Meet Daman
Daman is a health insurance provider based in the United Arab Emirates, with around 1,700 employees. The OKR Institute worked with Daman to build a clear, lasting approach to goal-setting and execution. Health insurance is a demanding field. Providers have to balance careful regulation, the needs of members, and the steady pressure to run efficiently. In that kind of setting, a clear way to set goals and follow through can make a real difference. This is why Objectives and Key Results have become a useful tool for insurers looking to sharpen their focus and connect daily work to what really matters.
The Challenge: Goals That Lost Their Shape
Insurance companies like Daman tend to face a familiar set of pressures when it comes to strategy. Goals can be set at the top but lose their shape by the time they reach the teams doing the daily work. Different departments, from claims to member services to operations, can end up pulling in slightly different directions. And in a regulated industry, it is easy for teams to focus on routine activity and lose sight of the outcomes that actually matter to members and to the business.
The stakes in health insurance also raise the bar. When goals are fuzzy, the people who feel it most are often the members who depend on quick, fair service. A clearer link between strategy and daily work is not just good management. It can shape the experience of the people the company serves.
How We Worked Together
The OKR Institute's approach with Daman centered on building real, lasting capability rather than a quick introduction.
- Foundational OKR training: Sessions that grounded teams and leaders in what OKRs are, how to write them well, and how they differ from routine targets.
- Alignment support: Guidance on connecting team-level goals to the company's broader strategy, so effort across departments pointed the same way.
- A check-in rhythm: Coaching on regular check-ins, which kept goals alive between planning and review and made steady adjustments normal.
The emphasis on lasting capability matters in a field like insurance. The aim is not a single burst of training but a way of working that teams can keep running on their own, long after the initial sessions are over.
What Made it Work
- Strategy-to-daily-work connection: OKRs helped connect daily decisions to the company's larger purpose, ensuring effort was directed at what truly mattered.
- Department alignment: Pulling departments into line behind shared objectives reduced the pull in separate directions across claims, operations, and member services.
- Regular review habit: Building a habit of regular check-ins kept goal-setting as an ongoing practice rather than a once-a-year exercise.
- Member-focused clarity: In a field where work touches people's health and wellbeing, clearer goals translated directly to better service for members.
What Changed at Daman
Clearer strategic focus
Teams gained a sharper sense of what matters most, helping them spend energy on the goals that move the business rather than on activity alone.
Stronger cross-department alignment
Departments lined up more closely behind shared objectives, reducing the pull in separate directions and creating a unified sense of purpose.
A steadier goal-setting habit
With a regular check-in rhythm, goal setting became an ongoing practice rather than a once-a-year exercise, keeping goals alive and relevant.
What This Shows
Daman sits among the OKR Institute's roster of clients in the insurance sector, a field where clarity and alignment carry real weight. The underlying value of OKRs for an insurer is consistent: they help connect daily work to strategy, pull departments into line, and build a habit of regular review. For any organization in a regulated, member-focused industry, that combination is a sound reason to take goal setting seriously. The value is not in the framework for its own sake. It is in what the framework makes possible: teams that know what matters, departments that move together, and a habit of checking in often enough to catch problems early. In a field where the work touches people's health and wellbeing, that kind of clarity is more than good management. It is part of serving members well.
