The Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) methodology is a powerful tool for driving change management and innovation in companies of any size.
OKRs are a methodology for setting ambitious and measurable short- and long-term objectives. It is based on two components:
Objectives: qualitative statements describing what you want to achieve.
Key results: quantifiable metrics that define how the success of the objective will be measured.
Benefits of OKRs
Align the company: encourage collaboration and teamwork toward a common goal.
Focus attention: prioritizes the company's initiatives and efforts.
Promote transparency: enable all employees to understand the company's goals and progress.
They measure impact: they enable the success of initiatives and the company's performance to be evaluated.
Encourage innovation: create an environment where experimentation and learning from error are valued.
Implementing OKRs in medium-sized and traditional companies
Define objectives: identify the company's strategic objectives for the defined time period. OKRs are practical, easy to measure and tangible. “Key results exist in 2 categories: quality and quantity. OKRs must be difficult to meet 100%, and must present a real challenge to the person who must meet them, but at the same time, they must be achievable. All OKRs must have a time clause”.
Establish key results: for each objective, define 3 to 5 key results that are measurable, ambitious and relevant. To achieve large objectives, you must identify the most important measurable factors for achieving your goal, and measure your performance against them1. You should think of an OKR as a perfect blend of your goal and the steps you need to take to achieve it.
Cascade OKRs: deploy OKRs throughout the company, from top management to individual teams.
Track and measure: monitor the progress of the OKRs on a regular basis and make adjustments if necessary. This aspect is of utmost importance. If you don't have a tangible and transparent way to measure compliance with your key results, you will fail. The whole OKR concept depends on transparency and the ability to measure results.
Evaluation and learning: at the end of the period, evaluate the success of the OKRs and learn from the experiences to improve in the future.
Practical Tips
Involve the whole team: it is essential that all employees participate in the definition of OKRs and understand their importance.
Communicate OKRs: inform all employees about the company's OKRs and how their work contributes to them.
Be flexible: adapt the methodology to the needs and resources of the company.
Focus on quality, not quantity: it is better to have few ambitious OKRs than many OKRs with little relevance.
Celebrate success: recognize and celebrate the achievement of OKRs to motivate employees.
Bibliography
Doerr John (2019). Measure what matters. Publisher Portfolio.
The OKR Playbook: A Guide to Objectives and Key Results. Available at: https://www.whatmatters.com/resources/google-okr-playbook
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