Ep.54: Big News! OKRs & The Employee Experience Platform (EXP) | Ty Lingley, Head of Partnerships at Ally.io

54: Big News! OKRs & The Employee Experience Platform (EXP) | Ty Lingley, Head of Partnerships at Ally.io

In this episode of the OKRs Q&A Podcast, Tim Meinhardt interviews Ty Lingley, Head of Partnerships at Ally.io, one of today’s leading global OKR software platforms. 

Ally.io puts your company’s most important objectives at the center of every process, so you can spend less time managing goals and more time achieving them. Ally’s OKR software gives leaders, teams, and individuals visibility into the entire work process, connecting everyday tasks to the company’s most important objectives. When teams see how they are making an impact, they stay engaged, focused, and achieve greater results.

Ally.io is based on the OKR (objectives and key results) framework, which is an operating model for running agile teams/businesses and has been made famous by Google and other industry leaders. They are committed to the belief that effective goal management, if it’s easy and seamless for people to use, can give businesses the alignment, focus and transparency they need to succeed. They are headquartered in Seattle, Washington and have an additional office in Chennai, India.

Visit Ally.io to learn more.

Tim and Ty discuss what has recently happened in the OKR software landscape and how one of the largest software players sees OKRs playing a role in shaping the overall employee experience, providing an edge in the great talent and retention chase. This is a must-listen-to podcast, as you will hear some great takeaways about how OKRs will be playing a unique role in employee empowerment and ultimate, overall employee satisfaction by helping to shape the Employee Experience Platform.

If you are interested in working with the Atruity team or have a question you would like addressed on the show, please email contact@atruity1.com or visit our website at www.atruity1.com

Tim Meinhardt:

Welcome everyone to another exciting episode of the OKRs Q&A podcast, also known as the OKR Corral, where OKR insight is the king. I’m your host, Tim Meinhardt, president and CEO of Atruity, an OKR consultancy headquartered in our nation’s capital.

Before we begin, if you’re an OKR fan and enjoy our podcast, please subscribe, leave a review, and explore our website at www.atruity1.com. And finally, should you have a burning question you’d like addressed in future episodes, please drop us a note at contact@atruity1.com. 

In this exciting and insightful episode, I have the opportunity to spend some time with Ty Lingley, Head of Partnerships at Ally.io. And if you don’t know who Ally.io is, they are one of today’s leading global OKR software platforms. Ty and I discuss what has recently happened in the OKR software landscape, and how one of the largest software players sees OKRs playing a role in shaping the overall employee experience, providing an edge in the great talent and retention chase. This is a must-listen-to podcast, and you will hear some great takeaways about how OKRs will be playing a unique role in employee empowerment and ultimate, overall employee satisfaction. Ty and I both know a successful OKR program starts with executive buy-in from the top, but make no mistake, once the direction has been set and the program begins its journey, OKR software will play an ever-increasing role to shape what is being called EXP—the Employee Experience Platform. So grab that cup of coffee, and plug in those earbuds, and enjoy a very insightful conversation with Ty and I.

Hey, Ty. So welcome to the program.

Ty Lingley:

Thanks for having me. Am I your only returning podcast guest?

Tim Meinhardt:

You are one of the first, I will say that

Ty Lingley:

All right.

Tim Meinhardt:

So, you’re on. They say there’s Pete and then there’s Repeat, right? So, this is terrific, and I love having you on our program. And you know, we’re going to have an interesting discussion today about some of the things that are taking place in the OKR marketplace, and I can’t wait to have this discussion with everybody. So, Ty, let’s dive right in a little bit here. And what do you think is the bigger picture for OKRs within businesses as we move through into 2022 and beyond?

Ty Lingley:

Right, so I think that OKRs done properly are part of this broader employee experience, and I think that redefining this employee experience is on the agenda for most forward-thinking businesses worldwide. And so that includes things like how are we going to distill information worldwide? How do we maintain culture and effective communications? How do we help people learn and upskill? And how do we give people a sense of purpose at work and be productive while maintaining their well-being? So, I think OKRs need to find a home in all of this to integrate and amplify the entire employee experience and done in isolation, I don’t think that achieves any of what anyone’s looking to do right now.

Tim Meinhardt:

Yeah, great point. And you know, all the things that you just mentioned are—I don’t want to call them byproducts, because that’s the wrong way of looking at it. What I’d like to say is they all come as a result of having and implementing a good OKR program. And so, you know, technology plays a big role in this as well. And take a minute here and kind of dig into the technology and your thoughts on that. And what role does technology play in all of this as it’s moving forward?

Ty Lingley:

Yeah. I mean, it’s been said before that software is eating the world, and if you look at the top performing companies on the S&P, the hottest new entrants and just the sheer amount of software companies being started, this is coming into fruition, or it already has—software is permeating through every industry and every vertical. And so, when I think about that and I think about OKRs and tech, you know, most software businesses in some ways are a better way of doing things than spreadsheets. And so, spreadsheets are fine in a very small business, but if you have aspirations for growth and impact, spreadsheets don’t scale. So, what you’re after is, you know, visibility, transparency and creating the hard conversations that you need to have in this safe and collaborative environment. I think software enables this. So, in terms of what role does it play? I don’t think you’re able to achieve the ambition for your organization without technology and the ambition you have for your OKR program, with the right tech in place to just get the most mileage of the awesome things that OKRs bring.

Tim Meinhardt:

Very well said. You know, I was struck, and I’ve done some research on the Viva project and their new term employee experience platform for EXP. And what I was struck by, Ty, was that when you start looking at the technology, you know it’s going to be embedded in this whole employee experience and maybe you could touch a little bit on that. You know, I think that’s a very interesting play because as you said, it brings in learning purpose, well-being, effective communication, culture, all those things. And when I looked at this Microsoft platform a little bit, that’s what I began to see and how the software just plays one little role in there, and one key aspect, but all of those together is what’s going to redefine that employee experience, right?

Ty Lingley:

Yeah, I think that this space is currently quite fragmented. So, you’ve seen a lot of new entrants, you know, post-pandemic trying to tackle multiple aspects of the employee experience. And that’s a broad range of things like I’ve mentioned before. And now we’re seeing the need, perhaps, for some consolidation and integration of all of those key components that, you know, add up to the employee experience. And so, I think that’s what Viva’s out to achieve. And as you know, I handle a lot of our all of our integration partnerships and I see, you know, companies’ tech stacks. Integrating best in breed products is great, up until a point. So, there’s always this bundling and unbundling of products and services. And I think heading into this new era of how people want to work and the experience they want to have at work and the experience that companies want to deliver at work, I think there definitely is room for a consolidation and a bundling of all of these various pieces of the employee experience.

Tim Meinhardt:

I completely agree and you know, you’re right, there will be a consolidation here. And all of these are coming together to deliver that employee experience. You know, one of the big things that the marketplace is talking about today is—and I’ve read so much on this and every time I get into this topic, it’s deeper, deeper and deeper. But it’s the great turnover. It’s the great resignation that that a lot of, I’ll just say tech companies, but most companies are going through that, that people are leaving in droves. And I think it boils back down to what employees really want, which is that wonderful employee experience. And you know, when you start talking about that, you start talking about how do you empower employees? One of the biggest issues is that people want to be heard. They want to have clarity. They want to have purpose. And I think that’s what OKRs actually bring to the forefront, is that clarity of purpose and how they fit in to everything and then giving them the room to be able to put forth their ideas and be able to go about it in their own unique way. You know, we hire smart people, let them do their jobs, so to speak. And I think that having that consolidated software platform, I think, allows for simplicity and execution, when you start looking at an overall employee experience. So let me ask you this. Why did Ally choose to partner and align itself with Microsoft?

Ty Lingley:

I’m going to just give my personal take, and it’s very simply that we wanted to accelerate our mission, and that’s always, since day one, that’s to bring purpose to work for as many people as possible. And you know, with a player like Microsoft, that opens a lot of doors that we couldn’t open ourselves, that would take us an enormous amount of capital and time to open. And the fit was right to bring, you know, this mission forth to millions of people worldwide. So that’s my personal take on it. Of course, there’s other business reasons, but I think straight up, that’s the reason why we did this.

Tim Meinhardt:

Fantastic. And I think it’s very commendable. And I give both Ally.io and I give Microsoft, both you all, credit and kudos for that. I think that, you know, that’s some very wise people making some very wise decisions as we move forward. So, what do you think this acquisition means for the OKR software market overall?

Ty Lingley:

I think it’s a net positive for everyone, really. I think it validates the amount of investment that’s been poured into the space. You know, when a major player sees how this fits into the future of work, I think that there may be further consolidation. But the fact remains that every business has goals and that’s a really large market. And another piece is, I think that we’re seeing this collision between traditional HR. tools, project management tools, and OKR tools really circling the same problem and coming at it from a different angle, and each has their own kind of unique foot into the door. So, it seems that everyone is launching goal management functionality to some capacity. And so, with that degree of competition, there’s bound to be more activity. So, I think we’ll see some more, definitely some more, activity in the years to come in this space.

Tim Meinhardt:

I couldn’t agree with you more. I will say there’s been a lot of money put into this OKR software marketplace, and yet the investment Microsoft made here kind of dwarfed all that, so I think you’re right. I think it absolutely validates the OKR phenomena—and I’ll call it a phenomena. You know, John Doerr, when he wrote his book Measure What Matters, it was kind of this groundswell. And if you look where it was three or four years ago and where it is today, I’m certainly not going to tell you by any stretch of the imagination it’s mainstream, but it’s more cutting edge than it was actually bleeding edge before. And so, I think that it does validate the OKR marketplace and allows everyone to look at what’s going on with this and how are OKRs actually working to drive businesses forward in a way that makes that employee experience number one, and number two gets the results that everybody really wanted out of the employees that they hired. 

Ty Lingley:

I agree with that. I mean, I think what we’re all talking about is goal management. And I think, OKRs are emerging as the framework that makes most sense for progressive companies who are after growth. And you know, I think, OKRs come in many different flavors, but the main importance is if there is a shared understanding and there’s shared ground rules, at least everybody is speaking the same language and operating off of a level playing field. And I think that’s really, really important for OKR success.

Tim Meinhardt:

Yeah, well, I completely agree with you there. And you know, years ago, we began working with one particular client—large client. And, you know, it’s clumsy at first and then everybody starts to get the hang of it. And you know, when it starts kicking in, you know when it’s starting to get that culture change, when there’s talk that’s just idle chitchat in the hallways—and this is pre-COVID—where people are talking about, “How are your KRs doing?” And that’s when you know, wow, it’s starting to make a difference, and that that goal setting, you know, that reaching for something— “How good could you be?” You know, we talk ad nauseam about, you know, MBOs and KPIs and how they work symbiotically a little bit with OKRs, and that even though they’re a lagging indicator, they do set up the ability for businesses to kind of look at their financial models and how things are actually moving forward. And are people doing things that they’re supposed to do but OKRs are giving them that ability to stretch being in a collaborative environment, getting that buy in and then having a tool. And that’s again, I circle back to what I think that the Viva and the EXP acronym will do as it moves forward is that it’s going to drive that employee experience. And, you know, right now, it’s the talent war. And I mentioned it earlier, it’s the great talent war. So, what are you doing as an organization to win that talent? 

Ty Lingley:

Right. Tim, can I flip the script on you a little bit?

Tim Meinhardt:

Sure, absolutely, Ty.

Ty Lingley:

So, you sit on the other side of the table being a consultant, a management consultant, and specializing in OKRs. And you work with enterprises of all sizes. How do you think about the role that technology plays in the OKR journey for your clients, and what’s the conversation that you have with them in order to help them understand that role?

Tim Meinhardt:

That’s a great question, Ty, and I want to say this in a way that makes the most sense. So, when I first got started in doing OKR work, I was more on the side of not necessarily technology, and you and I have had this discussion. But you know, I had I had my old school methods of putting this into a program, and I still firmly believe in the foursquare tool that Christine Wodtke talks about. And we’ve been very successful with this, and I think that that’s an interesting place to start the next answer to your question is because I myself am beginning to look at technology and saying, and I have to say that I think I think this acquisition is changing my mind and I’ll tell you why, because when I’ve done all the research on Viva and I’ve looked at what they’re talking about with this, to me, it needs to be in a software environment because that software environment is going to ultimately be that collaborative tool that allows organizations to stay on top of their employees when it comes to everything that is important to their employees, which is just effective communication. It’s all about those skills that they can be learning. And then you start throwing in the OKRs, and I have to tell you, Ty, I’m becoming a bigger convert than I was before. And so, I think that’s where I see the market evolving is that it just makes logical sense to be able to have this embedded in technology because that technology space or that platform, and I’ll even throw in mobile first. You know, that frontline worker that needs to be, you know, right out there on the front lines, they still need all the corporate communication, they need the skills, and they need to make sure that they’re aligned and focused on what the organization needs to accomplish. So, this is a great question because I say I’m falling on my sword a little bit because I was more of a—I don’t want to say a hardcore, you know—I have the way of getting it into an organization and building that absolute buy in. But I think as I’m moving forward, I just see this as a next logical extension to put this in the software.

Ty Lingley:

Yeah, I’m with you. This acquisition is really like opened my eyes a lot as to what the bigger picture here is when we talk about the future of work in the employee experience, I mean, it goes it goes so much more beyond OKRs and goal management, and really, it’s part of this integrated approach to solving the whole employee experience equation, right? And so, I think I’m with you too, and I’m not dying on my sword, but we see how important the role that OKR software fits into this, but it’s a part of something much larger. And you know, I was in a conversation the other week with an executive at a very fast-growing SaaS company. And in our conversation with OKRs and the more questions we asked and probed; this person was really realizing that OKRs were part of a larger business transformation that they were to undergo—that they needed to undergo. There were layers of change management and strategic communications that needed to happen, rollout planning, so OKRs go beyond just a way to get things done. And when we look at the EXP, you call this employee experience, they play a role there, and integrating that effectively is really, really, really important. And so again, that’s why we’re bullish on Viva and this new category I guess we could say we’re trying to create.

Tim Meinhardt:

Right and you know, and I agree, and it’s about weaving it into those other things that are critically important for someone’s daily success. And, you know, its ability to execute. To me, it’s all about, you know, go back to even Andy Grove, you know, “It’s not what you know, it’s what you accomplish.” And it’s building in that ability for people to be able to execute and execute on the things that they know are most important, that the organization has said “These are the most important things we need to get done,” and then allowing them the ability to be able to put that down and into a software fashion. So, you know, I don’t want to say I’m a complete convert, but I’m very much leaning toward being a convert here because I believe that as we move forward, it just makes logical sense to be integrated in the total employee experience.

Ty Lingley:

Well, you know, I’m with you on that one.

Tim Meinhardt:

Yes, you are, absolutely. Well Ty, this has been great, okay. So, before we end, I just want to ask you, any last thoughts on any of this that that we might have not covered that you think is worthy of our audience kind of having a quick ear on?

Ty Lingley:

No, not really, other than like the best time to start OKRs is today, and it doesn’t need to be something that’s wholly integrated right away. I think the more you understand the realm of each part of this employee experience, the better. So, I just would say that if your audience is thinking about or considering OKRs that they don’t need to be something that needs to be completely integrated right away, I would just get a handle on them so that when the time does come, you’ll see the relevance is how do they fit two other pieces of this broader puzzle?

Tim Meinhardt:

Well Ty, I have to say that that is very well said. It’s how I felt like, you have to get it right first. So yes, you can have software right out of the gate. Please don’t. I don’t want to say you don’t. But when you get started with OKRs, as I’ve always said, it’s a little clumsy when you get started at first, but you slowly get the hang of it. And once you get the hang of it, then automate it, get it involved, and make it part of your overall employee experience. 

So, Ty, thank you so much for coming on today. I truly appreciate it. And we enjoy our partnership with Ally.io, and obviously we’re going to enjoy it moving forward. So, I wanted to thank you for being on the show today, and who knows, you could come back for a three peat.

Ty Lingley:

It was my pleasure, Tim. Thank you for having me.

Tim Meinhardt:

You got it, Ty, have a good day. 

Ty Lingley:

Bye-bye.

Tim Meinhardt:

Bye now.

Thanks so much for taking a few minutes to listen to our OKRs Q&A podcast. You know, OKRs provide such an excellent, agile framework which is critical for today’s business needs. It’s such a pleasure to have such wonderful people share their stories and journeys with us. Please, should you ever need assistance with your OKR journey, do not hesitate to reach out to us and contact us at www.atruity1.com, and make sure if you have a minute, to rate our show. Have a great week. Stay healthy. And of course, stay happy. Thanks, everyone.

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