OKRs are a simple but incredibly effective method of governance to create structures for companies, teams, and individuals. The secret when it comes to OKRs is to make them very ambitious. That way, OKRs allow individuals and groups to focus on the bigger picture and achieve more than they think.
What’s more, OKRs encourage a value-oriented outcome and culture by focusing on key priorities. It also increases the level of autonomy and promotes self-organization. What is the difference between a KPI and an OKR? KPIs are defined by managers, OKR is self-selecting and self-directed.
| Goal | Key results |
| What (Where do I want to go?) – Purpose-based myth is the ambition to feel unseen uncomfortable, for freedom of action | How (How will I adjust the speed on my own to see if I get there?) – Clearly make the goal achievable – As a SMART goal: Specific, measurable, achievable, Practical and Time-bound – Leads to the objective scoring – Link loosely |
None of the figures are perfect and it is best to look at each issue from multiple angles. Therefore, each goal consists of three to four measurable key results, according to which each of these results has a progress index or a score of 0-100%.
How to apply OKRs?
Organizations can implement OKRs annually and quarterly. Annual OKR is a big and measurable idea to continue growing in the next year. Quarterly OKRs are unchanged. You can have OKRs at the company level, at the team level, at the management level and at the individual level. They all work together to keep the company on track. They challenge organizations at all levels. OKRs are not used by management to determine promotions or salaries.
OKRs Reviews
| O: Improve communication (via newsletter) | |
| KR1: Finalize your content strategy, key messages, and topic structure in the next 6 months | 75% |
| KR2: Increased subscribers base by at least 5% per week, to 50,000 readers | 21.0000 |
| KR3: Increased CTR% to the above industry average of 3.5% | 2% |
When scoring complete OKRs, the ambition section enters. If someone is constantly achieving all the goals, the OKRs have set not enough challenges. The goal of using OKR practice is to find out what needs to be done better next time that can only be achieved by not fulfilling the goal. ( Read on about Success and Failure)
Notes about OKRs
When it comes to your goals always think “contribute from the outside.” This means that a stakeholder will find what you are trying to achieve valuable.
Feel free to change goals and metrics whenever it makes sense. Your goal is to learn and improve, not to become a slave to your figures.
Last but not least, make sure that goals and measurements are transparent and available to every other member of the organization.
