Aligning teams across different regions and functions is a critical challenge for regional leadership. Emsland Group APAC recognized the need to unify and elevate the performance of their sales and back-office teams operating out of Singapore and Thailand. To turn this vision into reality, they partnered with OKR Asia to roll out an OKR framework built around their operations, with Tability as the platform for setting, tracking and reviewing goals.
About Emsland Group
Emsland Group is a leading European producer of dried potato products and starches. The company was founded in 1928 and is headquartered in Emlichheim, Germany. It makes starches, potato flakes and granules, proteins and fibers for the food, technical and animal nutrition industries. Emsland Group has about 1,500 employees, sells into roughly 100 countries and exports more than 75% of what it produces. The company’s Asia Pacific team, with sales and back-office staff split between Singapore and Thailand, is the focus of this story.
About OKR Asia
OKR Asia is a Singapore-based consultancy and Gold-tier Tability partner. It helps organizations “measure and do what matters” through agile goal-setting with OKRs. The team works in English, Chinese, German, Spanish and Vietnamese. Its services run from strategy workshops and OKR training to setup, check-in facilitation, OKR Champion certification and PMO or Chief of Staff implementation. For Emsland Group APAC, OKR Asia led the OKR rollout end to end, from drafting the first OKRs through the cycle-end review.
Here’s how OKR Asia supported Emsland Group APAC in transforming their goal-setting culture and bridging gaps between cross-border teams.
Drafting Impactful OKRs
The foundation of any successful OKR rollout is the quality of the goals themselves. Moving away from vague targets and siloed KPIs, OKR Asia facilitated hands-on in-person training and workshops to help Emsland Group APAC draft highly impactful OKRs.
“Setting great OKRs is only half the battle; execution is where the true value lies.”
The focus was on creating Objectives that were inspiring and Key Results that were clear, quantifiable, and outcome-driven. This empowered both the sales force and the back-office staff to define what success truly looks like for their specific roles. Tability supported the OKR setup by scoring the viability and measurability of the OKRs.
Connecting Teams Across Borders and Functions
A major hurdle for regional teams is the natural disconnect across geographies and departments. OKR Asia tackled this by connecting the Singapore and Thailand teams under common, overarching Objectives within Tability.
By mapping out shared goals, the OKR framework bridged the operational gap between front-line sales and essential back-office support. For the first time, a back-office team member in Thailand could easily see how their specific Key Results directly supported the broader sales Objectives driven by the team in Singapore, fostering a profound sense of unity and shared purpose.
“For the first time, a back-office team member in Thailand could easily see how their specific Key Results directly supported the broader sales Objectives driven by the team in Singapore.”
Adapting to a Custom 4-Month Cycle
While the standard OKR framework often relies on quarterly cycles, OKR Asia understands that a one-size-fits-all approach rarely works for dynamic organizations. To better align with Emsland Group APAC’s specific business rhythm, the framework was adapted to a custom 4-month cycle, which is possible in Tability. This gave teams a more realistic timeframe to execute complex, cross-functional projects without feeling rushed.
Sustaining Momentum with Bi-Weekly Check-ins
Setting great OKRs is only half the battle; execution is where the true value lies. To ensure the newly drafted OKRs did not just sit on a spreadsheet, OKR Asia introduced a structured cadence of bi-weekly check-in calls.
These hourly, focused video calls became the heartbeat of the initiative. They allowed teams in both Singapore and Thailand to:
- Discuss progress and celebrate small wins.
- Identify bottlenecks early before they derailed the 4-month goals.
- Maintain a high level of accountability and continuous communication.
Tability's overall OKR Dashboard and Check-in Functions for both Key Results and Tasks superbly facilitated these check-in sessions.
OKR Review Workshops
At the end of the 4-month cycle, we run an in-person OKR Reviews Workshop, with clear achievements and results documented in Tability.
The Impact
By introducing a structured, customized OKR framework, OKR Asia provided Emsland Group APAC with the tools to drive strategic alignment across borders. The tailored 4-month cycles, combined with the discipline of bi-weekly check-ins and the creation of shared goals, successfully transformed how their sales and back-office teams collaborate, execute, and succeed together.
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