December 23, 2020
3 Truths that Enlighten your Journey with OKRs in Business
Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) are a popular framework that helps to create and track objectives and measure outcomes within a business. While goals are qualitative and results are quantitative, OKRs in business focus on bringing everyone on the same page while contributing to the organizational success. If you are thinking of implementing OKRs, then you must focus on two important questions-
- What do you want to achieve at the end of the quarter or year?
- How will you achieve your goals?
Following are the significant steps every organization must follow before starting their journey of adopting OKRs in business-
- Think of the primary need before executing OKRs. Companies should not adopt the OKR methodology just because Google uses that. So, the focus should be on why to adopt OKRs and how these will impact workforce performance and business efficiency.
- Next, while implementing the OKR framework, there must be enough resources like formal training or a Coach to aid organizations to optimize the adoption of OKRs. This helps the senior leadership to set OKRs with a consistent focus on meeting long-term goals, improving performance, and ultimately overall impact on business.
- The next step is to align individuals and teams to the organizational mission and strategy. Setting objectives can be a time-taking process. To be effective, OKRs must be well-aligned, focused, and structured so that employees drive their organization in the right direction.
- Once the OKRs are set, the next step is to incorporate the right rhythm. Many organizations forget OKRs once they set them at the beginning of the quarter. It is important for individuals to self-assess their OKRs at regular intervals so that they are aware of whether they are achieving their goals in the right way. Also, managers should conduct weekly or monthly reviews to analyze individual progress and guide them on how to perform better.
While creating and executing OKRs in business, three truths can embark the entire journey for organizations. These are-
1. Commit to the OKRs
The OKR methodology is not a business strategy that promises success. The truth is that it is an effective goal-setting process that drives meaningful change across the organization and boosts the performance impact. While creating individual or business objectives, everyone must commit to-
- Narrow the gap between strategy and execution
- Encourage focus, alignment, clarity, and accountability while adopting OKRs
- Unlock employee performance, drive business growth, and increase ROIs
2. Seek Help to Ensure Successful Execution of OKRs
Some people may think that using the OKR framework is quite easy. However, the truth is that the process of setting and tracking goals can be a bit tricky if you are implementing OKRs for the first time. Understanding the concept of OKRs with the help of a trainer or OKR Coach is important. The trainer helps to align people against the right set of goals, focus on the priorities, and bring transparency between the teams while they progress towards meeting their intended goals. Ultimately, this ensures the successful implementation of OKRs and help businesses to succeed.
3. Track OKR Progress
There should be utmost transparency and collaboration between the teams while creating goals and meeting the expected business outcomes. The truth is that goals drive performance, but they should be cascaded bi-directionally. This ensures that managers assign OKRs for teams and individuals and those are aligned to the organizational goals, bringing everyone on the same page while driving business growth and impact. To monitor OKR progress, organizations utilize the OKR framework to conduct timely reviews, provide immediate feedback, compare progress to the last quarter/year, and score performances.
The effective implementation of OKRs in business drives employee collaboration, boosts business performance, as well as the overall impact. While making sure everyone across the organization is aligned to the right OKRs and knows their contribution, businesses can lead to the right path to success.