OKR: Like a big orchestra
The agile management method OKR from Silicon Valley is conquering the IT world.
OKR (Objectives and Key Results) is a flexible method for teams and organizations to work together to implement goals. With the OKR model, you can develop strategically p your company, build a bridge between long-term goals and operational doing, and involve employees involved in a self-binding manner.
Leadership is primarily about setting goals and achieving them, both at the company, business units, and individual teams; administration is also establishing and applying in practice to jointly defined values of a team, business unit, or company.
When it comes to setting and achieving goals, companies use the OKR: Objective Key Results approach. This approach is used by companies such as Google, LinkedIn, Twitter or Dropbox. I think OKR it’s an excellent method for defining and reviewing organizational and team goals, albeit very demanding to implement.
Companies implement OKR to increase the effectiveness of implementation, improve cooperation between teams and break up silos.
OKR is used, among others, by Google, Allegro, and over 100 companies in the USA. The popularity of this approach to work has been growing since 2017. OKRs, as a technique, is easy to understand, although difficult to handle at first.
This article will introduce you to the OKR methodology and show you how you can use it to shape your company’s digital transformation.
What are OKR
OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) are a simple goal-setting system. In today’s understanding, you can answer the question “What are OKR?” answer as follows:
- OKR is a format for formulating and communicating goals (Objectives and Key Results).
- OKR is a target system that synchronizes long-term and short-term goals as well as goals from different teams.
- OKR is an agile process characterized by continuity and a high level of employee involvement.
These three central aspects’ interaction make the OKR method a useful management tool and organizational model that functions independently of existing structures.
Why is it essential to use OKR in work?
Why is this particular technique so successful? Because it is intuitive and straightforward. Its practical use, however, requires a bit of practice and concentration.
Planning is a susceptible process of making many decisions, and you can make a lot of mistakes in it, especially planning quickly and superficially.
OKRs are ideal for planning quarters, and in some hands, they will also prove useful when designing goals for a month or a year. The quarter is an advantageous period for planning — firstly, it corresponds to nature’s natural cycle. On the other hand, it is so short that we can estimate y how much we can earn at that time with a high degree of probability.
OKR — fashion or comfort?
OKR, or Goals and Key Results, is a method of managing development goals in a company, which in my opinion, is a good (which does not mean an ideal) response to the challenges of changes in companies.
At the beginning of each quarter, the management board or the chief commander set the company’s goals in practice. Later, these goals cascade down. For the method to be effective, it is essential to bring about how individual goals of individual members of the company align with global goals. If the first light of a disagreement does emerge, you must either explain it well or change your plans.
OKRs are public and available for inspection by all employees of the company. It is essential in terms of: first, it puts each employee on an equal footing with others and enables what the employed people do.
Leaders can see what the team is up to and in a stage without delving into little useful information and endless analysis.
Sell OKRs to a team: How to prepare for negativity and resistance from employees.
It’s impossible to implement OKRs correctly the first time. First, you need to test this framework and learn to live by the new rules. Most likely, the first time will turn out so-so and, perhaps, the second too. The main thing is to learn how to draw experience from each iteration and draw the right conclusions.
Usually, people do not like change and resist it. To get around employee resistance when implementing OKRs, it’s worth spending enough time explaining to the team what it is, and how it will help the company. Repetitive communication will lead employees to see the methodology’s value and begin to take OKRs for granted.
For clarity, you can draw a classic illustration: without OKRs, we move in different directions, and with OKRs, we move in one direction:
Example of OKR: Two different strategies of implementation
You can choose between two approaches for the introduction:
First strategy. The company-wide introduction in which you can try to involve as many people and departments as possible to convince all employees of OKR right from the start. There is a risk that the implementation will fail if insufficient resources are made available for change management.
Second strategy. The step-by-step introduction, where you start with a few departments and gain as much experience as possible from the opening before you roll it out across the company. Experience has shown that marketing and sales are ideal for this. If the introduction was successful in a few departments and the employees are enthusiastic, OKR can expand to other departments.
Which companies use OKR
Here is a list of some well-known companies that have already implemented OKRs (according to the source):
1. Google
2. Intel
3. Oracle
4. Twitter
5. LinkedIn
Mostly, OKRs uses by high-tech companies. There are thousands of other companies around the world that are already using OKRs. Most likely, we will find out about them after they reach the peak of their popularity.
What to read on the topic
There are not so many books devoted exclusively to OKRs. Describing progressive companies’ experience, you can find both just mentioning OKRs and entire chapters devoted to it. We have collected a small selection of books for you, and we invite you to expand it with your findings.
- Measure the most important. How Google, Intel, and others are driving growth with OKRs by John Doerr
Venture capitalist John Doerr talks about the OKR (Goals and Key Results) system he created that has helped many giants such as Intel and Google achieve impressive growth. With examples from many organizations that have implemented OKRs, you will learn about its key features and uses. - The Ultimate Guide to OKRs: How Objectives and Key-Results can help your company build a culture of excellence and achievement by Francisco S. Homem de Mello
- Step-by-Step Guide to OKRs by Alexander Maasik
It is a “How-to” guide to get started with OKRs and help your team or a company implement the best goal setting system currently out there.
How to implement OKR step by step?
# 1 Define OKRs — create a list of goals to achieve
# 2 Set measures — create 2 to 3 “key results” for each goal
# 3 Communicate — communicate goals and measures to your team (you can involve the team in setting goals, but remember that goals should be in line with the purposes of the organization)
# 4 Send Fulfillment Level — Show your fulfillment level at regular intervals
# 5 Success — set the level above to announce success and celebrate it with a bang!
What OKR brings to companies
All the trappings of a traditional budgeting process, which in classic companies take months, can be done in a few days. Besides, the time and cost savings resulting from a highly lean planning and budgeting process can generate value for the company. It succeeds when companies plan using the OKR method.
How are OKRs different from KPIs?
Generally, OKR and KPI are tools to measure the achievement of our goals. The main difference lies in the intention.
OKRs should design to reflect the ambitious, sometimes aggressive, goals of the organization. You can say strategic aspirations. Their task is to force everyone to change and transform because they are challenging, achieving without changes.
KPIs, in turn, measure the level of implementation of existing processes and activities. You could say that it is something more every day, down-to-earth. And if there is a problem with achieving KPIs or improving it significantly, it can become Key Results in OKR.
For example, if we agree with the team that the target is 30 completed orders per day, and it is sensible and achievable, you can regularly check whether you are in the mark or not. But if, on average, every employee makes 30 orders a day, and we want to ambitiously increase efficiency and fulfill 15 orders a day, at first glance, the goal is more challenge achieving, and significant changes in the process are needed to achieve it. Thus, OKRs are generally more ambitious, more challenging achieving. They mean to motivate more.
At the edge, KPIs help monitor the current work and become the basis for identifying problems. OKRs help improve processes and introduce innovations. They are generally more strategic.
