quarter and how it evolves to Q2, you have to have a tool to track it.

SPEAKER_01:

It also expands transparency. Your leader can check in on what you've been doing. So I don't have to micromanage you. I can just check in, see what you're doing. You're all good. Right. Gives you notifications to update results. Yes. You know what I mean? It pushes things so that people are like, hey, you haven't updated your results in three weeks. We need to know where you're at. Right. we're on or off, we can do something.

SPEAKER_02:

It raises

SPEAKER_01:

that red flag much quicker.

SPEAKER_02:

Right, right. So looking forward, how do you see the role of L&D evolving in strategic corporate planning? What steps can companies take now to prepare for the changes that we might be seeing?

SPEAKER_01:

I think we mentioned before workforce. I think that as we continue to have a workforce that's really insisting that workplaces be engaged and things like that. I think that's going to be huge. And I think anywhere around the IT, AI, supporting integration, people learning how to take that on in a helpful way, not in any of those kind of ways. I know they're not the necessarily soft skills and fun stuff, But finding ways to engage people remotely in training versus getting them to the room. A lot of people were trying to do more remote. There is some stuff lost. So that'll be something learning development will have to continue to explore.

SPEAKER_02:

Right. I think it just evolves as we evolve, too. It's one of those things where change is imminent. It always is. It is. You don't know when it's coming, what it is, but you just have to be ready to make adjustments, kind of fail quickly and recognize your successes quickly and make adjustments and go. And like OKRs are exactly the tool to do that. And I think that whether it's called an OKR or it evolves into being called something else, at the end of the day, you need to know where you're trying to go and understand what you have access to in order to get there. And you can't be quiet. You got to be collaborative. You got to speak up. And you have to be open-minded and willing to facilitate feedback as well. Yeah, absolutely. Awesome. Well, this was a really, really, really great and informative episode, Jessica. So I really appreciate you joining us and giving us all of this info on OKRs. But now we're at a phase in our podcast episode relationship where we need to tell the people a little bit more about you. So now it's time for the TTA 10.

SPEAKER_00:

It's the TTA 10, 10 final questions for our guest.

SPEAKER_02:

All right, Jessica. So you know the deal. I have 10 questions for you that I'm going to ask rapid fire. We're going to put 90 seconds on the clock and the goal is to answer them and under that 90 second time limit. If you do, we will have a little celebration for you. We're at like a 99% success rate on the TTA 10. So we're going to have to probably make it a little bit harder one of these days, but it also is really fun to celebrate you. Yeah, no, you're going to be fine. Trust me. When I read the first one, you're going to be like, oh, it's this. Okay. but the goal is to get to know you a little bit better and celebrate you for being a champion so let's make that happen okay are you ready i am ready okay david i hope you're ready too so 90 seconds on the clock please

SPEAKER_00:

90 seconds on the tta 10 clock beginning Now. All

SPEAKER_02:

right, Jessica, what's your favorite color? Green. Me too. Where is the one place that you would love to travel to that you haven't been to yet?

SPEAKER_01:

New Zealand.

SPEAKER_02:

What is five plus two?

SPEAKER_01:

Seven.

SPEAKER_02:

Who is your favorite Disney villain?

SPEAKER_01:

Cruella de Vil.

SPEAKER_02:

What's your favorite TV show, either now or all time?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, Manifest?

SPEAKER_02:

Good one. How much is that doggy in the window?$2. Who would play you in a movie about your life? Alyssa Milano. You can eat only one food for the rest of your life. What do you choose?

SPEAKER_01:

If it doesn't kill me, Massachusetts.

SPEAKER_02:

If it doesn't kill you. And if it does, if you weren't a learning consultant, what would you do? Probably a lawyer. Okay. What kind of animal would people say best describes your personality? A cat. A cat, okay. Awesome. Well, that's 10 questions. David, I feel pretty good about that. Give us the good news.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, not a moment was wasted, I think, but let's make it official and check the TTA 10 clock. The time of just one minute and 10 seconds, Jessica, is easily, easily under the threshold.

SPEAKER_02:

Jessica, see, you did it. You did it.

SPEAKER_00:

You did it. And you might have noticed earlier in the program, Jocelyn accidentally rhymed something. Well, that rhyming style is contagious because... We got in touch with Dr. Seuss or his next of kin. I don't think he's around anymore, but, and put together the following rhyming salute to Jessica and everything she does. We do need some Dr. Seuss music going. Okay. In a land where the workplaces gleam lives Jessica Brown with a dream so supreme. With a nifty swift tool called an OKR, she says, okay, reach high, reach far. Compared to other Jessicas, she's fine and dandy. More impressive than Lang with the wisdom of Tandy. Forget Jessica's Alba, Beale, and Chastain. They're famous, but they don't have Jessica's brain. Are you down with PhD? Jessica is, you see. She went to California to get that coveted degree. From software to nonprofits, her methods amaze. Okay, results, she screams for days. With OKRs and KPIs in her kit, she crafts a future where all can benefit. Okay, let's achieve, she'll warmly submit. For a workplace utopia, Jessica's a great fit. In a world of work that stagnancy may mar, Jessica's vision is never subpar. Your performance will blow up as she leads with aplomb. As an employment consultant, Jessica is the bomb. Congratulations on conquering the TTA 10.

SPEAKER_02:

Yay! I mean, is that worth it or is that worth it, Jessica? Right. So now you have a new website theme song. So when people visit, it'll just start playing the Dr. Seuss thing and they'll be like, you know what, Jessica's it.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, you will

SPEAKER_02:

get that. You will get that. We will send you a copy. But thank you so much for joining us. This was a great episode. Very important information that I know our listeners will love. And thank you everyone listening for joining us. For more information on implementing OKRs into your organization, visit us at the trainingassociates.com. We'll see you later.