When it comes to setting goals for your team, a wealth of advice is available, offering various approaches to accomplish this significant task. In this article, we break down what OKRs are, discuss the benefits of using them for setting and achieving goals, and provide tips for writing and tracking them.
OKRs Meaning
OKRs stand for Objectives and Key Results. It is a method for setting shared goals for a team and includes a framework for measuring progress towards meeting them.
- ‘Objectives’ are the goals. These are usually ambitious but also realistic and qualitative. Objectives should inspire and motivate the team.
- ‘Key results’ are the milestones that ensure the company, team, or individual will achieve their goals. Key results should track progress, be time-bound, specific, and measurable.
Companies use OKRs to establish publicly what a team is going to work on and how they will achieve it. OKRs create alignment within teams, encourage engagement and measure progress.
What is the Difference Between OKRs and KPIs?
While both OKRs and KPIs are performance measurement tools, they serve different purposes. OKRs are usually more strategic, more challenging, and may be measured less frequently, whereas KPIs are more operational, easier to meet, and tracked regularly.
| OKRs | KPIs | |
| Meaning | Objectives & Key Results | Key Performance Indicators |
| Focus | Growth and change | Operational health and efficiency |
| Type of goals | Stretch – ambitious and challenging | Targets – met consistently |
| Structure | One objective and one to five key results | Standalone key metrics |
| Timeframe | Often quarterly, twice yearly or annually | Often monthly, or even daily or weekly |
| Examples | Improve customer experience (objective) through reducing customer response time by a specific period and increasing customer satisfaction by a particular percentage point (key results) | Maintain customer response time within a specific period |
Benefits of OKRs
There are several benefits to using OKRs, whether you are goal-setting for yourself, a team or a whole organisation:
Alignment
Having a clear strategic objective and a straightforward way to measure progress ensures teams are working towards a common goal. Sharing a goal is motivating, encourages collaboration and engagement, and improves productivity.
Focus
OKRs support teams in prioritising their work to deliver the main objective, encouraging individuals to do their best work to achieve the expectations set for them through the measurable key results.
Accountability
Through tracking key results, OKRs ensure that everyone is clear on who is responsible for which area in terms of achieving the set goals. As a result, individuals take greater ownership of their role and are more engaged in meeting the expectations required.
Motivation
OKRs should be stretch goals, making them more challenging for teams to achieve. With the proper support and planning (delivered through the key results), these ambitious goals can be motivating for teams and boost creativity, performance and results.
OKRs Examples
Some examples of OKRs for growth include:
Marketing Team
Objective: increase the visibility of the brand within six months
Key results:
- KR1 Grow followers by 15%
- KR2 Start a monthly newsletter for current and potential customers by next quarter
- KR3 Deliver one media campaign that shows a measurable shift in recognition rates
Product Team
Objective: deliver a better customer experience
Key results:
- KR1 Implement a feedback system by Q3
- KR2 Identify the issues impacting the customer experience
- KR3 Create a plan for resolving these issues
- KR4 Introduce a new training programme for employees working with customers
HR Team
Objective: increase employee engagement by 15% in six months
Key results:
- KR1 Increase participation rates in annual engagement survey
- KR2 Introduce a new employee recognition programme
Think about creating a chart or using an OKR template to keep track of all your company wide goals for the quarter/year. That way you can refer back to it when prioritizing tasks, delegating assignments or monitoring progress.
How do you Write an OKR
OKRs need to be clear, ambitious and measurable. To start, you need to write a realistic objective and follow it up with key results that are easy to measure and track. Here are some quick tips for writing OKRs that will support success in your business:
- Create one inspiring, concise, and straightforward goal that answers the question: What do we want to achieve, and by when? This is your objective. It needs to stretch the team but not overwhelm them.
- Brainstorm some possible key results you can use for the framework. Key results need to answer the question: How will we know we’re achieving the goal we’ve set?
- Decide on between one and five key results that will best help you to track progress towards the goal. These need to be measurable, time-specific and focus on outcomes, not actions.
- Build in review periods so you can regularly communicate achievements, identify challenges, and determine where change or a different approach is required to keep things on track.
Writing OKRs with Factorial
Factorial’s business management system provides essential support for writing and managing OKRs because it can:
- Track the goals.
- Provide historical performance data to determine appropriate objectives.
- Supply templates and guidance based on best practice.
- Connect different teams so the relevant people can see, understand and contribute to the key results as necessary.
- Schedule regular check-ins and ensure that performance reviews are taking place, linking them to the OKRs.
- Tie-in learning and development programmes with the OKRs.
