8 ways to improve your OKR Management

Whilst OKRs are clearly a better way to set goals that other simpler goal management frameworks like SMART, they do have a learning overhead and can benefit from a planned and systematic approach to OKR Management.

But before there is a requirement to consider OKR Management there is a need to ensure you’ve created OKRs that when managed will deliver the performance improvements you’re likely to be looking for. Here are three videos we recommend you watch to help.

Tip For Better OKR Management

Best practice goal management is linked with OKR best practices.
So how would you know that you’re managing your OKRs well?

Measuring what matters

Your OKRs will be measuring what matters, which means they should ideally have Key results with meaningful metrics or KPIs.

Hard is the default

It should be safe and normal to set hard goals in your teams, which means fear of failure is not part of your culture.

Aligned

Your OKRs cascade, which means child OKRs are there to support the achievement of the Parent OKRs, and collaboration has happened between teams to ensure that OKRs also horizontally align.

Initiatives are not OKRs

If your OKRs look like tasks or projects they are likely to be Initiatives so don’t get them mixed up.

Weekly check-ins and meetings

You don’t set and forget your OKRs and Initiatives and update the status, progress, confidence and flag what’s holding you back every week so you can improve collaboration, agility and remove issues quickly. You can read more about OKR tracking here.

Ownership and collaboration

OKRs and even individual KR, as well as Initiatives have Owners and Collaborators, which can be individuals or teams. Knowing what you own and what you’re collaborating on and focusing on their achievement is essential.

Single point of truth

If you don’t know or trust the accuracy of Key Result and Initiative progress and confidence you’re going to get back to asking ‘how are you doing?’ and ‘what are you doing?’ If your OKRs are being managed well you know the answers to those questions and ask ‘how can I help?’.

OKR Lead

Especially in early days of using and embedding OKRs, having an internal champion or lead that can act as quality assurance, trainer and engagement police, really helps improve the chances of long-term success.

Introduction to OKRs

Common OKR Mistakes

Planning To Succeed With OKRs

OKR Management System

ZOKRI is OKR software that’s been designed to be an OKR management system that helps you create great OKRs and manage them in a way that aligns with OKR best practices.

It’s common to start with a spreadsheet or if you’re in a team your point solution like Jira, but the issue is that these don’t scale across teams well or improve your chances of success with the framework.

The value of mastering OKRs and managing them well is significant. The issues of failing to embed them are also significant, we strongly advise in taking your time to plan to succeed with OKRs. Get the education and coaching your teams may need at the beginning. Choose the right OKR management system, and you will succeed in making OKRs part of your culture.