OKRs can be applied to managing very different strategic priorities, for example:

• Entering a new country

• Adding a new product lines

• Facilitating a re-org

President John F. Kennedy was visiting NASA headquarters for the first time in 1961. While touring the facility, he introduced himself to a janitor who was mopping the floor and asked him what he did at NASA. "I'm helping put a man on the moon!".

The long-term success of a company relies on every team member clearly being able to understand what matters most. OKRs are part a critical thinking framework and part an ongoing discipline.

OKRs help teams and individuals:

• Manage priorities

• Think about the big pictures

• Fail smart and fail fast

• Where you want to go, meant to move the organization fast toward it

• Objectives are always followed by "as measure by"

Objectives are followed by 3 to 5 Key Results.

A powerful objective must:

• Propel an organization forward

• Communicate what's most important

• Be set quarterly, semi-annually, or annually

President John F. Kennedy was visiting NASA headquarters for the first time in 1961. While touring the facility, he introduced himself to a janitor who was mopping the floor and asked him what he did at NASA. “I'm helping put a man on the moon!

To write a powerful objective, start with a Problem statement

Ask:

• What do I want to change?
• What is holding us back in creating our ideal scenario?

At this stage, it's helpful to gather as many problems as possible, no matter how small.

Next, problems should be prioritized, good questions to ask are:

• What are the things we can't afford to lose sight of?
• What challenges absolutely must get solved immediately?

A problem worth solving and a clearly valuable objective, that all functions and departments wants to solve and know why it matters.

Key

• Outcomes, not tasks
• Three-to-five for objectives
• They are not business as usual (attend meetings!)

Clear

• Specific
• Avoid jargon
• High-school english

Measurable

• Objectives, not subjective

Achievable

• Difficult, not impossible.

Achieving 70% is a great success. There is research people achieve more when the goal-post is set high. The key result are the goal post and finish line, not the plan to get there.?

They often serve as the to-do list and are basically a project plan.

Gets easier as you do it again and again!

Bringing the team in as soon as possible; making powerful OKRs required a hybrid both top-down and bottom-up thinking

• Objectives are usually set by leadership
• Key Results are instead defined by subject matter experts

While this approach can be used at the team level, let's use an example for a company OKR.

This is usually done by a leader or the executive group.

The first step is to set a goal that can focus an organization or team in one direction.

An (executive) sponsor is usually assigned to each OKR; they are the people that will communicate what the objective is about and answer questions.

This usually happens during a live Q & A meeting, which helps all people involved get on the same page.

In this case the team or SMEs define the Key Results that will contribute to achieving the objective.

This step is what makes it non top-down approach, but a mix of top-down and bottom-up

Each KR has a responsible owner, chosen amongst the people that are the most likely to be able to influence the objective.

Who (or what group) will shepherd the key result through

Tasks involved, when they need to be completed

Who will need to be involved for the tasks to be done

Who will engage leadership when the KR or objective is at risk

For these 5 steps to work, it's essential to have a dedicated leader connect the dot, understand and advocate for the bigger picture

OKRs are about progress, not perfection - having people in a room discussing, and advocating for what matters for them is already valuable.

Strategy is great, but strategy without a process, is little more than a wishlist

Number 1 mistake in managing OKRs: set it and forget it

Make sure to review OKRs - Monthly, quarterly.

Most success is 6 months OKRs, with bi-monthly check-ins; monthly check-in work well to manage the OKRs on a monthly basis.

Prefer more frequently in the beginning.

This will ensure everybody is able to get the latest on the OKRs, and will make reporting painless.

It's critical to assign a project manager to partner with the exec leader.

The PM is responsible for managing the KR from the single source of truth, which defines the tactics, tracking the task list, communicating what work is ongoing and complete and keeping the KR up to date.

Project Manager should start every meeting with a review of the OKR source of truth. If you have a weekly meeting, the #1 agenda should be reviewing the OKRs.

Milestones (intermediate KR) are made by the KR owner, should be pre-determined before the start of the period and documented in the tactical plan.

Example: If KR is achieve $120,000 in sales in Q1, you could monthly targets to achieve $40,000 sales each month.

While reporting and communication benefit from having structure at the top, but don't overdo it.

Most OKRs implementation see benefit in letting organizations define the mechanisms and systems that works for them.

That way you'll have an engaged organization that wants to deliver on the shared objectives.

Adaptability and customization to match the culture and maturity of the organization is key

Start Small Begin with a small pilot and try it for a few quarters. It helps to identitly early OKR Champions to help you promote the value of OKRs to the rest of the organization.

Progress > perfection Build time in your process to iterate on your OKR implementation strategy as you learn what works and what doesn't.

This will help collect feedback and improve the OKR implementation over time

Centralized governance Ownership of the OKR implementation within a single corporate team with no specific agenda will help avoid resistance.

Shared model Develop a common framework for priorities, language

Consistency Dedicated OKR project manager should be responsible for connecting the dots between the top vision and down progress.

Exec comms Executive should tie every topic back to company OKRs, replaying the importance of OKRs at every opportunity, like Town Hall meetings and leadership reviews.

You'll know you're successful when:

Annual cadence Leadership and teams meet on a cadence to work out together their OKRs. Success at this level is measured by how much this process improves over time: is it faster? does it product stronger OKRs?

Tied to strategy OKRs are strongly connected to the company long-term strategy, a living document that should explain your mission, what the industry and market trends are, and how your business will evolve.

Single source of truth There is an easy to browse and understand location where OKRs, progress and status, are visible at a glance. A simple Google Sheet could do the trick; some add special integrations with other tools (e.g., Slack).

Employee engagement Periodic surveys of employees also include OKRs adoption awareness, understanding and engagement. This helps embed OKRs in the company culture; these questions also reinforce the progress is better than perfect.

Not just business results, but also a company that's smarter, stronger, faster

OKRs have beneficial impact on a company culture, since employees:

• Know their input matters, as they influence what Objectives and Key Results are chosen

• Clearly see how their day to day job contributes to the long term company vision.

• Can keep themselves and others accountable to prioritize correctly (does this really matter?) and keep on track (will we achieve the objective?)

• OKR training should be integrated in all HR programs, including manager training, new-hire training & leadership programs

• Do you have training? Have your teams the chance to practice? Do you offer resource to set your team for success?

OKRs can also be used by employees to quickly convey to their manager:

• What they are working on

• Progress to celebrate

• Risks to success

• How the manager can support them