CASE STUDY

How teams collaborated to reduce 17% of customer complaints quarter on quarter

Fitbots is a powerful tool, the experience is great - the user interface is intuitive, looks simple, and teams can visualize their alignment from Team OKRs to drive Org OKRs.

HARSH MALPANI, DIRECTOR

BUSINESS IMPACT BY USING OKRS

17% reduction in customer complaints every quarter

ABOUT MALPANI GROUP
Company Overview

Headquarters: Maharashtra, India

Industry: Manufacturing

With a rich legacy of 75 years and beyond, the journey of the Malpani group is no ordinary one.

What started as one line of business in the small town of Sangamner, Malpani Group is now a well-diversified business house active in Renewable energy, FMCG products, Amusement and Water Parks, Real estate, Hotels, etc, holding a strong presence in the industrial map of the world.

The success of this group is its commitment to drawing upon the wisdom of past generations while utilizing the innovation and enthusiasm of the present generation in scaling greater heights than ever before.

The unceasing commitment to the satisfaction of their customers as well as society has been and always will be the secret to their phenomenal growth.

IT IS IMPORTANT FOR THE SHIP TO KNOW WHERE IT'S GOING!
The Challenge

“It’s great having OKRs', " said Harsh, Director of Malpani Group, a 5th generation entrepreneur managing by outcomes, who has sustained OKRs quarter on quarter for the manufacturing vertical. 

During a very engaging conversation with him, we tried to understand what made him sponsor OKRs. 

Harsh holds a bachelors in Industrial engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Manufacturing has always been attractive to him, and he is fascinated to empower manufacturing and its tertiary process.

He was keen to leverage OKRs as an enabler to transform the manufacturing vertical - building muscle in the context of processes. While the culture of data entry, ERPs, and CRMs always existed,  it was now important for them to measure the softer aspects including performance, engagement of employees, and making sure they are aligned to a cause.

“We made sure we are picking something powerful yet simple and that’s easy to explain to all employees. We are proud to say that we have implemented OKRs and Fitbots successfully,” recalled Harsh.

They looked at OKRs to trickle down Organization objectives to teams and also drive transparency on how teams are performing and contributing to the common purpose.

YOUR SUCCESS IS OUR SUCCESS
The Solution

The Malpani Group piloted OKRs with 5 synergy functions in the manufacturing vertical - processing, packaging, logistics, IT, and HR.

Coach and Sponsor Involvement

How beautiful it is to have the right coach as a constant guide to make you successful!

The Fitbots Coach, Shreekrishna Joshi, helped teams move through the journey with confidence - making the OKR rollout much more meaningful. His ability to communicate in their native language bridged the gap in overcoming the initial language barrier. He could explain the concept and help teams understand the process, craft high-quality objectives and pick up metrics that actually matter.

The first 90 days included intensive involvement from sponsors in the formation of Company OKRs and team OKRs.

"I appreciate Mr. Harsh Malpani and the leadership of the Manufacturing group for their time and seriousness that got percolated to the staff. The staff of the manufacturing division was committed to the cause and went to great lengths to implement OKRs in their organization,” reflected Shree as one of the pivotal reasons for successful implementation.

A well-crafted Vision and Mission

A well-crafted vision and mission are the foundation of the Organization's strategy.

As the first step, the coach facilitated discussions to help leadership and the team reflect on the big picture - what they want to achieve in the next few years and in the long run. 

The leadership team zeroed in on what the strategic priorities are for the next six months and drafted company-level OKRs.

“You never start with the perfect OKRs, it will always be a journey. See what suits you. Start with less and then add later,” is the secret mantra that Harsh shares with us.

Connected and Aligned Team OKRs

OKRs is a top-down and bottom-up approach. Each function picked up Key results/metrics from Company OKRs that can contribute, directly or indirectly, to craft next-level Team OKRs.

“Fitbots is a powerful tool, the experience is great - the user interface is intuitive, looks simple and teams can visualize their alignment from Team OKRs to drive Org OKRs.”

– Harsh Malpani

We thank Harsh for the advocacy!

The Power of Meaningful Conversations

The regular check-in meetings drove internal discussions between teams, bringing everyone on the same page beyond numbers - what the management wants and what teams want. If something wasn’t working, outcome-focused conversations would follow on analyzing blockers and what could be done differently.

“We really liked the conversation feature with emoticons, we can categorize comments and drive recognition and encourage teams and individuals on the go,” mentioned Harsh.

PRACTICE OKRS - BECAUSE IT TRULY CREATES AN IMPACT
The Results

When teams start on OKRs, there is always an infatuation to pick up a whole lot of BAU (Business As Usual) metrics during the crafting phase. In this case, the teams instead focused on value-add metrics and picked up lead metrics that could positively impact the overall business. 

One such metric was ‘Reduce the number of Customer Complaints per plant from X to Y’ that could impact customer satisfaction in the long term.

Teams from two different plants looked at the metric as a shared Key Result. They had direct coordination with each other to spot trends and spoke to customers to address problems proactively.

Here’s the payoff:

For 2 quarters consecutively, two plants had

  • Reduction of complaints from 300 to 250 
  • Increase in customer satisfaction with the product 

According to Harsh, Fitbots is a great platform that will give results, the focus is on change management that will help organizations sustain OKRs.