Meet Maybank
Maybank is one of the leading banking groups in Southeast Asia, with more than 40,000 employees. The OKR Institute worked with Maybank to train its management board, its middle managers, and its wider teams on Objectives and Key Results, and to line those goals up with the bank's strategy. This was a big, long-term effort, planned as a two to five year roll-out.
The real test was scale. Teaching OKRs to a workforce this large, and making it stick, takes patience and careful planning. A bank also has to keep running smoothly throughout, so the change could not disrupt the day-to-day work that customers depend on.
Rolling Out OKRs at Scale
The main challenge was reach. Helping more than 40,000 people understand and use OKRs is a huge task on its own. Doing it while keeping everyone aligned with the bank's strategy and ways of working makes it harder still. A bank also runs on structure and process, so any new approach had to fit into that world rather than fight it. Maybank needed a plan that was steady and well sequenced, one that could move through the organization in stages instead of trying to change everything at once.
Different levels of the bank also needed different things. What a board member needs to know about OKRs is not the same as what a front-line employee needs. A single, one-size course would have missed the mark for almost everyone, so the training had to be built level by level.
A Multi-Tiered Learning Journey
The OKR Institute built a layered training program and a roll-out plan that respected the size of the job.
- Practitioner, leadership, and professional courses: These courses gave a deep look at OKR principles, shaped for different levels of the bank, from board members to front-line staff.
- Staged roll-out planning: We planned the training and the implementation to move in manageable stages, each one tied to the bank's wider strategic goals, so the effort stayed under control as it spread.
- Strategy-led sequencing: Every step was timed and ordered with the bigger picture in mind, which kept the roll-out aligned with what mattered most to Maybank at each phase.
This staged design was the heart of the plan. By moving in phases rather than all at once, the bank could learn as it went and adjust before each new wave, which kept the risk low and the quality high.
What Made it Work
- Phased-first approach: A considered rollout that started with pilot groups, allowed for learning and adjustment before each new wave, and kept the risk low.
- Level-specific training: Courses built for different levels of the organization, from board members to front-line staff, so every person got what they needed.
- OKR-agile integration: The training connected OKRs with agile practices, ensuring seamless adoption across the bank's technology teams.
- Plain, low-jargon delivery: Making OKRs accessible by explaining them in clear, practical language that resonated with banking professionals.
What Changed at Maybank
OKR drafting and alignment at every level
People at every level, including board members, senior executives, agile coaches, and other staff, learned to draft OKRs and align them within their teams.
Agile integration
The training helped connect OKRs with agile approaches like scrum, which made the bank more responsive to changes in the market.
Incentive programme launched
The bank launched an incentive program tied to OKR achievement, which boosted motivation and connected people's effort to strategy.
Horizontal and vertical alignment
Maybank achieved clear alignment both across departments and from top management down to individual contributors.
Pilot groups selected and activated
The team picked the right pilot groups first, which allowed for testing, feedback, and adjustment before a wider roll-out.
What This Shows
Maybank's story is a lesson in patience and sequencing. Trying to teach OKRs to 40,000 people overnight would have failed. Instead, the bank trained different levels with courses built for them, started with pilot groups, and moved in stages tied to strategy. For any large organization, that is the realistic path. Go layer by layer, learn from pilots, and connect every step to the goals that matter. Done this way, even a bank of this size can bring its whole workforce into a shared way of working, and do it without losing a step in its daily operations.
