OKR (OBJECTIVES AND KEY RESULTS)

Objectives & Key Results (OKRs) A Framework To Execute Strategy & Optimize Growth

What Is An OKR?

OKR stands for Objective and Key Results. It is an outcome-focused goal-setting framework that Intel and Google first used, and now has overtaken methods like SMART goals in popularity.

The Objective is a short statement describing the goal you want to achieve in usually a quarter (90 days) or a year, and Key Results (usually 1 to 3) describe how you will measure the Objective’s success. The basic idea is that you must achieve all of the Key Results to achieve your Objective.

There are many ways companies choose to use OKRs. I would like to show you the one that is most likely to produce the changes in performance and behaviour you are seeking.

Written by Matt Roberts | Co-Founder of ZOKRI

OKRs Are Bets

A bet, in the context of OKRs, is a commitment of our most valuable resources—time, attention, focus, energy, and money—towards achieving a specific, high-impact objective. It’s a calculated risk that acknowledges the uncertainty inherent in pursuing ambitious goals while providing a framework to manage that uncertainty.

Unlike traditional gambling, where outcomes are left to chance, these bets are carefully crafted hypotheses about what will drive the most significant impact, backed by data and insight.

So OKRs represent a deliberate choice to prioritize certain initiatives over others, focusing on the wildly important rather than trying to do everything. By framing OKRs as bets, the intention is to create a sense of urgency, encourage bold thinking, and foster a culture of continuous learning and adaptation.

The most significant rewards come not from playing it safe but from making fewer, bigger bets on the opportunities that truly matter.

Your Collective Compass & Map Coordinates

At their core, OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) are simply goals. They describe a future state that is desirable for you to achieve. When you set OKRs, you say, “This is where we want to be, and this is how we’ll know we’ve gotten there.”

By setting OKRs, you create a roadmap to achieve great things together. You are not just hoping for a better future but actively building it.

As you embark on your OKR journey, remember that these aren’t just checkboxes to tick off. They’re powerful tools for transforming aspirations into achievements, for turning the abstract into the concrete.

I’d like to ask that you embrace them not as a bureaucratic exercise but as a way of sharing your ideas on how we can achieve our vision, serve our customers, grow, and share success.

OKR Need Guiding Principles

To set and achieve your OKRs, you need to align on how you will all act and behave from quarter to quarter. When we train you, we suggest a set of guiding principles that are proven to correlate with OKR progress and achievement. Each principle is a stepping stone towards excellence. By embracing them you’re helping to reshape your entire organization. For example, a good principle is:

Guiding Principle Example: Everyone Rows In The Same Direction

At the heart of your team culture lies psychological safety. This concept, pioneered by Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson, refers to a shared belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking.

In a psychologically safe environment, team members feel comfortable expressing their thoughts, asking questions, admitting mistakes, and proposing new ideas without fear of negative consequences.

OKRs Are Part Of A Logical Threaded Narrative

OKRs are how you will execute your strategy. The best OKRs have outcomes as Key Results. The best outcomes are leading indicators, often originating from a Data Model. Data models use tools like KPI/metrics trees to understand how more leading metrics and levers influence lagging KPIs.

We can include creating a Data Model in any OKR training engagement. If you choose to use our software, we can also build and manage the model there, integrating it with tools and spreadsheets for easy updating.

How To Start Using Objectives & Key Results (OKRs)

This is how we’d suggest you initially start to use OKRs:

OKR Setting Cycles / Cadence

To help you achieve your Mission and Strategy, you can set goals at a company and team level at the following cadence:

LEVEL & FREQUENCY

Company Strategy and related KPI/Metrics – Annual
Strategic Cross-functional OKRs – Quarterly with potential for roll-over
BAU Optimization OKRs – Quarterly where required

Strategic Cross-functional OKRs & Org. Chart Department/Team OKRs

Strategic Cross-functional OKRs vs Business-as-Usual

These are the few OKRs deemed vital to progressing on to execute your strategy, and as such, they will be resourced by dedicated/near-dedicated cross-functional teams.

Key characteristics of Strategic Cross-functional OKRs:
Focus on a few critical strategic objectives where success is imperative.
Time-bound (typically quarterly).
Drive innovation and significant improvement.
Can be resourced for success by your own department or team, or with minimal support of other teams.
Not used for tracking routine operations

Business-as-Usual & Performance Measurement

Business-as-usual (BAU) refers to a team’s core, day-to-day operations and responsibilities, essential for maintaining current performance levels and delivering expected outputs. These routine activities keep the business running smoothly and form the foundation of a team’s work.

Key characteristics of BAU:

Ongoing and repetitive tasks.
Maintains current performance levels.
Focuses on operational efficiency.
Typically measured by KPIs on a team’s scorecard.
Does not necessarily lead to significant growth or transformation.

BAU Measurement: KPI/Metrics Scorecard

Each team in you organization should have a KPI/metrics scorecard that tracks team health and performance. This scorecard:

Contains key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics specific to the team’s function.
Provides a snapshot of the team’s operational effectiveness.
Is regularly updated and reviewed.
Helps identify areas for continuous improvement within BAU activities.

BAU Optimization OKRs: Goals For Transformative Change

In contrast to BAU measurement via KPI/Metrics, BAU Optimization Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) are used for setting ambitious, transformative goals that drive significant change and progress beyond maintaining current operations.

Key characteristics of BAU Optimization OKRs:

Not used for tracking routine operations.
Focus on breakthrough objectives.
Require innovation and significant improvement.
Can be resourced for success by a department or team, or with minimal support of other teams.
Time-bound (typically quarterly) but could roll over to another quarter.

Differentiating BAU from OKRs

Purpose

BAU: Maintain and optimize current operations.
OKRs: Drive transformative change and significant progress

Timeframe

BAU: Ongoing, continuous.
OKRs: Time-bound, typically quarterly.

Scope

BAU: Routine, expected activities.
OKRs: Ambitious calculated risks/bets.

Measurement

BAU: Tracked via KPI/metrics scorecard.
OKRs: Measured by specific Key Results.

Impact

BAU: Maintains current performance.
OKRs: Aims for step-change improvements.

Resource allocation

BAU: Ongoing resource allocation.
OKRs: Often require dedicated resources and focus.

Risk level

BAU: Generally low-risk, established processes.
OKRs: Higher risk.

The Basics Of Writing OKRs

Write An Objective

A clearly defined statement of what you aim to achieve.

Encapsulates both ambition and direction.
It should be concise yet inspiring.
Specific enough to provide clear guidance yet broad enough to encourage innovative approaches.

Support your objective with a longer written narrative that explains your belief or hypothesis, aka experiment.

Describe why we are choosing this objective for the next period
Explain how the objective connects to the strategy and/or and another OKR
State the hypothesis that this objective represents
What are the beliefs?
What are the guardrails – the non-negotiable boundaries within which you must operate to prevent derailment. E.g. “Must comply with data privacy regulations.”
Where do you have room to manoeuvre and experiment to navigate complex challenges? E.g. “Open to adjusting feature set based on user feedback.”

Writing Key Results

Key Results are a collection of measures and targets that, if met or exceeded, would mean that the Objective has been reached. Together, they tell a measurable ‘story’ of the success of your objective.

Key Results are how you will know you are progressing towards your objective.
Can be influenced by a team of people
Change frequently enough to be tracked week-to-week
Can be moved during the OKR cycle

Things to ensure you also do are:

Explain how each Key Result connects to the objective and why we have chosen it.
Explain the hypothesis that underpins each Key Result.
What would represent a significant success?
What would represent a failure?
What might make us pivot?

Updating Progress & Check-in Meetings

OKRs, when chosen well and resourced for success, will be dynamic. Week-to-week changes in progress, confidence levels, plans, issues and opportunities will happen naturally. If there’s nothing to update or talk about, you’ve probably got a problem.

Beyond the initial OKR setting training and facilitation we do, our work shadowing and mentoring OKR leads and teams through these early check-ins is where we can add a lot of value. If you have not lead an OKR before, you will find that it’s new and nuanced. Being trained and coached is always welcomed.

Are You Ready To Use OKRs?

OKRs are more than just another goal-setting framework. They’re a transformative approach to driving progress and innovation. Born in the halls of tech giants like Intel and Google, OKRs have now spread across industries, igniting a revolution in how we think about and achieve our most ambitious goals.

At its core, an OKR consists of an Objective – a bold, inspiring statement of what you want to achieve – and Key Results, the measurable milestones defining success. But OKRs are so much more than just objectives and metrics. They’re a mindset, culture, and way of thinking that can revolutionize your organisation’s operations.

Think of OKRs as strategic bets. They’re not about playing it safe or maintaining the status quo. They’re about making calculated risks, backed by data and insight, on the opportunities that truly matter. You create a sense of urgency and excitement by framing your goals as bets. You encourage bold thinking and foster a culture of continuous learning and adaptation.

Imagine the energy in your organization when teams are no longer afraid to think big, when they’re empowered to take smart risks and learn from both successes and failures. This is the power of OKRs – they transform goal-setting from a bureaucratic exercise into an inspiring journey of growth and achievement.

But OKRs aren’t just about setting ambitious goals. They’re about aligning your entire organization towards a shared vision. They serve as a collective compass, guiding everyone from the C-suite to the front lines towards the same north star. With OKRs, you’re not just hoping for a better future – you’re actively building it, together.

To truly harness the power of OKRs, organizations need to embrace a set of guiding principles. These principles aren’t just rules to follow – they’re the foundation of a high-performing culture. Take the principle of “Everyone Rows in the Same Direction.” This isn’t just about alignment – it’s about creating an environment of psychological safety where every team member feels empowered to contribute their best ideas, voice their concerns, and take smart risks.

OKRs are most powerful when they’re part of a larger strategic narrative. They’re not isolated goals – they’re the building blocks of your organization’s future. By tying OKRs directly to your strategy, you create a clear line of sight from high-level vision to day-to-day execution. This connection gives meaning to every task, every project, every initiative.

One of the most powerful aspects of OKRs is their ability to balance ambition with focus. By distinguishing between strategic, transformative OKRs and business-as-usual activities, organizations can ensure they’re not just maintaining the status quo, but driving real, meaningful change. Strategic Cross-functional OKRs push the boundaries of what’s possible, while BAU Optimization OKRs ensure that even routine operations are continuously improving.

Implementing OKRs is a journey of transformation. It’s about changing not just what you do but how you think. It’s about fostering a culture of ambition, focus, and continuous improvement. It’s about empowering every member of your organization to contribute to something greater than themselves.

As you embark on your OKR journey, remember that it’s not about perfection – it’s about progress. It’s about learning, adapting, and growing together. It’s about daring to dream big, and then turning those dreams into reality.

OKRs have the power to transform your organization. They can align your teams, focus your efforts, and drive unprecedented levels of achievement. But more than that, they can change how your people think, work, and collaborate. They can unleash creativity, foster innovation, and create a culture of excellence.

Are you ready to revolutionize how your organization sets and achieves goals? Are you ready to embark on a journey of transformation? If so, OKRs might just be the key to unlocking your organization’s full potential. The future is waiting. Let’s build it together, one ambitious objective at a time.