OKR - Objective and Key Result

Intel, Google, Amazon, Uber, Dropbox, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Microsoft, what is one thing that all these companies did? They were and are successful companies. They all used OKRs. Objective and Key Results 

Today I will touch upon the overview of OKR. 

OKR - Specific, strategic systemized tool, to help you accomplish and execute company goals.  This system was pioneered by Andy Grove at Intel. Then it was taken by John Doerr to Google and then it spread across all the Tech Companies in the Silicon Valley and all other companies knowing its potential.  

This is an incredibly powerful tool.  As John Doerr says, ideas are easy, and execution is everything.

Studies conducted by MIT Sloan of business Review state that less than 50% of each layer in the company are aware of the company priorities and take good decisions to focus and spend their time and energy. So, when it comes down to the Team player who executes these strategic priorities, only 13% are aware of what they are working on and how it creates an impact.

In the good old days, we had 3 simple questions

 

1.    Where are we

2.    Where do we want to go?

3.    How will we get there?

But in today’s unpredictable world these old questions are no good. These questions have changed in today's volatile world to

 

1.    Why are we here

2.    What do we want to achieve?

3.    How do we do our business

To build a strategy for a company we simply answer 3 questions - Why /what / How. 

'Why' is generally referred to as the mission statement of our company. Which form the basis /foundation for the other 2 - what and how.

In simple terms, the OKR answers these 2 questions - What and How

‘What’ is O - the Objective - Ambitious, altruistic (beneficent), Audacious.

‘How’ is KR - the Key Results- Dauntless steps /activities taken to achieve the objective.

Everyone in the Org must be able to decide and act independently but still be clearly aligned to the ‘What’.

I am going to walk you through the 7 steps to follow so that you can learn the process and try to implement it on your personal front to start with. When implemented in a company it ensures to execute the company strategy and drive growth.

Know your ‘Why’ - Goals. You should be 100% committed to the goal. Whatever you do you cannot be half-in

After knowing your ‘why’ - Your OKR starts now.

Objective - Now is the time to know your ‘What’. That is your objective can be 2 if needed Primary and Secondary. They should NOT be tied to your Compensation & Benefits.  They should be stretchable at the same time not easily achievable.  Not a Slam dunk.  At the same time not an impossible one too.

2)   Setup Key Results: They need to be specific and measurable too.  When you look at your key results, you should feel the pit in your stomach – feel ‘Oh man how am I /my team going to do that’. This is possible and we need to rethink a little.  That is a good one – which forces you to think more, bigger.

 

3)   Identify Responsible Person - Every key result should have a Person responsible - call it a single throat to choke. Yes, we are in real business.   They take ownership end to end. Period.

 

4)   Team level OKR - Responsible person along with their team come up with their OKRs. Steps 1 to 3 are repeated so they can operate. They are responsible for the Project plan with short- and long-term planning - Weekly/Monthly/Quarterly planning.

 

5)   Resources/Alignment/Buy-In - Once you have team-level OKR, check whether you have all the required resources available to perform. Ensure the team understands the OKR and it is doable. Socialize it in the team and get the buy-in from the team.

 

6)   Gut Check – The person responsible do the gut check to see whether it is achievable with the bandwidth provided and not over committing. Take a call – Are we doing too many things / are we doing the right thing? Larry Page - ‘I would rather have the objective to go to Mars and if we fall short, we will to the moon’.

 

7)   Progress Check - Have a weekly status meeting for all the OKR at various levels. Have RAG report - Red/Amber/Green. Check if everything is OK, and if not what measure to course correct to achieve the objectives. If needed also have a daily check-in by the team too.

 

In the process of reading this ‘Measure What Matters’ by John Doerr. Will deep dive into this process in my upcoming blogs. Also, will share how I apply this OKR process for my core priorities at work and share with you all.