OKR – Objective

We saw that OKR Objective Key Results are a great way to set a company’s goals and track or monitor a company or team’s progress.  OKR - Specific, strategic systemized tool. It was pioneered by Andy Grove at Intel. Then it was taken by John Doerr to Google and then it spread across all the companies knowing its potential

 Using OKR helps us to

• Be creative and focused.
• Work together
• Enjoy process 

There are 3 layers in OKR – Mission / Objective / Key Results - which answer to Why / What / How.  We already covered an overview of OKR in my prior blog. Today I will focus on the Objective which is the smart layer. Objectives or goals are like the ‘North Star’ – you need to identify and stay focused on this.

 Before writing the OKR, you need a good understanding of what you want to accomplish. First focus on your objective.

 Ask these questions

• What are our current challenges ahead / how do we solve them?
• What is stopping us / how do we overcome it?
• What should we change to have the results that we want?
• What can we achieve in this month/quarter? 

It needs to

• Help achieve company goals.
• Inspiring
• Move the company forward
• It is time-bound. 

Objective – as said earlier it is your answer to your ‘What’, what deliverable/impact/outcomes we have for our business. It should be ambitious and give everyone in the company - the required direction.

It needs to be measurable, it should be ‘top focus’ too.

The words used in the Objective should be Specific /concrete - No fluffy/hazy bunch of words. Yes, it is either Black/white and not grey.  This helps to emphasize solidly what outcome we are delivering.  First, write down the objective as descriptive as possible. Once you are clear then break that down into short inspirational bullet points.

 

1. Objectives should be inspirational and easy to remember – if the objective is not known and not easy to remember, it will hardly be implemented.  When writing the bullet points start with the action word Verb – Increase /create / improve / maximize /build / grow /leverage. It is human psychology to aspire for growth, hence frame the objective in Positive language/tone

Ex. Enables all teammates to achieve their fullest potential

     Maximize our ability to grow by optimizing utilization.

 

2. Objectives should be qualitative - It should be of high quality and excellence. There should not be any numbers. If numbers appear, then it is no longer an objective, it becomes a key result.  Numbers can appear, provided it is inspirational

Ex. Become a #1 company in NJ.

The Customer Experience team operates at its best

 

3. Objectives are achievable in a timeframe.

As said it should have the action word and be time-bound.

Ex. Improve efficiency with a data-driven approach by Quarter 1

Grow by improving our win rate by the end of Q2

 

4. Objectives should provide business value

The objective should focus on

· problem resolution

· areas to improve

· take new opportunities.

It should bring positive business value.

Ex. Learning is our passion and priority

Be the architects of our future

 Objectives

• Should not be easy
• Should not be project/task / sub-task.
• They are not your business, as usual, BAU targets.

We just saw the importance of the Objective, for the OKR. 

The next blog will focus on Key Results.

 Hope this was useful. Thank you.