OKRs For Healthcare Professionals

OKRs or Objectives and Key Results was introduced by Andy Grove at Intel in the ’70s and was later made popular by John Doerr while working at Google. It became central to Google’s culture as a “management methodology that helps to ensure that the company focuses efforts on the same important issues throughout the organization”.

Now OKRs are not only used by Google but by multiple organizations across varied industries such as GoPro, Dropbox, Netflix, Amazon, etc., as their goal-setting methodology. An OKR consists of an Objective (the what) – a clearly defined goal to be achieved, and 3-5 Key Results (the how) – specific metrics that measure the progress towards an Objective. OKRs have multiple benefits over other goal-setting methodologies; some of them are:

• Short term and agile: As OKRs are set quarterly, they have a shorter goal cycle as compared to traditional methods of goal setting, and is flexible
• Easy to align: OKRs make it easy to align goals with the team, department, and organization; and thus improves collaboration
• Improves Transparency: OKRs make the goal-setting process transparent as every individual understands how they contribute to the organizational goals
• Time-Saving: OKRs help break down bigger organizational goals into small ones, thus making the goal-setting process easier and faster for the employees

Also Read: Why Healthcare Administrators Should Set SMART Goals

In our previous article on healthcare, we had mentioned how having a common goal helps in building a high performing team; in this article, we will give you an idea on how to frame OKRs for your healthcare team. Here are four examples to help you get started with framing OKRs for your healthcare team.

Objective 1: To build the most efficient  team of Healthcare Professionals

Key Results:

– Interview at least 30 healthcare professionals every month for open positions which include doctors, nurses, and other hospital aides

– Conduct training programs and career seminars in top 10 medical universities to hire the best talent

– Plan 2 skill enhancement training programs for every hospital staff every month

Objective 2: To Improve the patient satisfaction index

Key Results: 

– Conduct patient satisfaction surveys

– Train doctors, nurses and other hospital staff in communication skills and how to show empathy

– Create personalized patient experiences

– Increased patient follow up, and should be completed within a week of patient release

Also Read: The Essential Guide To OKRs: Your Ultimate Tool To Setting Winning Goals

Objective 3: To boost the efficiency of healthcare professionals with the help of technology

Key Results: 

– Train 15 doctors every quarter in robotic-assisted surgery

– Upgrade and maintain at least 30 devices every quarter

– Invest $15,000 for IT infrastructure upgrades

Objective 4: Improve Job Satisfaction of Employees

 Key Results:

– Hospital management to interview at least 10 staff members of each department to gauge burnout

– Conduct employee fun activities every week for each department

– Reward and recognize top 5 innovators every quarter

Also Read: 6 Reasons To Invest In A Performance Appraisal Software

Srikant Chellappa

Srikant Chellappa is the Co-Founder and President at Engagedly and is a passionate entrepreneur and people leader. He is an author, producer/director of 6 feature films, a music album with his band Manchester Underground, and is the host of The People Strategy Leaders Podcast. He is currently working on his next book, Ikigai at the Workplace, which is slated for release in the fall of 2023.