How Enerkem Built an OKR, Task and Performance Flywheel With Profit.co?

Can you start by introducing Enerkem and your role within the company?

Juan Felipe Arjona, “Humanity generates close to two million tons of waste every single day, most of which goes straight into landfills. That waste decomposes into methane, carbon dioxide, and other harmful gases, and when leaks occur, it contaminates groundwater.

At Enerkem, our technology takes that same trash and converts it into renewable chemicals and fuel that’s both sustainable and scalable. We’re on a mission to turn today’s waste problem into tomorrow’s clean energy solution, preventing the underground environmental issues we would otherwise pass on to future generations.

I’ve always been fascinated by how organizations align strategy with execution. Early in my career, I worked for dot-com startups in the U.S., then a global oil & gas enterprise with over 35,000 employees, and later in smaller tech ventures before joining Enerkem about two years ago as the CIO.

Everywhere I went, there were objectives and KPIs, but they often existed in isolation. Teams measured outcomes, yet the day-to-day work didn’t always connect to strategic goals. In many cases, performance management turned into a year-end ritual, merely a task to complete.

John Doerr’s lecture at Rice University altered my perspective. After the talk, he handed me his book, Measure What Matters. Reading it gave structure and clarity to what I’d always felt, strategy only works when everyone can see where they’re going and how their daily work moves the needle.”

How do you translate your high-level objectives into clear, actionable goals that teams can effectively execute?

Juan Felipe Arjona, “What we do at Enerkem is start every year with a full company-wide strategy session. Together, we define our corporate OKRs, where we want to be by the end of the year.

Once those are clear, each department aligns its OKRs with the company’s objectives. For example, in my case, IT’s OKRs are among the first to be finalized because we need to ensure our initiatives support every part of the business.

After that, we look at each department’s goals and ask, “How can technology help you achieve this faster or smarter?” That’s how IT becomes an enabler rather than a silo. It’s about connecting the dots between strategy, technology, and execution.

How do you make sure everyone stays aligned throughout the year?

Juan Felipe Arjona, “Transparency is key. We make most of our objectives and key results public across the company. That means everyone can see what other teams are working on and how their progress contributes to the overall strategy.

This visibility creates collaboration instead of competition. If someone in one department sees that another team is stuck or could use help, they jump in. That cross-functional awareness has become a huge cultural advantage for us.”

Can you share a specific incident where OKRs helped resolve misalignment between departments?

Juan Felipe Arjona, “A good example comes from the IT side. One day, another department approached us, saying they needed to implement a new system right away. You know how it goes: “This is urgent; this will help the company; we need it tomorrow.”

So we took a step back and said, “Okay, let’s look at this through our OKRs.” When we reviewed it against the company’s current objectives, it became clear that this new tool didn’t actually align with what we were trying to achieve that quarter. Having the OKRs in place made that decision easy. Instead of saying “no” based on opinion, we could say, “Let’s pause this project for now and revisit it next year once it fits into the strategy.”

That simple conversation prevented unnecessary spending and kept our roadmap focused. On the IT side, it really helped us control costs, manage priorities, and maintain order.”

What has been the biggest “aha moment” for your teams, when they really saw OKRs bringing clarity and direction?

Juan Felipe Arjona, “I think one of the biggest realizations came when the team started using OKRs as a reference point for everything we do. I’ll admit, I’m the kind of person who’s always full of ideas. I’ll often say, “Hey, this new thing sounds great, let’s try it!” I like moving fast and solving problems. But what’s really great is that now my team feels comfortable pushing back. They’ll say, “That’s a great idea, Juan, but is it aligned with our current OKRs? And sometimes they’re right. It forces me to pause and think, “Okay, let’s step back. Could we consider whether this new idea aligns with our objectives? Or should we create a new one next quarter to capture it properly?

Everyone has full visibility into our OKRs. That transparency gives people confidence to speak up. Even junior employees can say, “This isn’t aligned,” and they know it’s a collaboration. It keeps us focused, honest, and agile. And more importantly, it builds psychological safety; people know they can challenge ideas when it’s in the interest of the company’s strategy.”

How do you actually make sure that daily tasks connect back to those OKRs? What mechanism do you use to track that alignment?

Juan Felipe Arjona, “When we define our big OKRs at the start of the year, they’re broad in nature. But each OKR comes with very specific Key Results that tell us exactly what we need to achieve. During our monthly Goal Connect meetings, we review where we stand on those key results, what’s been accomplished, what’s lagging, and what needs attention.

From these discussions, we establish high-level tasks for the month, which are major initiatives that will significantly impact our progress. Then, every Monday, the entire team meets for a weekly planning session. We review what everyone’s working on inside Profit.co’s Tasks, discuss dependencies, and break those big items into smaller, actionable subtasks.

It’s a very dynamic process. Everyone sees how their weekly work directly contributes to the OKRs. The link between strategy and execution is visible and concrete.”

What kind of rituals or practices do you follow to ensure that everyone stays focused and aligned week to week?

Juan Felipe Arjona, “Every Monday, our team runs what’s essentially a scrum-style meeting inside Profit.co. Each member walks through their tasks, dependencies, and blockers. For example, someone might say, “I’ll need access from Active Directory,” and another teammate jumps in: “I can help with that.” Or, “I need a SharePoint update,” and someone else picks it up.

By the end of that session, everyone knows exactly what needs to be delivered that week. The focus is clear, priorities are aligned, and tasks are already linked back to the objectives in Profit.co.”

Have you integrated performance reviews into that same flywheel of OKRs and tasks?

Juan Felipe Arjona, “Honestly, throughout my career, performance reviews have always been painful, for both managers and employees. It used to be this formal process where you fill out paperwork, submit it to HR, and it’s done. But that kind of review is like doing an autopsy of the year; you’re looking back at what went wrong six months ago, and by then, it’s too late to fix it.

At Enerkem, we changed that completely. We moved to a closer, more frequent, and focused model. Instead of one big annual review, we do shorter monthly reviews. Our goal connects, where we talk about progress, motivation, and blockers in real time.

By doing this, we can spot issues before they grow. It’s like moving from autopsy to preventive care. Every month, you take the pulse of your team to see what’s working and what’s not and make quick adjustments.”

“These monthly conversations have created a stronger connection between managers and employees. People feel heard. Managers understand their teams better, and employees know their input matters. So yes, performance reviews are now part of the same flywheel as OKRs and tasks. They keep the momentum going.”

Can you share a specific example from Enerkem where OKRs, tasks, and performance reviews all worked together to create a clear business win?

Juan Felipe Arjona, “Sure. One of my favorite examples is a major engineering and construction project we ran last year. Before using Profit.co, our project management team used to spend one to two weeks every month preparing reports for executive review meetings. They had to pull data from multiple systems, download spreadsheets, and consolidate everything manually. It was exhausting. Some of them barely slept during that period just to prepare the numbers on hours worked, team performance, revenue, and everything.

And the problem? Those meetings were always looking backward. By the time we reviewed the data, the issues had already escalated. It was the “autopsy” again, analyzing what went wrong after the fact.

So, we set a new OKR, “Build a real-time reporting system for project visibility.” The key result was to create dashboards where anyone, from project managers to executives, could see up-to-date performance data every morning.

We connected that OKR to tasks within Profit.co. Each sub-team had clear responsibilities: data integration, dashboard design, testing, and deployment. We also tied the initiative to our monthly Goal Connects to track progress and identify blockers early.

Within a year, we launched real-time dashboards for several projects. Now, managers can log in daily and instantly see:

1. Which projects are on track or delayed
2. Team performance metrics
3. Bottlenecks or risks before they grow
4. Tasks pending or overdue

The result has been a huge improvement in efficiency. Teams no longer wait for end-of-month reviews to act on issues. Risks are caught early, and overall execution speed has gone up dramatically. We basically replaced two weeks of frantic report preparation with a daily, dynamic snapshot of project health.”

Can you share some of the measurable results or improvements you’ve seen since adopting this integrated model with Profit.co?

Juan Felipe Arjona, “Absolutely. We’ve seen significant improvements in efficiency—both operationally and culturally.

In engineering, we measure efficiency by the number of hours spent on work versus outcomes delivered, and that metric has gone up substantially. Teams execute faster, and we identify problems long before they grow.

Our HR department has also tracked a visible rise in employee engagement. Monthly Goal Connect meetings show improved communication, motivation, and better relationship between managers and their teams.

From a business perspective, one of our key OKRs this year was to reduce IT costs by 10%. Using Profit.co, we broke that goal down into tasks, replacing expensive software with open-source tools, developing quick internal integrations, and monitoring every purchase in real time. Every PO was reviewed with the question: How can we save here?

The outcome? We have roughly 30% cost savings overall. That’s huge for us, especially as a growing company.

Were there improvements in process performance as well?

Juan Felipe Arjona, “One area we targeted was invoice processing. Our accounts payable team used to take a long time from receiving an invoice to having it approved and ready for payment. We made that a measurable OKR, improved the systems, and refined the workflow. Now that the cycle time has dropped dramatically, and it runs smoothly.

Another big win was timesheet compliance. Timesheets determine client billing and payroll accuracy. A year and a half ago, only about 30–40% of time sheets were submitted on time. Today, we’re at 94–95% compliance.

We built reminders, dashboards, and even a friendly department leaderboard to track who was most consistent. Suddenly, people were competing to reach 100%. What used to be a problem area has now become one of our strongest operational metrics.”

What’s been the overall impact on accountability?

Juan Felipe Arjona, “The biggest change has been in accountability and ownership. When every employee can see all the OKRs and key results inside Profit.co, along with the progress and check-ins, it creates a natural sense of responsibility.

Every month, people review their OKRs with their manager during the Goal Connect meetings. They know exactly how they’re performing and how their progress ties back to the company’s larger goals. That visibility and cadence focus everyone on what truly matters.

Because performance discussions and OKR reviews are all happening in the same system, there’s no room for ambiguity. Everyone knows what’s expected, how success is measured, and how they’re contributing to the bigger picture. Profit.co really helped us build a culture where accountability is enabled.”

How do you personally, as a CIO, use OKRs, tasks, and performance tracking for your team?

Juan Felipe Arjona,

• I start by defining our company’s high-level strategic objectives.
• At the IT level, I align our department OKRs with those broader goals.
• I break them down into specific tasks and projects that will help us achieve the objectives.
• I use dashboards and real-time information systems to track progress and understand how our initiatives contribute to company strategy.
• I review other departments’ key results and reach out when I see opportunities to support them with technology or process improvements.
• This approach has improved collaboration and strengthened the relationship between IT and the rest of the organization.
• On a personal level, I set my OKRs to track what I want to accomplish by the end of the year.

I review my progress monthly, adjust where needed, and hold myself accountable.

What’s your advice for other CIOs trying to connect strategy to daily execution?

Juan Felipe Arjona, “I think the number one factor is alignment. As a CIO, you need to make sure that whatever your team does is for the benefit of the company. Otherwise, IT goes one way, and the rest of the organization goes another.

IT should consistently lead the way, creating momentum and propelling the entire organization forward. We have to constantly look toward tomorrow and make sure that tomorrow is guiding how efficiently the company operates today.

We now have more devices than brains, and with AI, that integration between people, data, and technology will only deepen.

The way I see it, it’s like cutting a sheet of paper. One eye watches the scissors; that’s your tasks and performance reviews. The other eye looks at where you’re cutting; that’s your objective. Only when both eyes collaborate can you achieve a clear and precise outcome.

That’s how I see OKRs, tasks, and performance working together as two perspectives aligned toward a single outcome.

How did you address the reluctance to change?

Juan Felipe Arjona: “We still have some detractors; not everything is perfect. There are always a few people who say, ‘I love Excel; I’ll just do my OKRs there.’

What helped us a lot was getting support and guidance from the Profit.co team. At the beginning, we worked with you, Senthil, and the Profit.co team to run training sessions on how to do OKRs properly and how to set key results and understand the concepts behind them. Those sessions were key.

You can’t force everyone to read John Doerr’s book or watch every OKR video, but you can start with the executive team. That’s what we did. The training was fantastic; everyone loved it, and it started cascading down through the company.

We also faced some resistance around the monthly connect meetings. Some teams felt they didn’t have time, or they weren’t comfortable with open, people-focused conversations.

But after the first couple of connections, people began to see the value. They realized it wasn’t just a meeting; it was an opportunity to communicate, coach, and build trust. Over time, those same teams started looking forward to the sessions.”

How did Enerkem’s adoption of this framework evolve?

Juan Felipe Arjona, “It took multiple cycles. You can’t make a change like this overnight. We’ve been working on this for about two years now.

The first OKRs we created weren’t great. They were well-intentioned, but we quickly realized some key results weren’t measurable or precise. There were no clear formulas or outcomes defined, so the first year was really a learning phase.

By the second year, things began to come together. We challenged each other more, discussed and refined key results, and made sure everything was measurable. The OKR captains played a vital role; they had deeper expertise, facilitated discussions, and helped every department improve the quality of their OKRs.

We also trained our OKR champions, ensuring each department had someone who could guide, coach, and maintain consistency. That structure made a tremendous difference.

It took effort, iteration, and collaboration, but over time, the entire organization began to understand how to use OKRs effectively and make them meaningful.”

How do you handle managers who don’t monitor OKR updates on the platform?

Juan Felipe Arjona, “We built accountability right into the system. The OKR captain has a measurable key result to ensure all managers complete their OKR check-ins on time.

Every Friday, the captain reviews who hasn’t updated their OKRs and follows up with them directly. That gentle, consistent nudge keeps everyone active and responsible.

Our goal connect meetings also helps a lot by bringing managers and teams together, creating space for open discussion and progress sharing. Over time, those meetings and reminders have built a steady rhythm of engagement across the organization.”

Conclusion

Enerkem’s journey shows how connecting OKRs, tasks, and performance transforms more than process; it changes culture. With Profit.co, strategic goals became daily habits. Teams gained visibility, managers built accountability, and performance improved across every layer. What began as a framework is now a continuous rhythm driving focus, efficiency, and measurable results.