Meet Origin Energy
Origin Energy is an Australian company at the front of the energy sector, with around 5,000 employees. The OKR Institute worked with the company's strategy team to sharpen how they used Objectives and Key Results. Origin had already started using OKRs but ran into common early problems. The engagement set out to fix those problems and to build a stronger culture of strategic planning and execution, where goals were tied to real outcomes rather than just activity. This makes Origin's story especially useful, because it is about improving an existing practice, not starting from nothing.
The Activity Trap
Origin Energy's trouble was a familiar one for teams new to OKRs. Their early goals were too focused on outputs and activities. In other words, they measured how busy people were rather than what actually changed. This blurred the line between everyday business-as-usual work and the bigger initiatives meant to drive future growth. When those two get mixed together, it becomes hard to tell whether the team is genuinely moving the company forward or simply keeping the lights on.
This is one of the most common traps in the early days of OKRs, and it is easy to fall into. Activities feel concrete and safe to measure, while outcomes feel harder to pin down. But it is the outcomes that tell you whether the work mattered.
How We Worked Together
The OKR Institute built a focused education program for the strategy managers who set the direction.
- Leadership and professional courses: Strategy managers went through courses built for their needs, covering how to craft outcome-focused OKRs, run effective check-ins, and align goals with the company's top priorities, vision, and purpose.
- Outcome over output: We coached managers to write OKRs that captured the impact of their work, not just the tasks involved.
- Separating the two kinds of work: We helped managers tell business-as-usual work apart from future-directed work, so each could be managed in the right way.
Teaching managers to split routine work from growth work was a turning point. Once they used KPIs for the steady, ongoing tasks and OKRs for the change they wanted to drive, both became clearer and easier to manage.
What Made it Work
- Outcome-first mindset: Shifting focus from measuring activity to measuring impact gave OKRs their real power and told teams whether their work actually mattered.
- KPI and OKR separation: Using KPIs for routine work and OKRs for growth work brought clarity to both lanes and improved how resources were used.
- Purpose-connected goals: Tying OKRs to the company's broader vision and top priorities kept strategy connected to where Origin was headed.
- User-centric focus: Shifting attention toward customer needs and market demands ensured strategy stayed connected to the people it was meant to serve.
What Changed at Origin Energy
Outcome-focused OKRs
Managers learned to write OKRs that stressed outcomes over outputs, focusing on the impact of activity rather than the activity itself.
Better check-ins and coaching
Managers became effective internal coaches, guiding their teams through check-ins that reinforced alignment and accountability.
Alignment with purpose
OKRs were tied to the company's top priorities and its broader vision, so effort connected meaningfully to where Origin was headed.
Clearer division of work
Managers separated routine work tracked through KPIs from future-directed work guided by OKRs, improving focus and resource allocation.
A user-centric focus
The work shifted attention toward customer needs and market demands, so strategy stayed connected to the people it was meant to serve.
What This Shows
Origin Energy's case captures one of the most common OKR mistakes and how to fix it. Early on, many teams write OKRs that just list activities. The real value comes when goals point at outcomes, at what will actually be different. Origin also learned to keep routine work and growth work in separate lanes, using KPIs for one and OKRs for the other. That single distinction brought a lot of clarity. For any team finding its feet with OKRs, it is a lesson worth taking to heart, because it is the difference between measuring effort and measuring progress.
