Programs

Goals and performance · Facilitator-led

OKR Cascade

Three cascade documents, an audit and four simulations, over six weeks, measured over time.

A six-week program for leaders and managers setting and cascading a quarter's objectives, assigned by a chief of staff, a strategy or people lead or a facilitator, built on Renatus. Four document rooms and four simulation rooms · Six weeks, one or two rooms a week · Unlimited attempts · Ongoing each quarter thereafter.

6 weeks · 8 rooms · Total time 3 hours 10 min

Who it's for: Heads of function, department heads, team leads with direct reports, and leadership team members who own a function: everyone who sets a quarter's priorities for a unit, carries the company's measures down to it, and answers for the numbers upward.
Cadence: 6 weeks
Format: Facilitator-led
Program sessions: 6

Who it's for

Heads of function, department heads, team leads with direct reports, and leadership team members who own a function: everyone who sets a quarter's priorities for a unit, carries the company's measures down to it, and answers for the numbers upward.

Output

Three documents the manager built: the unit's three priorities for the quarter with a first action each, the team's KPIs linked to the company's with thresholds, owners, data sources and a review cadence, and the manager's own KPIs with weekly signals
An audit of what the cascade's measures reward, metric by metric, with the counter-metric the headline needs and recommendations before the quarter runs on them
A scored report after each simulation with the moment that earned each score, a trajectory across every attempt, and for the manager a Ren summary of each participant and a team report
Scored against published frameworks: Cohen and Bradford's Influence Without Authority, Stakeholder Salience (Mitchell, Agle and Wood), Interest-Based Negotiation (Fisher and Ury), Care and Challenge, Conversation Layers and Disciplined Prioritisation; the documents rest on SWOT and TOWS, RICE Scoring, the KPI cascade, Goodhart's Law and counter-metric pairing

Program contents

Quarterly focus — Strategic Priorities
Cascading the measures — Team KPIs
Owning the numbers — Individual KPIs
Negotiating upward · Alignment across teams — Managing Up · Stakeholder Influence
Protecting the priorities · Holding people to the numbers — Saying No Simulation · Performance Conversation
Reviewing what the measures reward — Metrics audit

How the program works

The rooms

Strategic Priorities

Framework

Set-up: the current business situation and context, what is generating the most value right now, what is consuming energy without proportional return, the three things to focus on in the next ninety days, and what would prevent execution on them.

Team KPIs

Framework

Set-up: the function or department the manager leads, which company KPIs this team's metrics support, the five to ten metrics that make up the team's dashboard, the green, amber and red thresholds for each, and the owner, data source and review cadence for each.

Individual KPIs

Framework

Set-up: the manager's role and which team KPIs they own or contribute to, the three to six personal KPIs that show they are performing in role, the green, amber and red thresholds for each, the weekly signals that show whether the KPIs are on track, and how and when these are reviewed with their own manager.

Managing Up

Simulation

Calibration: role title, the power gap (a peer-level senior, one-up, two-up or C-suite), industry or sector, and a line of working context.

Stakeholder Influence

Simulation

Calibration: role title, the stakeholder's type and history (a peer, a senior or a partner; friendly, neutral or sceptical), industry or sector, and a line of working context.

Saying No Simulation

Simulation

Calibration: role title or the relationship, the power dynamic (junior upward, a peer, a manager, a senior or a personal relationship), and a line of context; industry is an option.

Performance Conversation

Simulation

Calibration: role title, the situation type (coaching a high performer, underperformance, a PIP, or an exit conversation), industry or sector, and a line of working context.

Metrics audit

Framework

Set-up: what is currently tracked, which is the team dashboard from week 2 and the personal KPIs from week 3; the headline metric; whose metrics these are; what behaviour the metrics are driving; what is prompting the audit; and who the audit is for.

Why this program exists

A manager who owns a quarter's objectives is answerable for numbers they did not choose alone: the target from the leadership offsite, the team measure that depends on a peer team, the personal KPI a direct report cannot move. This program prepares them through three documents, four simulations and an audit. Ren builds each document from what the manager states about their own unit and presses where an answer is vague, then plays every person in the four scenes that test a manager once the numbers are set: the boss, the peer, the senior with another request, and the direct report whose number is red.

What you'll achieve

Three documents they built for their own unit: the quarter's priorities with a first action each, the team's KPIs linked to the company's, and their own KPIs with weekly signals
An audit of the cascade's measures before the quarter runs on them: the behaviour each rewards, what is missing, and a counter-metric for the headline
A scored report after each simulation with the moment that earned each score, and one recommended focus for the week
Unlimited attempts at every simulation, each a different scene, scored on the same dimensions and charted against every attempt before it

At a glance

Who it's for: Leaders and managers who set a quarter's priorities for a unit or a team, carry the company's measures down to it, and answer for the numbers upward: heads of function, department heads, team leads, and leadership team members who own a function. It is assigned by a chief of staff, a strategy or people lead, or a facilitator; the manager's lines in this guide are for whoever that is. Every room calibrates to the participant's own unit, role and seniority, so one cohort can hold a chief operating officer and a first-time team lead. It assumes participants know their team's work.
Cadence: 6 weeks
1: Quarterly focus · Strategic Priorities · Read Your Priorities and What Gets in the Way
2: Cascading the measures · Team KPIs · Read Cascade and Owners & Cadence
3: Owning the numbers · Individual KPIs · Read The Team Above and Review; read the Ren summary
4: Negotiating upward · Alignment across teams · Managing Up · Stakeholder Influence · Read Grounding and Outcome; read Durability; agree the focus for the second half
5: Protecting the priorities · Holding people to the numbers · Saying No Simulation · Performance Conversation · Read Alternative and Relationship; read Clarity of Message and Path Forward
6: Reviewing what the measures reward · Metrics audit · Read Counter-Metric and Recommendations; read the team report; set the ongoing plan

Session by session

Week 1: Quarterly focus

Get the unit's three priorities for the quarter, with the evidence behind them and a first action each.

Strategic Priorities

Week 2: Cascading the measures

Define the numbers the team watches, each linked to a company KPI, with thresholds and an owner.

Team KPIs

Week 3: Owning the numbers

Define the manager's own numbers as their contribution to the team KPIs they own, with the weekly signals that move first.

Individual KPIs

Week 4: Negotiating upward · Alignment across teams

Take the week 1 blocker, or the target that does not fit, to the person above

Managing Up Stakeholder Influence

Week 5: Protecting the priorities · Holding people to the numbers

Decline a request that is not one of the quarter's priorities and keep the relationship

Saying No Simulation Performance Conversation

Week 6: Reviewing what the measures reward

Audit the measures the cascade produced before the quarter runs on them.

Metrics audit

Whether a market is real, where it is growing, and where the opportunity sits

How an entire industry is structured, who controls it, and where it is heading

Who controls a market, how they compete, and where the real gaps are

Who buys in a market, what drives their decisions, and where the unmet needs are

What competitors charge in a market, how pricing is structured, and what customers will pay

Who supplies the critical inputs to a market, how concentrated it is, and what switching costs

The technology deployed in a sector, and where competitive advantage moves next

How product reaches the buyer in a market, and where channel power is shifting

Financials, leadership, strategy, and reputation on a company

Deep dive into how a company operates strategically, and where it is most exposed

Revenue, margins, cash, debt, and auditor signals on a company

How a company is perceived across customers, employees, media, and ESG

Discover a country's GDP, political environment, infrastructure, and outlook

Discover a city's GDP, economic drivers, workforce, and trajectory

Trade flows, tariffs, agreements, and friction points between two countries

Background, current state, key actors, evidence, and where an issue is heading

What a policy does, who wins and loses, and how it lands in practice

The specific risks facing a market — ranked, evidenced, and with the signals to watch

Single-source exposures, concentration, and trade-route risk for a market

Climate, governance, social, and controversy risk in a sector

Pending legislation, enforcement shifts, and where the rules are likely to change

Licensing, compliance, recent changes, and pending legislation in a jurisdiction

Government stability, policy direction, and the political risks facing a market

What a role pays — verified across named salary databases and job posting data

Whether to take a job at a company, with the evidence behind the answer

Who the credible candidates are, what they earn, and how the search will unfold

How a career in an industry works — entry, paths, pay, and prospects

The three things that will move a business forward this quarter

A 90-day plan that turns a strategy into something a team can act on Monday

Segment, positioning, channels, and pricing — tested against each other so the four hold together

A positioning the market can place — and a category claim worth defending

A pricing strategy that the market accepts and the business can defend in negotiation

Dashboard, thresholds and owners

Dashboard, thresholds and owners

Targets, thresholds and cadence

Whether an opportunity is worth pursuing — with conditions or risks named

The real problem behind the surface one, with options and a recommended next step

How a business creates, delivers, and captures value — and where it is exposed

Where work is breaking, where capability is missing, and the one structural change worth making

Build, buy, partner, or wait — with the killer assumption named

Whether a specific partnership is worth pursuing — with the asymmetries named

The right financing structure for the opportunity — tested against fit, cost, and flexibility

A fundraise structured to close on terms worth living with

Every variance classified — structural, timing, one-off or noise — with the call the pattern demands

How long the cash lasts across three scenarios, with the killer assumption named

Whether the per-unit economics hold up — with the killer assumption named

Whether the pay set serves the talent strategy, with the cost of fixing it

A board report that lands the narrative, the KPIs, the exceptions, and the decisions requested

What metrics are missing, misleading, or quietly rewarding the wrong thing

A complete business plan ready to put in front of investors, partners, or a board

A career decision weighed against criteria that matter, with a pre-mortem and a verdict

What matters most, what you would give up, and what stays true under pressure

Which option holds up under income loss, rate moves, or a downturn

A relocation decision and plan, with the trade-offs each destination forces

What the culture is like — values in practice, leadership behaviour, and where the gap sits

Strategy clarity, alignment, talent density, ways of working, and trust in leadership

What's energising people, what's draining them, and the levers that would move engagement

The patterns in how a person handles pressure, conflict, collaboration, and decisions

PENDING — product being redesigned. See Replit brief.

How a person leads — defaults, strengths, blind spots, and development areas

Real strengths backed by evidence — and the cost each one carries when overplayed

The values revealed by what a person has held the line on, refused, or regretted

What every role owns, what's silently dropped, and which handoffs are breaking

Where the team is aligned on priorities and goals, and where dangerous gaps sit

Where trust, conflict handling, and accountability are strong — and where they break

Any subject explained to a real listener, scored on accuracy, depth, audience adaptation, and handling the unknown

A presentation rehearsal scored on lead argument, evidence, question response, and poise

A stakeholder-influence rehearsal scored on reading the room, framing, negotiation, and durability

A managing-up rehearsal scored on positioning, evidence, flexibility, and outcome

A meeting rehearsal scored on structure, air-time management, progress, and closure

The conversation that's been avoided, with an assessment of how the conversation went

A saying-no rehearsal scored on clarity, rationale, alternative, and relationship

A performance-conversation rehearsal scored on clarity, ownership, empathy, and path forward

A team-conflict rehearsal scored on directness, fairness, action, and aftercare

A hiring interview rehearsal scored on question design, follow-up, bias, and assessment integrity

A leadership crisis scored on decision quality, communication, strategy, and pressure response

A negotiation rehearsal scored on preparation, anchoring, concession pattern, and pressure response

A strategic-decision rehearsal scored on framing, information use, trade-off recognition, and time horizon

An ethics rehearsal where the right path is costly, scored on recognition and response

A prioritisation rehearsal scored on triage, trade-off recognition, communication, and revisability