In this episode, we sit down with our long-time friend Henrik-Jan Van Der Pol, Founder of Perdoo, to dig into the evolving world of OKRs. As the market shifts, with consultancies and software providers consolidating or shutting down, what’s really going on? Henrik-Jan shares his insights on these changes, the lessons learned over the past 4–5 years, and what Microsoft’s decision to retire Viva Goals means for the future of OKRs. Tune in for a thought-provoking conversation. Enjoy the episode! Vi...
Feb 24, 2025•35 min•Ep. 162
In this episode, we’re joined by Sten, founder of Tability, an OKR platform designed to make accountability seamless and help teams achieve their goals faster. We chat about how accountability fits into the OKR framework and why this is so crucial. Sten explains that while teams often excel at setting goals during workshops, they frequently “drop the ball” when it comes to staying on track. Tability bridges this gap by making goals part of your weekly routine instead of something that gets revis...
Jan 27, 2025•40 min•Ep. 161
Welcome back to another episode of Giant Talk. In this episode, we sit down with Jonathan Elliot, a seasoned CEO with a career spanning commercial sales & marketing, strategy consulting, and leadership. Jonathan shares his expertise on implementing Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) in large, complex organisations and the unique challenges that come with it. We discuss: The role of OKRs: How OKRs help organisations scale, transform, and navigate crises Building alignment: Creating a vision, c...
Jan 13, 2025•39 min•Ep. 160
In this episode, we explore the power of communication with James Milsom, Head of Marketing at Hunter.AI. With extensive experience across tech start-ups and large SMBs, James shares his perspective on why communication serves as the bedrock of both success and failure within organisations. From enhancing collaboration to avoiding costly missteps, James highlights actionable strategies for leaders and teams to drive meaningful change. Enjoy the episode! Connect with James on LinkedIn...
Nov 11, 2024•41 min•Ep. 159
In this podcast episode we sit down with James Church, COO and Co-Founder of investment readiness agency Robot Mascot. We dive into (from a founders perspective) the good, the bad and the ugly of becoming investable. What are the top 3 things that make a Founder (and their business) investable? How important is it to investors to be confident that Founders are evolving their approach to defining and delivering results, as their business grows in size and scale? Listen to this exciting episode to...
Aug 27, 2024•51 min•Ep. 158
In this episode Roger sits down with a Chief Elephant Spotter (curious, listen to find out what this entails). James Pels is founder of Proven EA, a consultancy specialising in providing business transformation, agile coaching and digital transformation services to a wide range of industries in the public and private sectors. Roger and James dive into how to not waste time on things that you shouldn't be doing and discuss some common issues faced in workplaces that are a result of this. No matte...
Jul 29, 2024•29 min•Ep. 157
Welcome back to Giant Talk! In this episode Roger has an interesting conversation with Luke Fisher, CEO of Mo. Luke shares his journey from a fintech company undergoing cultural transformation to founding Mo, a platform designed to help managers and leaders sustainably invest in organisational culture. We dive into the significance of high-performing teams, the critical role of bottom-up change, and how small, marginal changes can drive transformational impact. Whether you're looking to build a ...
Jul 15, 2024•37 min•Ep. 156
Like any military organisation, command and control is necessary, especially in battle. When the stakes are this high, how can the time and space be made for testing new ideas, and challenging the status quo? So how does an organisation like the UK’s Royal Air Force learn, adapt and grow when hierarchy and orders are commonplace? Flight Lieutenant Nic Corrigan joins us to share how time is consciously made for reflection and analysis so that the RAF can always be certain it’s improving and evolv...
Jun 24, 2024•36 min•Ep. 155
In this episode, we reconnect with ECO Surv, a valued client from just over a year ago. ECO Surv offer compliance and workflow management solutions in the energy efficiency, retro fit and renewables sector. Dive into the conversation with Nate, Co-Founder and CEO, and Bex, People and Culture Manager, as they share their journey with OKRs. Discover how, amid their rapid scaling, ECO Surv found OKRs to be a game-changer for prioritisation and aligning their team with a shared vision. Nate and Bex ...
Feb 26, 2024•24 min•Ep. 154
Welcome to another episode of Giant Talk. In this episode Roger chats to chats to Joanna, Head of Academy and Expert Consultant at There Be Giants. This episode shines a spotlight on the important, yet often overlooked, topic of psychological safety in the workplace. Jo brings a wealth of knowledge and experience from her work at There Be Giants and explores the essence of psychological safety - a climate where team members feel included, secured and free to express contrasting ideas. She argues...
Feb 12, 2024•36 min•Ep. 153
We're clearly big fan of OKRs, but we're not so blindly fanatical that we don’t accept they are only part of the picture when it comes to strategy execution. OKRs signpost and help to chart progress at a high level but don’t do a great job at defining and tracking the details; they need to interface with the next level, and that’s often project management. At TBG we've had a lot of involvement with project management over the years, both in a “traditional” waterfall sense and also agile, and hav...
Jan 29, 2024•28 min•Ep. 152
OKR teams rarely find themselves based in the same location, so forming and working together brings all the challenges of hybrid working in today's contemporary organisations. This is why we was particularly interested in having a chat with Alexandra Samuel, after reading her HBR article “3 Project Management Strategies for a Hybrid Workplace” . In our 30-minute+ conversation, we discuss all aspects of hybrid team forming and ongoing management, with Alex sharing insights and advice from her 25+...
Jan 15, 2024•33 min•Ep. 151
Welcome back to Giant Talk, the world’s first OKR podcast. In this episode, Roger chats to Jacob Morgan author, futurist, & keynote Speaker on leadership, employee experience, & the future of work. In this discussion, Jacob talks about the topic of leading with vulnerability. How do you as a leader share a vulnerable side, share any gaps you have and open up about what you’ve learned to close any gaps. How can you as a leader feel safe enough to share this side? Fascinating conversation ...
Dec 04, 2023•28 min•Ep. 150
Welcome back to Giant Talk, the world’s first OKR podcast. In this episode, Roger chats to Ryan Lowdermilk, Cloud Solution Architect at Microsoft, an OKR Champion and OKR Coach for the Microsoft Tech team for the America’s. Ryan chats to Roger about the use of OKRs at Microsoft, how OKRs can break through the hierarchy and why OKRs should be a light lift. Enjoy the episode!
Oct 09, 2023•32 min•Ep. 149
Welcome back to Giant Talk, the world’s first OKR podcast. In this episode, Roger catches up with Tracey Boylin, CEO of Organisational Genetics. Organisational Genetics was born out of the real life experiences of the founders to address the challenge of nurturing a more open reporting culture in the NHS and other organisations. Tracey chats to Roger about her work in Ukraine in preventing corruption and fraud, all whilst in the middle of a war. Enjoy the episode!...
Sep 11, 2023•39 min•Ep. 147
Welcome back to Giant Talk, the world’s longest running OKR podcast. In this episode, Roger chats with Behnam Tabrizi , of Stanford University. Behnam - a 3X award-winning scholar and educator - has been teaching “Leading Organisational Transformation” at Stanford University's Department of Management Science & Engineering and executive programs for over 25 years. An expert in organisational and leadership transformation, he has helped thousands of CEOs and leaders plan, mobilise and impleme...
Aug 14, 2023•47 min•Ep. 148
Welcome back to Giant Talk, the world’s first OKR podcast. In this episode, Roger catches up with Patrick Jocelyn, Chief Executive Officer at Omniplex Learning, a client of TBG. Omniplex Learning is the complete learning and development solution. Award-winning authoring tools, market-leading learning management systems, bespoke digital learning creation and systems and skills training – all in one place. Patrick talks to Roger about their OKR journey and what impact they’ve had on the business. ...
Jul 31, 2023•37 min•Ep. 142
There are countless things we love today that began as a single idea that developed into something spectacular after partnering with another. A key question, therefore, needs to be: how can we work smarter, not harder, whilst adapting to ongoing changes and improving organisational performance? We teamed up with HR Fusion to conduct some of our own research and dig into existing research, to investigate how essential cross-functional working is in promoting collaboration and if it might be the k...
Jul 17, 2023•28 min•Ep. 146
Join us to spend a fascinating hour digging into the often-misunderstood concept of “alignment” with Jonathon Hensley – CEO, board member of multiple silicon valley businesses and author of the book called, yes, you guessed it: “Alignment.” Jonathon has long been curious about why some businesses manage to align really well, and others don’t. What is it the good ones are doing that the others are not? This is exactly where we start, and then go on to look at the different types of alignment, som...
Jul 03, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 145
Welcome back to Giant Talk, the world’s longest running OKR podcast. Join us for a series of special episodes in conversation with long-standing organisational performance expert, Brett Knowles. In this episode, we take a deeper dive into AI and the five major components of being able to use AI. Enjoy the episode!
Jun 19, 2023•45 min•Ep. 144
Welcome back to Giant Talk, the world’s first OKR podcast. In this episode, Roger chats to Sara Jacklin, an expert facilitator with a specialism in design sprints. Sara has worked with many clients using design sprints as a sophisticated problem-solving process. Sara chats to Roger about how best to use design sprints and using them in an agile way. Enjoy the episode!
May 29, 2023•39 min•Ep. 143
Welcome back to Giant Talk, the world’s first OKR podcast. Join us for a series of special episodes in conversation with long-standing organisational performance expert, Brett Knowles. In this third episode, we discuss the concept of AI and in particular Chatgpt , how can you integrate this into your OKR processes? Enjoy the episode!
May 22, 2023•33 min•Ep. 141
Welcome back to Giant Talk, the world’s first OKR podcast. Join us for a series of special episodes in conversation with long-standing organisational performance expert, Brett Knowles. Throughout these we will be looking at some of the emerging challenges facing organisations today as we all try to adapt to the new normal of rapidly accelerating change and ever-increasing volatility. In this second episode, we discuss the matter - Should OKRs should be linked to reward & recognition? Does this h...
May 01, 2023•43 min•Ep. 140
Welcome back to Giant Talk, the world’s first OKR podcast. Join us for the first of a series of special episodes in conversation with long-standing organisational performance expert, Brett Knowles. Throughout these we will be looking at some of the emerging challenges facing organisations today as we all try to adapt to the new normal of rapidly accelerating change and ever increasing volatility. In this first episode, we look at how the organisational "OS" needs to evolve to adapt to these new ...
Apr 17, 2023•45 min•Ep. 139
Welcome back to Giant Talk, the world’s first OKR podcast. In this episode, we are joined by Tom Rausch, Director of Consulting at Barrett values centre. Tom chats to Roger about his work at Barrett transforming businesses, and the changing trends they’ve seen when it comes to values and culture. Enjoy the episode!
Mar 20, 2023•34 min•Ep. 138
Welcome back to Giant Talk. In this episode, Roger welcomes Ian Turner, Talent Director at Talk Talk, a telecommunications organisation providing pay television and Internet access services to businesses and consumers in the United Kingdom. Ian chats to Roger about the Talk Talk OKR journey and the benefits they have seen from using them. Enjoy the episode!
Mar 06, 2023•31 min•Ep. 137
Welcome back to Giant Talk, the world’s first OKR podcast. In this episode host Roger Longden chats to Bernie Smith, a KPI guru! Roger and Bernie dig into the topic ‘OKR vs KPIs’, and dispel some common myths. How and when should you use OKRs & KPIs? Listen to this insightful conversation to find out. Enjoy the episode!
Feb 20, 2023•40 min•Ep. 136
Welcome back to Giant Talk, the world’s first OKR podcast. After being at the forefront of the OKR space for some time, Roger Longden, Founder and Chairman of TBG joins us to share his learnings and thoughts on OKR, and the change he has seen in the OKR world. He also gives an update about his new role as Chairman of TBG. Enjoy the episode! Links The OKR Coach Handbook by Roger Longden....
Feb 06, 2023•28 min•Ep. 135
Welcome back to Giant Talk, the world’s first OKR podcast. In the second episode of series 9 we are joined by Kyle Byrd, partner at Adventure Fund and former Product Manager at Atlassian. Kyle is a big advocate of OKRs and shares his experience of using them with Roger. Enjoy the episode! Links Join the Blueprint Community - decisions.community
Jan 23, 2023•48 min•Ep. 134
Welcome back to Giant Talk, the world’s first OKR podcast. Kicking off this new season, and back with Roger Longden as host, we welcome Ahmed Elnahas, IT Manager at NN Group. Ahmed has been working with OKRs for some time and has an interesting take on how he uses them and how OKRs can work with agile. Enjoy the episode! Links Join our OKR Professionals Slack community here - http://bit.ly/3FBQ7Ug
Jan 09, 2023•29 min•Ep. 133
