December No-BS OKRs focus: OKRs for change

Did you receive this email via two different lists? If so, please let me know – I'm trying to de-dup my work and personal mailing lists, so I don't accidentally email anyone twice!

Hi, friends, and happy holiday week – I hope this week finds you taking some time for restoration and recovery.

I wanted to share an early peek at the plan for this December's No-BS OKRs cohort after having such a wonderful time with such awesome long-term contacts (from this list, NOT my work lists!) join for the first cohort earlier this month.

The updated waitlist page for our December cohort is now live at:

http://findrc.co/nobsokrs

And our December course is going to focus on creating OKRs that actually achieve change.

Why?

I've been surprised at how "meh" the response has been to some of the intentionally provocative questions I've asked in social media lately, about peoples' experience with (and problems with) OKRs.

The "shiny!" of OKRs may be losing its luster, as more and more people encounter them implemented to meet senior leadership's needs in large organizations, or, used more for micromanagement than inspiration and empowerment.

What we do is different: our approach to OKRs is more rebellious.

The approach to OKRs that we work with does meet senior leadership's needs around improving organizational performance, retention and engagement of high-potential talent, and increasing accountability within their organization

AND, our approach does so while

1. supporting the growth, development, engagement, and investment level of individuals on our teams, and
2. improving the actual human impacts and outcomes of our collective labor.

I've been nervous to say too much about the activism and rebelliousness of the work I do, because I've been nervous to turn off corporate clients and prospects. But as I inch closer to releasing my book into beta, and test out telling more of the truth of the work we do here, I'm finding is the exact opposite.

By being more open about the potential for meaningful change that this work brings to our organizations, I'm finding leaders and teams that are truly invested in doing the hard work of change.  I'm finding leaders and operators who actually have an appetite for some of the side effects of this work:

1. Increased equity, less bias, and fewer assumptions in how their organizations operate;
2. Shifts away from power-based influence and leadership practices to a more intellectually humble style of influence and leadership that centers the work and the labor who creates it instead of power;
3. Healthy pressure on leadership accountability, not only the accountability of our team members that leaders crave an increase in: since the limit of our accountability is our authority.

Which job are you hiring OKRs to do?

If you're still reading this email, I suspect you're here because you're a status quo challenger, a changemaker, a person who sees how things can be improved. You may be courageous enough to take risks in order to do better, not just have your numbers look good.

If that's you, I want to hear from you.

Drop me a note back via email: sara@redcurrantco.com or add yourself to the waitlist for the December cohort here:

http://findrc.co/nobsokrs

If you join from the waitlist, you'll receive a special benefit if you decide to join this December cohort. Early registrations from our waitlist will receive your choice of:

• an early-bird discount, or,
• a 1:1 30-minute session with me personally during or after our course to help with your learning and to provide 1:1 live support of your OKR drafting progress.

I anticipate running this cohort the week of December 5th (although may slip it by a week depending on availability of the folks who sign up early).

Please ping me back today, so that I can take your availability into account when setting dates & times, and feel free to forward / share this message with any other corporate rebels in your circles. if you’d like to share this message with your professional networks, here’s a version via LinkedIn for easy sharing:

https://findrc.co/3EshwWV

Thank you, and I hope to hear from you this week!

- Sara

P.S. If you have questions, just hit reply. These emails go to my personal inbox. Happy to chat and answer your questions.

And P.P.S for just my personal list here – based on demand from my current professional network, I'm also cooking up a new group program for people in career transition (defined broadly). If you're a job-seeker, contemplating a job or career change, or if you're looking to redefine your relationship with your current work, drop me a quick note back? I'm scheduling discovery chats that will inform a beta cohort for people who are actively "career-shaping," and I'd love to include as many friends and family in the beta group as possible!