How Cutover Built a Culture of Accountability and Transparency with Lattice OKRs

TL;DR: Cutover leveraged Lattice’s OKRs to build a culture of accountability and transparency. The company learned and evolved through improved goal alignment and executive buy-in, boosting goal update participation from 50% to 98% in just one year. Lattice was instrumental in bringing the company together, fostering ownership and cross-functional collaboration.

Cutover, a leader in AI-powered runbooks for IT operations such as IT disaster recovery and incident management based in London and New York, enables enterprises to simplify complexity, streamline work, and increase visibility. Some of the world’s leading institutions, including the three largest US banks and three of the world’s five largest investment banks, trust Cutover to help them prepare for and recover from IT disasters 50% faster. 

Filipe Martins, VP People, and Ashley Walker, People & Talent Lead, worked with stakeholders across the company to shape its operational rhythm and culture of ownership. Before adopting Lattice, the company lacked a structured OKR framework. Filipe and Ashley led the charge in defining Cutover’s approach to organisational alignment, embedding practices that promote visibility and a strong sense of responsibility across the business.

The Challenges of Alignment and Accountability

Prior to using  Lattice, Cutover struggled to align individual and team efforts with company-wide goals. Without a structured goal-setting framework, employees struggled with ambiguity and connecting their work to the larger company objectives. This left a gaping disconnect between strategy and execution. As Ashley says, “Goals were a bit of an afterthought, departments tended to do their own planning, and there was no consistent visibility of what colleagues were working on nor progress being made.” 

Learned by Iterating: Challenges Helped Transform the Approach to OKRs

In 2022, Cutover implemented its first-ever OKR framework using Lattice, providing a structured approach to goal setting. But it wasn’t easy. As Ashley puts it, “With OKR cycles every six months, we learned as we went along. Whilst stakeholders across the company understood the need for OKRs, it was still seen as an additional task to complete. Throughout the OKRs cycles, we experienced ups and downs, including a mixture of excitement and resistance from colleagues about the new approach.”

However, Cutover’s People team persevered, weaving in Lattice OKRs into business conversations focused on impact. As Ashley explains, "Lattice gave us the framework to introduce OKRs, along with excellent enablement materials to guide us. Having everything centralised—OKRs, one-to-ones, and performance reviews—has been incredibly valuable." Filipe adds, "Whilst implementing company-wide OKRs can be challenging, Lattice has made this easy by creating an integrated system for managing goals, making it easier to align efforts and track progress across the organisation."

For the first few cycles, there seemed to be buy-in, and participation was rising. However, over time, momentum was lost, and doubt started to creep in about whether OKRs were the best way to capture and manage goals within the company.

During a critical 2024 leadership meeting, Cutover’s executives debated OKR management—some preferred Lattice, while others tracked goals in their own way. The People team facilitated an open discussion, leading to alignment on how consistent OKR use could drive better results. “Our Lattice Customer Account Manager, Carolina Mantzalos, was invaluable,” says Filipe. “She provided a strategic challenge and reflection space, helping us solidify OKRs company-wide.” This moment marked a turning point in Cutover’s OKR adoption.

Leaders Leading: A Catalyst for Change 

Leadership engagement was pivotal in Cutover’s successful adoption of OKRs. The active involvement of the executive team—particularly the CFO and CEO—was key to driving adoption. Filipe shared, "Our CFO was a strong advocate for OKRs, and once our CEO began integrating them into his one-to-ones with direct reports and actively engaging with goal updates, it was transformational for our organisation."

The CEO’s visible commitment had a ripple effect across the company. By consistently incorporating OKRs into his discussions and following up on progress, he set a clear example for other leaders to follow. Ashley noted, "We went from relatively low participation to 98% in goal updates once our CEO got involved. When employees receive a ping from the CEO to update their goals, they respond immediately."

This leader-led approach reinforced accountability and fostered a culture where goal alignment became a shared responsibility at every level of the organisation. It complemented and boosted Lattice’s capabilities, bringing them to life. Cutover also used actions from its Engagement Surveys in Lattice, which suggested a need to further focus on visibility and transparency of vision and execution. Lattice’s platform therefore provided a unified system that tied individual contributions to company-wide objectives, creating alignment at every level of the organisation. Refocusing on Lattice’s OKRs and re-launching them with renewed leadership engagement ensured greater buy-in and meaningfulness across the company, which led to very high participation.

Alignment and Purpose Increase Organisational Effectiveness

Since adopting Lattice, Cutover has transformed how teams align their efforts with the company’s overarching goals.  Lattice’s suite of tools works seamlessly together—connecting Engagement, OKRs, Performance, and one-on-one touchpoints—which, as Ashley explains, has given every department and team visibility into how their goals connect to the company’s top three priorities, fostering a stronger sense of alignment and purpose.

In particular, the cascading approach of OKRs ensures that every team understands how their work contributes to broader organisational success. Cross-functional collaboration is further strengthened by assigning ownership of key objectives to leaders, such as product managers, while actively involving departments like marketing and engineering in execution.

Through Lattice, Cutover has embedded alignment and purpose into its daily operations. By establishing transparency and shared ownership, the company has not only improved goal alignment but also enhanced overall organisational effectiveness and engagement.