250: Putting Customers at the Heart of Your Goals: A Guide to Customer-Centric OKRs with Josh Seiden

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In today's episode of Navigating the Customer Experience with Josh Seiden. Josh’s insights emphasize that customer-centricity is a journey requiring both leadership and employees to adopt new ways of thinking and working. By focusing on customer needs and empowering teams through OKRs, organizations can create greater value and drive meaningful change.

Josh’s Journey

Josh began his career in Silicon Valley during the pre-internet days, working in technology. Fascinated by what makes great products and services, he spent many years as a designer and later a product manager. Today, he helps teams collaborate more effectively, fostering customer-centric approaches to deliver exceptional value to the world.

About Josh’s New Book: Who Does What By How Much? A Practical Guide to Customer-Centric OKRs

Josh’s book is inspired by his passion for integrating a customer-focused perspective into product and service development. He emphasizes that while creating good products is challenging, it’s essential to keep the customer at the core of decision-making. His book introduces OKRs (Objectives and Key Results), a goal-setting framework that helps organizations align their objectives with customer needs.

OKRs prompt teams to define clear objectives—what they want to achieve—and measurable key results based on customer outcomes. For example, the Cleveland Clinic uses OKRs with objectives like "Be the best place in the world to receive healthcare" and key results such as reducing serious safety events. This approach ensures customer-centric thinking while empowering teams to solve problems creatively.

Overcoming Challenges with OKRs

A common pain point in organizations is micromanagement, where leaders dictate tasks rather than allowing teams to leverage their expertise. OKRs address this by shifting leadership’s focus from controlling tasks to setting strategic goals and creating an environment where employees can solve problems independently. This requires mutual trust and encourages employees to think critically about delivering customer value.

However, resistance to change is a hurdle. Employees may feel overwhelmed by new processes. Josh emphasizes the importance of leadership in clearly articulating why OKRs are being adopted, addressing organizational pain points, and explaining how OKRs will benefit both the company and individual employees. This alignment fosters motivation and helps overcome resistance.

Aligning OKRs with Employee Needs

Josh highlights the need to connect OKRs to the employees’ sense of purpose. Everyone within an organization has customers—whether they’re external consumers or internal stakeholders. For example, an HR professional’s customers might be employees seeking benefits or managers hiring talent. By adopting a customer-centric mindset, employees at all levels can see how their roles contribute to organizational success, making them more engaged and motivated.

Key Behaviors for Customer-Centric Organizations

To become truly customer-centric, organizations must:

1. Understand Customers Deeply: Organizations should invest in customer discovery, understanding who their customers are, their motivations, and what challenges they face.
2. Prioritize Value Creation Over Sales: Beyond generating revenue, focus on how customers use products and whether those products are delivering real value.
3. Foster a Problem-Solving Culture: Empower employees to solve problems rather than prescribing solutions.
4. Enhance Communication and Transparency: Ensure alignment and clarity in how OKRs connect to customer and employee goals.