Aligning Yourself with Company OKRs

The Localization Maturity Model is a great tool and guide to help you build the localization function, plumbing your organization needs as it grows into international markets. However, it only helps you to build an operational or service delivery group. To get beyond the localization maturity model and position the localization function at a strategic function and revenue contributor,

you will need the following essential kit: 1: Corporate alignment. 2: Sphere of influence. 3: Global mindset.

And 4: Analytics. We will go through each of those individually. At the core, you need to align your department objectives and goals to the company goals. The reason for that is that is how you will justify your approach, vision, and cost to the rest of the business. That’s why you need a TMS and analysts to give you the data you need to convince others. Your company mission is usually static, and your long-term vision rarely changes. However, company strategic objectives can be redefined every 12 to 24 months. For example, you may decide to achieve product leadership in your industry.

This means a large part of your budget will be directed towards developing product market fit and innovative features to wow your market and leapfrog your competition. Apple did this very successfully with the iPhone for instance. Another objective might be to achieve a certain market share percentage, and your organization will invest in its marketing efforts and a large service team. Ideally you want international growth to become a key objective. This usually happens when you have established a certain success in a domestic market, and the c-suite, your board, your investors recognize an opportunity to accelerate growth by reaching international markets.

You can clearly help contribute to that objective, and therefore, the c-suite has to know you exist, who you are, and what you do. Get globalization on the board. Literally. You can help make that visible to them by gathering metrics showing trends and reporting them as often as your company all-hands meetings. Build your vision deck for your function, and show it will contribute to various teams’ KPIs as well as the overall company objecitves. Whatever you do and spend money on is to drive towards those goals and help other groups achieve their KPIs.

That’s how you justify your budget: grab the stage, and evangelize to your sphere of influence, or SOI.