OKRs?

Quote: "OKR’s are first and foremost an empowerment technique."

Don't empower anyone. Instead work on getting rid of / minimizing / improve on anything that dis-empowers. This is usually easier, cheaper and far more straightforward. Not always easy to get rid of disempowerment but you can at least put things in place to minimize it. Empowerment is barely measurable in real terms. All the metrics are indirect. Even turnover doesn't accurately measure it. Dis-empowerment on the other hand is a stinking mess. Follow your nose. Or your heart.

Quote: "Manager’s Objectives vs. Product Team Objectives"

One of these needs to be fired / removed / re-evaluated. If the manager is fighting the team then who's more in alignment with the overall vision? Why would you tolerate a manager that is fighting their team? Or vice versa? If the team members are across leaders and there's issues then there's some misalignment that needs to be fixed. Now. Iceberg! Change direction or sink!

Pointless drama and deliberate friction created in large organizations is why they squash innovation. Its why they do mindbogglingly stupid things. Its also why a manager or executive can benefit when a team fails, even their own. Incentives can be so screwed up that if a division fails, a number of people in the division cheer because their individual incentives are all green. This is too common.

Another quote: "The main idea is to give product teams real problems to solve"

You're doing WHAT?! How can you possibly tolerate non-real problems? Why would this be even necessary? That's like saying, "it gives them a way to generate profit". Really? That's a thing you're going to add?! As if its some new thing? What?!

Quote: "Passive manager"

What is this creature? How can you passively manage anything? Not even drunk people are passive. Only when they become unconscious do you start to have passivity. I've met managers who's teams zip along with the manager gone for a month. This isn't rare and its still not passive if adult supervision is in place. Why? Because an active manager puts processes in place to monitor and optimise what is going on. This is active management.

Quote: "Stop doing manager objectives and individual objectives"

Correct. Any mismatch means pointless friction. Why was this tolerated? Perhaps because drama at the bottom and middle keeps people too busy to notice the silliness at the top? Maybe. Regardless, it sounds expensive: How's that productivity going?

Quote: "Leaders need to step up"

Sure, and they should be allowed to lead. Which is often NOT the case. Plenty of managers leave team leaders in the dark about key aspects about what is going on and what is planned. Leading means choosing a direction. How can you know the direction to choose if you don't know the destination? This applies generally as well. Instead of expecting leaders to step up, why is there a step in the first place? Shouldn't there be a level playing field? Sort out organisational mess so its as level as possible - remember the bit about removing disempowerment? I wasn't kidding. Here's a symptom: the need to step up when no step should exist.

Ugh!

Go for enabling and self-directed team members that can tolerate and operate successfully with adult supervision. This kind of supervision requires managers, directors and team leaders as well.

One last thing: Get rid of deadlines and use due-dates instead. Not just wordplay. We need to be using project X on date Y. Make it happen and don't drop dead doing so. Change the mindset to fit this approach. Those deadline crunches? Not good. Dropping dead after a due-date means something went very wrong. Everything must be re-examined to avoid it in future. The mess has to be cleaned up. Supports put in place. Additional followups scheduled and kept. This works for projects as well as childbirth.

Ok. I feel decaffeinated and that is dis-empowering. Time for coffee. See? Fixable.