You will find it difficult to successfully operate a team without defining proper goals and objectives. It would be taking a stab in the dark. Your bright personnel will be useless if they don’t have a shared goal to strive toward. That is where setting apt OKRs come in to play.
Have you ever wondered how the industry’s behemoths slaughter the market with ever-increasing profits? The key is to use OKRs.
You might be wondering what setting OKRs are and how they operate.
Without further ado, continue reading to find how to create a sustainable OKR approach as well as some practical examples you can use in your management to accomplish more in less time.
What Is an OKR?
OKR stands for Objectives and Key Results. It’s a goal-setting strategy that dates back to the 1970s. OKR was popularized by John Doerr, a prominent venture capitalist. It lays the groundwork for outlining your organization’s goals over a given period of time.
We know that every project or task needs to be completed on time. OKRs are often created and assessed during the lifetime of a project. They may also be used in the future to see how successfully you completed the tasks before.
The fundamental principle to follow while setting an OKR is to set an aim and three to five expected or desired outcomes. These important outcomes are clear and quantifiable actions and contribute to the achievement of goals.
An essential reason behind setting OKRs is ensuring that everyone understands what they want, need to accomplish, or is expected of them.
Now that you have learned about OKRs, you might be wondering how they differ from another similar concept which is KPIs or Key Performance Indicators.
OKRs vs. KPIs
Although both can be considered as performance indicators, they serve a distinct and different purpose. Here are a few differences between OKRs and KPIs:
| KPI | OKR |
| KPIs are critical measures used to assess how well a team is meeting its objectives. These measurements are often quantitative in form and correctly describe the current state of the product. | OKRs, on the other hand, are related to wider corporate goals. KPIs are primarily tied to individual ability. |
| KPIs are used to control daily operations and assess the performance of a certain process or activity. OKRs, on the other hand, are primarily concerned with measuring goals and priorities in order to measure operational success. | The OKR framework places a greater emphasis on strategic goals, identifying a goal, and brainstorming strategies to achieve it. |
Advantages of OKR
Do you know how the giants like Google, Intel, Spotify, Target, Airbnb, and ING have become these huge beacons of success?
They are some of the major businesses that employ OKRs in their daily operations. Of course, you don’t need a large workforce to get the benefits. The continuous usage of OKRs by small and big businesses demonstrates the value of goal management in providing direction and objectivity.
Implementing and setting OKRs will offer you an edge over your competition when it comes to getting the job done and keeping yourself and others accountable. “At the end, you may look, without any kind of arguments: Can I do it or can I not do it?”, remarked the Father of OKRs, Yes? No? Simple. There are no judgments in it.”
Also Read: 5 Things To Look For In An OKR Software
Questions About Setting OKRs That Are Achievable
The primary question that needs to be answered is how to set up an org-wide process of setting OKRs.
Setting up a procedure for OKR alignment might take varying amounts of time and effort based on the scale and structure of your business. We’ll go through the fundamentals in this part to help you plan for success. You may use the sample OKR cycle shown at the conclusion to figure out how to get started right away, after reviewing the following considerations for setting the OKR process.
1. Timing
Timing is a crucial consideration while setting up the procedure. Our goals should not just be time-constrained. We need the goals modeled in a way that will surely give us some feedback on our work. The best way is to set achievable targets and regularly monitor them. Many businesses follow a quarterly schedule, but it’s important to include time for planning, implementation, and assessment.
2. Keeping It Simple
Concentrate on goals you believe you can accomplish in the specified time. Many employees believe they must contribute to every department’s goal and end up overstretching themselves. Prioritize your goals based on what the company most requires. Remember that the amount of targets you should have depends on how difficult they are and the time and energy you have.
3. Cascading the Objectives
Employees, sometimes, struggle to recognize how their profession contributes to overarching corporate goals and achievement. What can a payroll clerk do to assist their organization in reaching 10,000 users? The answer is cascading the goals from the corporate level to the department level to the individual level.
4. Be Specific
When establishing objectives, consider multiple approaches to achieve the desired outcome. Create a detailed strategy on how to reach your goal. Consider how performance may be measured for each major result. The more precise you are in setting goals, the more clear your expectations will be. With clear objectives, you’ll know precisely everything you need to accomplish your aims.
5. Stop Worrying About Stretch Goals
Managers are sometimes concerned that setting simple goals may be a hindrance for an employee in the way to reach their full potential. Are stretch goals, on the other hand, a good idea? It depends entirely on how authentic they are. Employees will not like being given unachievable assignments if incentives are used to inspire them. Ambitious objectives are excellent, but they shouldn’t be set up to fail.
6. Connection to Performance
Considering the fact that setting OKRs should push us beyond our perceived boundaries, it’s critical to establish a criteria for success and separate them from the performance evaluation process. For example, some companies, like Google, utilize a 70 percent success rate as a metric. We’re just not thinking big enough if we’re constantly reaching 100 percent. However, if it appears that we aren’t functioning to our full potential because we don’t meet the maximum level of our OKR, it can be disappointing and daunting.
If your organization and the employees solely connect setting OKRs with an assessment process at the end of a year or month, they’ll be more motivated to set objectives that are simple to attain. While quantification aids in benchmarking and identifying opportunities for improvement, our entire performance is much more than a collection of numbers.
7. Celebrate the Achievement
When you accomplish a goal, reward and acknowledge yourself and others. Positive behavior helps in the maintenance of optimal practices. Don’t only acknowledge work at the conclusion of a project; acknowledge incremental progress as well. Encourage everyone on your team to post their OKRs openly and form a support system.
Conclusion
Executive leadership should maintain that the organization, as a whole, shares both the triumphs and mistakes as a method of identifying areas for development and celebrating hard work. Personal development should be greatly promoted because it is tied to corporate performance and growth. As there is a high level of faith in individual responsibility, being accountable should not be something to be afraid of but rather an opportunity to shine. Thinking outside of established boundaries should be encouraged, resulting in a work atmosphere where any ambition appears feasible.
Does this seem like a place you would want to work at? If you want to create the perfect workplace, start by establishing an OKR-based culture of continual development and progress, helpful feedback, and transparency.
Do you want to know how Engagedly can help you set up a perfect OKR system in your organization? Book a live demo with us.