Philantropic Service Organization
A Year of Measurable OKR Progress
Introduction
For one of our long term-clients, February 2026 marked a significant milestone. It was the second consecutive year that Springbach conducted a Strategy and OKR Assessment as part of our ongoing coaching partnership. When this journey began, the organization wasn’t lacking ambition, it was lacking alignment. Early conversations revealed common but critical challenges: difficulty agreeing on what their OKRs should be, inconsistencies in how OKRs and initiatives were executed, and a disconnect between day-to-day work and the company’s broader mission, vision, and strategy.
From the outset, their goal was clear: identify strengths, uncover areas for development, and build a practical, actionable path toward stronger strategy execution, and Springbach was able to take these goals into account when our coaching began to show significant improvement during their second assessment.
Our Solution
To move from intention to sustained impact, the organization partnered closely with Springbach to embed new ways of working, shifting OKRs from a framework on paper to a living, organization-wide practice.
A central focus of our coaching was establishing cross-functional leadership squads, each accountable for specific OKRs and supporting Key Results. These squads quickly became a unifying force by bringing leaders together as a team, strengthening accountability, and creating sharper focus on what truly mattered.
At the same time, the organization invested heavily in intentional communication. Through targeted workshops, consistent reinforcement in cross-organizational forums, and a commitment to transparency, the strategy and its progress became more visible and accessible to every team member—not just leadership.
To support execution, Springbach helped implement a structured system for tracking progress. This included both a Tableau dashboard for visibility and squad-level mechanisms to drive ownership and follow-through. Just as importantly, the organization maintained discipline around OKR health by prioritizing simplicity, clarity, and high standards to ensure the framework remained effective rather than burdensome.
Planning practices also evolved. Teams began aligning their work more consistently to strategic priorities, supported by a regular planning cadence (including PI Planning for the digital program) that reinforced connection between day-to-day execution and broader organizational goals.
Finally, our coaching approach emphasized creating a sustainable measurement culture. This included establishing a regular OKR measurement cadence and fostering an environment where questions, challenges, and continuous improvement were not only accepted, but encouraged. An emotionally safe environment is one where OKRs thrive.
Together, these shifts reflect a deeper transformation: moving from implementing OKRs to truly operationalizing strategy across the organization.
The current year’s assessment results reflect this meaningful progress, too:
Overall Score (2026): 77%
Year-over-Year Improvement: +21%
Performance vs. Global Average: +13.7%
The Result
Despite the challenges, the organization’s progress over the past year has been both measurable and meaningful.
Across all four categories, scores improved significantly:
Strategy Communication: 83% (up from 60%)
Strategy Execution: 70% (up from 61%)
Measurement of Outcomes: 76% (up from 57%)
OKR Health: 80% (up from 47%)
Seventeen leaders participated in the assessment, providing a well-rounded view of how strategy is understood and executed across the organization.
The most notable transformation came in OKR Health, which jumped from 47% to 80%. This progress was driven by a shift toward greater focus and discipline in how OKRs were defined and used during coaching. Instead of trying to tackle everything at once, teams aligned around a smaller set of priorities, limiting themselves on the number of OKRs used. This clarity reduced context-switching, strengthened messaging, and improved overall productivity. At the same time, teams moved away from milestone-based Key Results and began defining truy outcome-driven, measurable indicators of success. They ensured their OKRs were not only structured well, but actually driving meaningful results.
Beyond the numbers, a cultural shift is taking hold. Leaders reported more focused conversations, stronger alignment, and a clearer sense of direction.
As one leader shared:
“You’ve no idea how beautiful that was – we can focus – it feels so different to last year. I didn’t realise the difference we’ve made.”
Another added:
“We always had a strategy but we never had these conversations. It's a 250-degree shift. It's made leading easier for me.”
What we learned
While progress was undeniable, the assessment highlighted a familiar truth: improving strategy is one thing, but executing it consistently is another.
Strategy Execution remained the lowest-scoring category at 70%, still short of the 75% target. Two persistent gaps stood out. First, teams struggled to remove blockers quickly enough (2.35/4), slowing momentum. Second, there was a lack of consistent corrective action when OKRs went off track (2.18/4), limiting the organization’s ability to adapt in real time.
Even more telling: while the organization outperformed the global average in execution (61%), it remained well below top-tier organizations (89%). That gap represents the difference between progress and true operational excellence.
Compounding this challenge was the lack of focus during giving season, which disrupted communication rhythms and planning consistency, making it harder to maintain execution discipline during peak periods.
Conclusion
In just one year, the organization improved its overall score from 56% to 77%—a 21-point gain that reflects real momentum and meaningful change.
But the story doesn’t end here.
With “Leader” status set at 85%, the organization is now within striking distance at just eight points away. The path forward is clear: focus on strengthening execution, improving how blockers are addressed, and building a more disciplined approach to corrective action.
By continuing to invest in these areas and maintaining the same commitment to measurement and reflection, the organization is well-positioned to close the gap between progress and excellence.
With our OKR coaching standards in place, re-running the assessment in twelve months won’t just measure success, it will help ensure it continues for our client.