Setting goals and plans is crucial to a company's success. After all, it is the organization's strategic management that will show how efficient it has been in its field.
The OKR methodology stands out as a very practical solution for quantifying the progress of a company's internal goals. Below you will learn more about the OKR methodology and understand how it can help your company reach high performance standards!
What OKRs are
First of all, it is important to know what OKR — Objectives and Key Results actually is.
The term was coined by Andy Grove, one of the first employees of Intel, who eventually rose to the position of company president. The focus was simple: find a tool capable of measuring how far a company has progressed toward the goals it has set, whether collective or individual.
OKRs emerged as a way to make it easier to measure a team's results and bring goals closer together. After all, they should be known by the entire team.
It works as follows:
- 1st - Create a list of major objectives, usually between 3 and 5;
- 2nd - Within each of these objectives, there are between 3 and 5 measurable results;
- 3rd - These results should carry a score (as a percentage or quantity) to highlight their progress.
An example would be:
1 - Objective (O): Implement business management software in 2021.
Expected results:
KR 1 - Installation across departments: 90% of departments need the management software;
KR 2 - Hold one virtual training session per week, in order to align each department's monitoring strategy;
KR 3 - Train a leader in each department to represent the tool's training team.
See how much simpler it becomes to understand the progress of your goals?
The difference between OKRs and KPIs
At first glance, it may seem that OKRs and KPIs — Key Performance Indicators are the same thing, but although they bear a slight resemblance, they are distinct tools.
While OKRs aim at the systematic advancement of goals by employees and teams, KPIs work like a map that details the gradual progress of an action.
Note that OKRs aim to achieve goals that are set in advance, while KPIs detail what has already been achieved.
These tools do not need to work independently. Quite the opposite: combining both can very well complement a team's work and increase the effectiveness of the project.
However, it is important to stress that the main objective must be kept in sight. Even though the process is quite detailed, the focus on meeting goals should remain the most important aspect of the work.
OKRs in your planning, illustrated
To help you understand more clearly the impact OKRs have inside a company, check out the biggest benefits and challenges of implementing them:
Step by step
Because it establishes parameters to follow, breaking large objectives into small goals, the process can be viewed in different stages. This makes it easier to interpret and also to complete the tasks.
When small tasks are divided among teams, the process becomes faster and more practical, completely avoiding demand overload and ensuring effective results, always on time.
Easy to understand
Building OKRs is not a complex task and can be added to your planning in little time. Even better if tracking is easily accessible to the whole team — for example, on an information board.
Breaking large objectives into small steps brings a better understanding of what is actually being done, and also creates a sense of ownership among the participating teams.
Continuous alignment
OKRs are built in a highly participatory way, which means all teams get equally involved. First to define the goals to be achieved, and then to keep communication flowing between teams, sharing feedback on what has been accomplished and what the next steps should be.
How to implement OKRs
If you have decided that this is the right time to implement OKRs in your company and raise the quality of your processes, here are some tips that will certainly help you with this important task:
- Alignment between teams: First of all, gather the employees from all the teams involved and introduce them to the new methodology. Walk through the entire strategic sequence and, finally, take in their opinions.
- Delegate roles: Choose representatives within the teams who can help you make decisions and follow the progress of activities on site.
- Follow-up: Choose the right cadence to bring the teams together and review what has already been achieved and everything that needs to be adjusted.
- Celebrate the wins: Recognize your teams' achievements. Whenever great milestones are reached, be sure to celebrate and reward your teams.
Professional support
You now have a set of ideas to put into practice and establish an improved goal-tracking routine to maintain a high level of quality in your company.
Keep going on this journey in pursuit of knowledge — the motivation will undoubtedly have a positive effect on your team, and the results will be winning ones.
And be sure to follow the Useall blog to receive corporate insights you can put to work in your business!
Originally published in Portuguese at useall.com.br.