The problem: Set and Forget
One company we worked with had gone through the effort of creating top level OKRs, reflecting the company priorities for the year as set out in the yearly business plan. But these OKRs were never talked about or even presented to the rest of the company. As far as we know, the OKRs were hidden in the background documentation of the business plan, never to be looked upon.
When the OKR process becomes so heavy and time-consuming that everyone is simply relieved to be finished and then moves on, all that effort ends up wasted.
In our experience, this isn’t unusual. Many of the organisations we meet struggle with their OKRs, and most often the struggle is about actually using them and making them count in the daily business.
OKRs aren’t one-hit wonders. You can’t just create them and then forget about them. For OKRs to effectively guide an organisation in prioritizing what’s most important, you need to be checking in on them regularly. This is work that requires some tenacity and grit.
Why doing it once isn’t enough
You have heard it before, countless times. The world is changing, and change will never be as slow again as it is today. And it is a well established fact that for most businesses, relying on a yearly plan won’t suffice. Things will happen, internally or externally, that will require some degree of changing focus and thus replanning. If it is not covid, tariffs or wars, it might be the rise of AI or competitors popping up seemingly out of nowhere, as technology often allows new businesses to challenge from whatever garage anywhere.
Give the teams well crafted OKRs and let them backbrief how they are going to tackle them.
To handle this, navigate this complexity, organisations need to be able to shift focus and guide efforts in new directions. Perhaps not make a total pivot, but to grab new opportunities or to mitigate risks. One way of doing this is of course by telling the teams what to do. But that leads to leadership being bogged down in implementation and requirements details and becoming more and more micro-managing. We know that giving teams a higher degree of autonomy, giving them problems to solve, leads to more motivated teams and better solutions. OKRs are a good way to formulate those problems and/or opportunities. Give the teams well crafted OKRs and let them backbrief how they are going to tackle them.
OKRs to help navigate the complexity
In order to know where you are going, you need to check-in on where you are. In the simplest form, the more often you check-in, the quicker you can change direction. A year consists of four quarters. A quarter consists of approximately six 2-week sprints, minus holidays, vacations etc. Checking in on where you are going 20-24 times per year shouldn’t have to be such a big deal.
The more often you check-in, the quicker you can change direction.
The direction change does not necessarily have to be external-facing, i.e. change the offering to your customers. It can be about changing what you build, how you build it, or perhaps changing from developing a certain feature to another. So changing direction has both an external and internal aspect.
How to check-in on your OKRs
There is not one right way to check in on your OKRs, but a couple of things are central.
- Where are we now
- Do we believe that we are on track to achieve what we set out to achieve?
- If not, what can we do to remedy that
The check-in is a moment of alignment, not just accounting.
When you check in on your OKRs, it is actually the Key Results you are checking. You’re not just updating a number, you’re reflecting on progress, surfacing obstacles, and deciding whether to course-correct. The check-in is a moment of alignment, not just accounting.
The Key Results are supposed to be measurable (or they are not Key Results). In the picture below is the format of weekly check-ins from Felipe Castro and his free PDF “Beginner’s Guide to OKRs”.
You need data
In order to know where you are, you need data. Without data you are really flying blind. Even a little data is better than none.
Without data, you're really flying blind
If you have formulated your OKRs properly, the Key Results will indicate what to measure. Consider the following example OKR;
Objective: Make the company a desirable place to work
- Key Result 1: Employee Net Promoter (eNPS) Score improved from 6 to over 8
- Key Result 2: Increase our Glassdoor Culture & Values rating from 3 to 4+
In the first Key Result you need to measure the employee Net Promoter Score. In the second it is the Glassdoor Culture & Values rating. Quite simple when the Key Results are nicely formulated.
You need grit
Many companies we meet do not collect data or consider what to measure. Then, the first activity to do is just to start figuring out how to do that.
If you don’t have any data, the check-in meetings will feel useless, but they are not! By still conducting them, you send several important messages;
- Just because it is hard we will not stop
- It is important to us to know where we are heading, so we will keep at it until we do
New habits take stamina, especially building strategy into daily work.
Summary
OKRs aren't just a quarterly checkbox, they are there to guide you. And if you don’t check in how you are doing, you’re not using your guidance system. Without data, you are guessing and without grit, you will give up too early.
As we are heading into summer, now is the perfect time to make your OKRs part of your rhythm, and start with a check-in after the vacations.