Serdal Mermer
General Manager, NTT DATA Business Solutions Turkey
People are always the center of the constant need for change in this era of information and transformation we’re a part of. Revolutions in the information and communication technologies areas focus on the workforce’s efficiency, a fundamental concern for corporations of all sizes. The notion of the “agile approach” guides companies in essential areas such as quickly adapting the organizations to change, coordinating time according to the corporation’s priorities, and directing the labor accurately.
In today’s conditions, we create agile approaches to reach all organizational departments of corporations and shape them in a way that aims to create value and put the people in the center. With this vision emerging at the beginning of the 2000s, instead of prioritizing the process and the tools, we focus on employee-team interactions and develop management & performance strategies that respond to change quickly.
Adaptation to Change Gains Momentum with OKR and Agile Working Approach
Change and constant development are inevitable in today’s world where organizations have become more agile, the new generations’ expectations from the corporations they work in have changed, and there are disruptive transformations in technology. One of the most significant reflections of the agile working approach that was adopted on the business and human resources’ transformation journey is without a doubt the “OKR philosophy,” which includes a new-gen performance measuring philosophy. OKR (Objectives and Key Results) is a robust performance management system proven to be successful. It makes the process of adapting to worldwide trends easier for corporations and it also makes it possible for them to focus on the critical work priorities and goals, make decision-making mechanisms operate faster, and make the whole organization focus on the same direction with high motivation and participation from the employees. Currently, it doesn’t seem possible for the corporations to reach their future goals or make a difference in the competition in the global and domestic markets while using the traditional measuring and management mechanisms. Transparent goal management throughout the corporation makes it possible for the company and the teams to move towards the accurate goal in the most effective way.
The Culture of Feedback and Unity Increases Corporate Performance
One of the most important reasons why the OKR methodology is rapidly adopted by countless organizations worldwide today is that, unlike the traditional methods, it creates a union of “meaning” and “purpose” between the employee and the employer. With a completely flexible and transparent system that allows for the goals to be updated in only 90 days, it removes the invisible gap between the employee and the employer and provides the opportunity to look at corporate strategies as a whole.
Even though it looks like a measuring tool, OKR is actually a tool for cultural transformation. We are actually improving the conversation subjects within the corporate culture, the type of interaction between individuals, their way of working, and their view on teamwork by changing the method of measuring the employees’ performance. From that point of view, we believe that the OKR methodology is vital in finding common ground with Gen Z, who will be joining the workforce soon, and Gen Y, whose population in the workforce is increasing and is vital for us to adapt to the changing conditions quickly and as a whole. A union of “meaning” is necessary for the concepts of innovation and people to exist together perfectly. We see that moving forward with an organizational development culture based on people-focused feedback, and with a needed motive of meaning and purpose while trying to achieve many different goals simultaneously under our corporate vision provides significant flexibility and agility for corporations, and those valuable business outcomes are achieved through this method.
The OKR Compass and Strong Organizations
As NTT DATA Business Solutions, while taking the digital transformation, rapidly changing technologies, new ways to do work in the global arena, and local market dynamics into consideration, we’ve not only been investing in innovative software solutions but also been making our employees and customers a source of this transformation for over 30 years. We’re optimizing the best and most effective technology practices for companies by interpreting the sectoral necessities and business priorities accurately.
Our Partner Twiser Is An Ambitious Star Up On Their Way To Becoming A Unicorn
In order for organizations to become more effective and work in the most efficient way possible, it’s vital to make use of technology’s steps towards the future fully. Making the employees discover their own potentials fully, tracking those potentials, and moving towards a goal with them effectively starts with successfully making accurate performance management a part of the company’s culture. Our strategic business partnership with Twiser came to be with this point of view. As NTT DATA Business Solutions, we believe that Twiser, who is on its way to becoming a Unicorn, will achieve great success both in Turkey and around the world. We use the feedback culture as a baseline together with Wokr, an artificial intelligence-supported performance management system. It puts the people in the center of the organization and allows the corporations to reveal their true potentials. We make significant investments in this area by placing Wokr on a global scale. We help corporations achieve their strategic goals by redesigning the experience and developing insight-focused agile approaches with the OKR method many of the global organizations that can quickly adapt to the new technologies, trends, and approaches are currently using.
