© ZOKRI 2023 All rights reserved | Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | GDPR
The 4 Types Of OKR Employees Need To Know
OKRs like all types of goals are there to focus our efforts and shape our priorities. Goal setting is a business critical process that is usually done in annual and quarterly OKR cycles.
It’s ‘business critical’ because imagine if we did not have a way of focusing our efforts and shaping our priorities, or keeping score on how we are doing as a company, a team or individuals.
What is an OKR? An OKR is a specific goal format that requires you to describe your Objective and how you propose to measure the success of that Objective using what are known as Key Results. You typically see two or three Key Results per OKR – any more than that is usually the answer to why OKR fail.
There are 4 types of OKRs or goals that impact employees:
Company OKRs
Company OKRs vary from company to company. We find there are three common types:
- Strategic Intent OKR - which is usually about increasing revenue and profits. This is often the annual Company OKR at the top of the hierarchy.
- Strategic OKRs - strategic goals linked to strategy which often means Strategic Pillars. This level of Company OKRs is usually annual sits under the Strategic Intent OKR.
- Business-as-Usual Optimization OKRs - if the strategic pillars have not provided a place for teams to align improvements in business-as-usual systems and processes, or develop or acquire important new skills, competencies or capabilities, you can create an OKR for teams to align that intent with.
Team OKRs
There are two types of team:
- The traditional org. chart team like Marketing, which often have sub-teams like Social Media.
- Cross-functional or Project Teams - which are created to deliver a specific OKR or Strategic Project.
Team Objectives have an Owner, although Key Result ownership might be shared amongst other people.
Initiatives that are helping to progress the OKR are often owned by a range of people from the team. And even if you don’t own anything, you should always be aware of your Team OKRs and Initiatives as you may be able to support them in some way.
Individual OKRs
Individual OKR are OKRs that only you will be working on achieving. A sales representative is a good example of an Individual OKR. Like Company and Team OKRs, Individual OKRs are usually visible to others in the organization, building trust and ensuring support can be offered where needed by a wider group of people.
Personal OKRs (Developmental OKRs)
Personal OKRs have a limited audience, the owner and usually a manager and HR. These OKRs are usually either performance based or developmental.
OKR and ZOKRI
ZOKRI allows you to create OKR cycles easily, with the different types being clearly distinguable.
Type
Typical Frequency
Strategic Intent OKR
Annually
Company Strategic OKRs
Annually
Supporting Strategic OKRs
Quarterly
BAU Optimization OKRs
Quarterly
Cross-Functional OKRs
Quarterly When Needed
Personal OKRs
Quarterly
There’s no right way to align OKRs, but differentiating what is strategic from BAU optimization is really useful.
In ZOKRI, OKRs are included in OKR best-practices like check-ins, meetings and retrospectives within the software platform. We also have many preset OKR examples to work from or help inspire writing your own.
Step-Change
Strategy, Goal & Culture Management eBook
A practical guide for C-Levels to optimize strategy, OKRs, people and company culture to create a step-change in performance.
Company
Unlock your company’s true potential with ZOKRI
