We get to talk to lots of leaders thinking about using OKRs to set goals that align with strategy. There are a few recurring myths that need to get busted when having these conversations. These are my top 5. Would you add any others?
#1 Everyones time is spent on OKRs
OKRs are not there to describe the business-as-usual / business ops / day-today … so not every hour is spend driving OKR progress.
#2 You should use OKRs for performance reviews
See #1 and you will know why, where relevant, for some people OKRs can be part of the narrative of how individuals have helped, for other their contribution was made in other ways.
#3 OKRs vs KPIs
It’s not an ‘OKR vs KPI‘ question, it is how do they get used together question. There’s an overlap and a synergy to be unlocked.
#4 Success is achieving OKR target at 100%
Not true if you have been ambitious and not true if you’ve learned a lot during the process. Thus the need for OKR Grading and retrospectives.
#5 OKRs are hard to get right
They are actually pretty easy and not more complicated that SMART or other frameworks. Commit to the framework, get a few basic learnings and principles locked in, and OKR software like ZOKRI to centralise goal setting and guide best-practices and get going. You will get better and better at goal setting from quarter to quarter.
If you’d like to talk to our team about whether OKRs and ZOKRI are a fit for you get a demo. We can talk you through what a project looks like and how the software help you succeed with OKRs.
