Axis Insurance Managers Inc. Excels in Enhancing Interdepartmental Communication and Alignment Through the Strategic Implementation of Profit.co

Explore the innovative journey of Axis Insurance Managers Inc., a premier risk management and insurance service provider, and the insights of Kari Montes, Vice President of Systems & Administration, in our comprehensive case study. Axis Insurance Managers Inc. is a Canadian insurance agency tracing its roots back to 1928 and has evolved significantly over the years. Axis Insurance Managers Inc. now boasts a dedicated team of almost 200 employees. This case study delves into how Axis Insurance Managers Inc. stands out by offering customized risk management solutions to diverse clients, emphasizing its commitment to innovation, teamwork, and expertise.

Our discussion with Kari Montes sheds light on the pivotal role technology plays in streamlining operations and upholding best practices, especially during periods of rapid growth and expansion. This exploration reveals the strategies that position Axis Insurance Managers Inc. as a leader in its field and illustrates how the adoption of advanced tools like Profit.co’s OKR and PMS is addressing operational challenges to foster growth and innovation. Join us to discover the approaches that propel Axis Insurance Managers Inc. and its team toward a future marked by success and continuous improvement.

Can you share with us why Axis Insurance Managers Inc. decided to adopt OKRs? What challenges were you aiming to address?

Kari Montes replied, “We sought a more cohesive approach to business planning and to ensure follow-through on our objectives. The primary goal was to foster better accountability across the board, positioning us for substantial growth. At Axis Insurance Managers Inc., we are committed to being best in class in every facet of the industry. The executive team felt very strongly that OKRs were the vehicle to drive us towards achieving that vision.”

Transitioning from Word documents to Profit.co, what were the major challenges you faced in managing OKRs, and what motivated the shift towards a dedicated OKR tool like Profit.co?

Kari Montes replied, “The biggest challenges with using Word documents were managing OKRs across our six different departments. Each department had its own Word document, making it extremely challenging to track interdependencies or cross-departmental teams. Often, things would get missed, or your department would be brought onto a project midway without dedicated resources.This lack of communication was a significant hurdle.

We were in dire need of a tool that could enhance our communication, follow up on OKRs, allow us to track accomplishments and areas of improvement, and provide some level of reportability none of which we could achieve with separate Word documents. That’s when we decided to move to Profit.co.”

Can you share your experience with onboarding Profit.co, including how different teams adapted and felt about the platform and any challenges encountered during the process?

Kari Montes replied, While we’re not an IT company, my department is responsible for supporting the technology we choose, including training, workflow development, and ongoing usage support. Implementing Profit.co was treated like any other software implementation. We started with a pilot group to identify what we liked and didn’t like, developed workflows, and then trained and onboarded one group at a time.

Initially, we focused on using the OKR function and workspaces, finding workspaces more suitable for tracking ongoing discussions. We recorded our own training sessions and held live training on specific topics like creating objectives, adding key results, and understanding the different metrics available for tracking OKRs. We tailored our meeting cadences to workspaces with additional training sessions.

However, by the end of the first year, we noticed inconsistent adoption across the company. Some departments saw strong adoption, especially with OKRs, but others scarcely used it, only updating Profit.co at the quarter’s end for reporting purposes. This inconsistency meant that it could appear as though some departments weren’t active, which wasn’t the case—they just weren’t updating the platform regularly.

This challenge highlighted the need for better engagement and adoption strategies to ensure a clear and comprehensive view of departmental activities and achievements through Profit.co.”

Facing adoption challenges, how did you address these issues and ensure wider usage across different departments?

Kari Montes replied, “To tackle the adoption challenges, we took a strategic approach by internally creating a new role specifically designed to enhance integration and adoption across the company. We introduced the role of Director of Project Integrations, which Elizabeth filled. In her capacity, Elizabeth serves as our OKR captain, dedicating about half of her time to this role.

Her responsibilities include integration and liaising with various sales teams and practice groups, and as the OKR captain, she acts as a central resource for both OKRs and Profit.co. This focused approach, having a dedicated individual responsible for driving and supporting the use of OKRs and the platform, was instrumental in improving adoption throughout the company.”

Can you elaborate on your specific role and your Department’s role in the process?

To detail her specific role and her department’s function at Axis Insurance Managers Inc., Kari Montes shared, “As the VP of Systems and Administration, my primary responsibility is to source, investigate, and implement technology and administrative processes that address business challenges. Our department focuses on the initial selection and implementation of technology solutions, creating workflows, and providing support for these technologies, though not directly involved in supporting the OKR process itself. With the introduction of Elizabeth as our Director of Project Integrations and OKR captain, we now have dedicated support for the OKR process in addition to the software.”

She further explained her collaborative role in the broader organizational strategy, “Alongside Elizabeth, our Executive Assistant to the CEO Brittney, and our VP of HR Lesley, I am part of what we call our Profit.co Implementation Team. This team decides how we might utilize different sections of Profit.co, how to best leverage particular features, and how to link dependencies across departments. My role involves representing the technology perspective. Brittney brings insights from the CEO’s vision, Elizabeth leads our OKR initiatives, and Lesley focuses on the performance development aspect, ensuring a comprehensive approach to our use of Profit.co. This structure allows us to efficiently align technology adoption with our CEO’s vision, support our OKR captain’s efforts, and ensure HR’s performance development initiatives are seamlessly integrated.”

Before using Profit.co’s Performance Management System (PMS), could you describe the process your company used for performance evaluations?

Kari Montes replied “Before adopting Profit.co’s PMS, our process was heavily manual and reliant on Word documents for performance evaluations. We employed a double-blind completion strategy, where both staff and managers filled out evaluations independently. These were then consolidated by our HR department before review meetings. This method, while effective in maintaining objectivity, was cumbersome and time-intensive. The shift to Profit.co’s PMS represented a significant move towards streamlining and enhancing the efficiency of our performance review process.”

How many performance appraisals have you conducted with Profit.co, and what was your strategy for implementing them?

Kari Montes explained, “We’ve completed one full annual cycle of performance appraisals using Profit.co, starting in January 2023. Our approach has evolved from conducting all professional development plans (PDPs) in April to a more distributed model. This adjustment means we now handle appraisals on a rolling basis, focusing on one department at a time to manage the workload more effectively. We now use Profit.co’s PMS to integrate features that support our double-blind completion process. Additionally, it’s important to us to decouple professional development planning from salary reviews to ensure the focus on development is not influenced by compensation considerations.”

Can you share your overall experience with Profit.co, especially in terms of support, whether it’s customer success or product, and your feedback on the team you’ve been working with?

Kari Montes replied, “Our experience with Profit.co has been excellent across the board. Initially, as a growth customer, our interaction was mostly limited to using chat support as needed, without much direct communication. However, as we progressed, particularly with launching PDPs (Professional Development Plans) within Profit.co, our relationship with their team deepened significantly. We collaborated closely with their IT team to introduce a double-blind process for our appraisals, which was a very iterative and positive process. Once launched, my department had the opportunity to be the first to test it, allowing us to work out any necessary tweaks with Profit.co’s responsive support team. The feedback from our staff was overwhelmingly positive, finding the new system much easier and more user-friendly than our previous Word document process.”

She continued, “More recently, after upgrading to an Enterprise account, we’ve received even more personalized support and engaged in OKR coaching with Profit.co. This has been another layer of our evolving and highly beneficial relationship. Elizabeth, who has primarily worked with Hanish from Profit.co, reported a very positive experience. They provided valuable insights and coaching, involving executive teams and OKR champions in the process, which has been incredibly impactful. Our entire management team also participated, enhancing our strategic alignment and execution capabilities. The transition to Profit.co not only improved our internal processes but also significantly enhanced our staff’s experience and our company’s overall strategic management.”

Reflecting on the value delivered by the OKR program and PMS, what areas have seen positive impacts at Axis Insurance Managers Inc.?

Kari Montes replied, “The introduction of the OKR program and PMS has been transformative for us, particularly in how we approach goal setting and performance management,” Montes stated. “Initially, our understanding of OKR methodology was limited, and we lacked nimbleness in our planning, attempting to outline the entire year’s objectives at once. Through OKR coaching, we learned the importance of agility, focusing on a quarter at a time, and not overextending by pursuing too many objectives simultaneously. The coaching emphasized actionable and manageable objectives, which helped us narrow our focus and alleviate the sense of overwhelm. This shift has allowed us to concentrate on what truly matters each quarter, aligning closely with our strategic goals.”

Have you observed any tangible benefits from the OKR program in terms of improved productivity, goal achievement, or time savings?

Kari Montes replied, “Since we’re just nearing the end of the second month with our updated OKR program, it’s still early days. However, we’re already witnessing notable improvements, particularly in departmental communication at the executive level. By establishing clear meeting cadences dedicating specific weeks for planning, mid-month check-ins, and month-end reviews we’re able to focus on our top key results for the quarter. This structured approach not only helps us prioritize what’s truly important but also enhances our understanding of each department’s priorities. It’s a game-changer in terms of respecting each other’s time and aligning our efforts more effectively. Although we haven’t fully implemented the OKR cadence at the departmental level yet, my department has begun the process with managers. We plan to extend this to frontline staff starting in April. This next step will be crucial for embedding the OKR methodology throughout the organization, and I anticipate it will bring even greater insights and understanding across all levels.”

How do you see the evolution of the OKR program and the Performance Management System (PMS) at Axis Insurance Managers Inc.? What are your strategic plans moving forward?

Kari Montes replied, “Our immediate focus is on extending the reach of our OKR program beyond the executive level to truly embed it across the entire organization. The plan is to cascade it down to other levels, starting with managers this quarter and then to our frontline staff in subsequent quarters. This step is crucial for enhancing the program’s impact on our operations.

Additionally, we aim to elevate the sophistication of our OKR champions in each department. This involves not just a deeper understanding of OKRs themselves but also a more proficient use of the Profit.co software. The goal is to maintain a high-level perspective, leveraging workspaces attached to specific key results as informational checklists. Moving towards milestone-based progress for OKRs seems to be more manageable and time-efficient.

In summary, the next phase for us involves two main areas: First, broadening the adoption and understanding of the OKR methodology and software use among our OKR champions, with Elizabeth, our OKR captain, leading this initiative. Second, simplifying our approach to inputting OKRs into Profit.co to facilitate easier adoption. These strategies are key to ensuring our OKR program and PMS evolve in a way that supports our growth and enhances organizational efficiency.”

What advice would you offer to organizations embarking on their OKR journey?

Kari Montes replied, “I strongly recommend incorporating coaching right at the start of your OKR journey. We attempted various approaches and encountered conflicting ideas before engaging in coaching, which led to inefficiencies and a lack of clarity on our objectives. Starting with coaching could have saved us significant time and provided a clearer path forward. So, my advice is to prioritize coaching from the beginning to ensure a solid foundation for your OKR initiatives.”

Any final thoughts or reflections on your experience with OKRs, PMS and Profit.co software?

Kari Montes replied, “I would emphasize that after reviewing various OKR software options, choosing Profit.co has been the correct decision for us. The combination of workspaces, task management, meeting functionalities, and the core OKR features truly sets Profit.co apart from other software we considered. As we continue our growth trajectory, Profit.co is proving to be the ideal partner to support our objectives and operational strategy.”