How PocketRN Uses ALLO to Boost Team Engagement through OKR Management
PocketRN’s story
In the wake of the post-COVID landscape, a concerning trend came to the forefront. Patients and their caregivers were frequently finding themselves on the receiving end of fewer in-home Registered Nurse (RN) visits than their care plans demanded. Many struggled to reach a nurse by phone, even for routine concerns, often resulting in their resorting to hospital or independent Emergency Departments. This unfortunate sequence of events all too often culminated in avoidable hospital admissions.
In response to this pressing healthcare crisis, three healthcare and technology innovators—Jenna Morgenstern-Gaines, Ryan Saunders, and Sam Thomas—embarked on a determined mission to find a viable solution. Their collective efforts gave birth to "PocketRN," a groundbreaking virtual care application tailored to meet the specific needs of Home Health, Home Care, and Assisted Living Facilities. PocketRN aims to bridge the gap between home and healthcare by streamlining care coordination, and empowering healthcare professionals—ultimately enabling them to deliver efficient, patient-focused services that can potentially prevent numerous avoidable hospital admissions. Notably, PocketRN was recognized as a quarterfinalist for the Digital Health Hub Foundation: Digital Health Awards in 2023.
Introduction
Ryan's journey with OKRs began at Qualtrics, where he learned the power of this goal-setting system. Later, when co-founding PocketRN, he carried this passion for OKRs, believing they would be crucial for the startup's growth and alignment, ultimately using them to drive success. OKRs now form the backbone of PocketRN's operations. In this case study, we explore the journey of PocketRN's OKR evolution, shedding light on the hurdles encountered with their initial OKR process, the transformative impact of ALLO, and the intrinsic value that ALLO infused into PocketRN's elevated OKR strategy.
Tracking OKRs in Airtable
PocketRN initially relied on Airtable, a popular spreadsheet tool, for their OKR management. Their OKR process comprised yearly company OKRs, which cascaded into quarterly company OKRs, team-level OKRs, and individual initiatives. Company executives set the annual company OKRs, team managers defined the quarterly company and team OKRs, and managers collaborated with their direct reports to establish and monitor individual initiatives.
Why It Didn't Work Well with Airtable
While Airtable served its purpose to some extent, it presented considerable challenges for PocketRN. The primary hurdle revolved around the need for manual setup with each OKR, a process that not only introduced complexity but also raised concerns among team members. As Ryan, the Co-founder and CTO of PocketRN, put it, "Airtable's flexibility can be overwhelming for our team members, making the OKR implementation process intimidating. I had to caution them against manipulating certain areas of the sheet to avoid cascading errors."
Moreover, the lack of visual clarity in Airtable proved to be a significant drawback. Company and team OKRs were segregated into distinct tabs utilizing tabular formats, which impeded the seamless understanding of the interconnections between objectives, key results, and initiatives. This lack of clarity left team members grappling with the challenge of comprehending how their individual contributions dovetailed into the broader mission and goals of the company. “Our most common point of feedback from employees was how disconnected they felt from the company-level objectives,” said Ryan.
PocketRN's Wow Moments Using ALLO
The transition from Airtable to ALLO marked a pivotal moment of transformation for PocketRN. ALLO introduced a user-friendly and inviting intuitive interface and user experience that seamlessly accommodated every team member. As Ryan noted, “Unlike other OKR tools that are 5 to 10 years outdated based on where OKR is heading, I really like the experience of ALLO as it is friendly and welcoming. New users are going to be confident that they won’t mess things up in there.”
"I really like the experience of ALLO as it is friendly and welcoming. New users are going to be confident that they won’t mess things up in there."
— Ryan Saunders, Co-founder & CTO at PocketRN
ALLO streamlined the hierarchy setup, facilitating transparent alignment from the overarching company mission to individual tasks. An additional advantage came in the form of ALLO's tree-view feature, providing a crystal-clear visual representation of the overarching OKRs. This feature effortlessly fostered alignment and synergy across the entire company, making complex objectives easily comprehensible to all team members.
How PocketRN Uses ALLO
PocketRN seamlessly integrated ALLO into its OKR management processes. They began utilizing hierarchical OKR sessions to establish annual company OKRs and quarterly OKRs. The hierarchical structure extended to setting company OKRs and team OKRs. ALLO further facilitated the process by enabling PocketRN to assign ownership of OKRs to teams or individuals, creating a well-defined accountability chain. ALLO's intuitive OKR check-in feature empowered OKR owners to comfortably update the status of their objectives, while managers effortlessly tracked individual initiatives using the convenient owner filters. All this valuable information was thoughtfully consolidated into a single, intuitive, and transparent view, fostering engagement, collaboration, and a profound sense of how each team member's contributions contributed to the overarching objectives.
ALLO's Core Value for PocketRN
ALLO's core value for PocketRN lies in its capacity to elevate team engagement within the OKR process. ALLO seamlessly enabled continuous tracking and provided real-time updates on progress and status, all within an intuitive and user-friendly interface. This holistic approach not only fostered a deeper comprehension of each team member's role in achieving the broader mission but also cultivated a profound sense of ownership and proactive participation throughout the organization. ALLO's platform served as a transformative bridge that seamlessly connected individual efforts to the broader collaborative goals at PocketRN.
Conclusion
The transition from Airtable to ALLO was a crucial moment in PocketRN's OKR management journey. ALLO streamlined processes, enhanced engagement, and provided visual clarity that had previously been lacking. ALLO's core values in encouraging team engagement and fostering a deeper understanding of individual contributions emphasize its significance in revolutionizing PocketRN's OKR strategy. By leveraging ALLO, PocketRN not only improved its OKR process but also empowered its teams to align and engage in achieving their mission and goals.
More about PocketRN
PocketRN takes extensive pride in its contributions to the healthcare industry. They recently conducted a clinical research study in partnership with Stanford Health Care, and the study stands as a testament to the remarkable benefits of PocketRN's innovative solution, offering substantial advantages to patients, caregivers, nurses, and specialty providers:
- An impressive 98% satisfaction rate reported by both patients and nurses that use PocketRN.
- An average of 20 minutes spent with patients using PocketRN, compared to just 5 minutes via the clinic's phone line.
- A noteworthy 85% of visits initiated by proactive patients managing their care.
- A substantial 30% reduction in patients requiring emergency department visits, demonstrating the platform's potential to enhance patient outcomes and reduce healthcare costs.
To learn more about PocketRN, please visit their website at https://www.pocketrn.com/.
