Today, managers of organizations and companies take help from different methods to guide their subordinates. One of these methods is using the okr index. If you are wondering what okr is and its benefits, follow the how-to until the end of this article. Next, we explain everything you need to know about okr and how to write it.
What is okr?
Before answering this question, we need to know what okr stands for. This term is an abbreviation of “Objectives and Key Results.” This method of goal setting helps teams and project members align their complex and challenging goals with measurable results. The OKR index is a way to measure progress, create coordination, and encourage participation to achieve quantifiable goals.
It doesn’t matter if you are a manager of a large office or a software engineer and similar jobs; OKRs will help you define a framework for your business and achieve your meaningful goals.
The okr index is even used in determining life goals and helps you prioritize different things and strive to achieve essential goals.
What are the main components of okr?
OKRs usually have a primary goal and 3 to 5 key results, which we will explain below.
1. Key objective
The main goal is what you need to achieve, nothing more and nothing less. OKR goals are essential, tangible, actionable, and ideally inspirational. If adequately designed and implemented, this goal will save you from confusion and inefficiency. The purpose of the OKR indicator should be challenging and, at the same time, aligned with the main goals of the company or organization.
2. Results
The second part of the OKR index is related to essential and critical results. Critical results are criteria for measuring your progress toward achieving the primary goal. Effective and efficient okr has specific, time-bound, and realistic results. Either you get these results, or you don’t. There is no middle ground. Regular reviews are conducted at the end of the designated time intervals, and critical outcomes are rated completed or not.
History of okr
The okr index is a more advanced form of the “Management by Objectives” (MBO) model developed by Peter Drucker, a great management theorist. In 1968, Intel founder Andrew Grove modified this model to establish the OKR theory. The original name of the model that Grove created was “iMBOs,” meaning “Intel Management by Objectives.”
What we know today as okr was invented by John Doerr (one of the founders of Google). He, a consultant in the first days of Google’s establishment, introduced this method to other Google founders, such as Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Marissa Mayer, Susan Wojcicki, and Salar Kamangar. Teaching okr to the Google board had a good result. They used this method to determine their strategy and achieve their goals.
What are okr samples?
OKRs are among the most straightforward tools used in almost every business. Implementing okr starts with writing a clear, objective statement that is well-timed. After that, you must decide on the key results you want to achieve.
For example, in the marketing industry, you can set an okr to inform about the target brand in 1402. The key results of this goal can be the following:
- Getting at least 10,000 new followers on Instagram;
- cooperation with 15 influencers ;
- 3% increase in conversion rate.
okr is also used in the hotel industry. For example, you can set your primary goal to reduce the waiting time of hotel guests to 15 minutes and increase their satisfaction. Its key results can be the following:
- Implementation of an online waiting system;
- Immediate provision of waiting time information to customers;
- Increasing the speed of service delivery to reduce the average waiting time.
In the human resources department of companies and organizations, OKR’s goal may be to create a better recruitment system within six months with such results:
- Survey all new employees about their hiring experience;
- Researching the hiring process of at least 3 of the company’s essential competitors;
- Meeting with managers of different departments and receiving feedback about the company’s hiring process.
Types of okr
With the help of okr, organizations and companies can define and achieve immediate goals while preparing to face the challenges ahead. This management framework is one of the most reliable and effective ways to determine business goals and measure progress. This index is divided into three general categories based on its importance.
1. Committed or binding okr
These OKRs have realistic and achievable results. This management framework includes the most important goals of the company or organization. All the members of the company and the board of directors agree to achieve these goals, and the available resources are used to achieve them.
2. Ideal okr
Aspirational OKRs have ambitious goals that you are unlikely to achieve. So far, no one has reached the purposes of this okr, and this issue makes it difficult to achieve. However, nothing is impossible. It may take more time to achieve the goals of this okr, but it makes the interaction between employees and their efforts for a better tomorrow possible.
3. Educational okr
This type of okr is used when learning new things is the most important result for the company or organization. If a team doesn’t know how to proceed, a training okr can help. To write this type of okr, you must answer one crucial question: “What is the most important thing you want to learn in the next 90 days?” The key results of this framework can be a mandatory or other aspirational OKR.
What are the benefits of okr?
John Doerr, author of the OKR book Measuring What Matters, outlined the benefits of OKRs in a 2018 interview with the Harvard Business Journal. According to him, this method has five critical advantages and helps businesses achieve their essential goals by clearly defining goals, following them, and measuring the results obtained.
1. Increasing focus on set goals
According to Doerr, author of the okr book, you should not sit for more than seven hours. 3 to 4 okr is suitable for any company or organization. Using this small number increases the focus on the set goals. When the number of goals is less, it will be easier to prioritize things, make decisions to achieve the more important goals and stick to the specified timeline.
2. Coordination between different departments
Many companies have started writing OKRs to coordinate their various departments. By applying this method, everyone invests in the set vision and the results. In fact, instead of each part of the company working in separate areas or different directions, everyone moves more cohesively towards the main goals. In this situation, the probability of the company’s success increases.
3. Create a commitment
Creating a coordinated and focused framework requires a commitment from higher-ups in the company. There must be accountability and transparency for eachigher-upsy’s higher progress, find out essential milestones, and meet expectations. The existence of a correct okr is necessary for this issue.
4. Better follow up
Measuring OKRs with the help of criteria defined in their key results is a simple task. Holding regular weekly meetings to check progress and resolve any possible problems helps to coordinate more among different departments of the company.
5. More effort
The purpose of OKRs, especially those with stretch goals, is for businesses to set challenging goals that are unlikely to be met. In this case, there is nothing wrong with not reaching the set goals. Companies must continue the previous results and improve day by day.
How to write okr?
One of the features that make okr attractive and effective is that it has a lot of flexibility. This framework does not result from the company’s board meetings behind closed doors; all employees can comment on the goals and methods to achieve them. Therefore, with the success of okr, all the company’s employees have succeeded. To write an effective OKR, consider the six essential points discussed below.
1. Understand the company’s vision
Writing the best okr is possible when you thoroughly understand the company’s vision document. When you know the significant and critical goals of the company, you can set smaller executive tasks to achieve them.
2. Choose the right tools
Consider writing an OKR as a project that requires the right tools to brainstorm, monitor progress, and achieve results. These tools may be whiteboards, target libraries, management solutions, and project management applications.
3. Get help from all team members
Okr should not be written by one person or group outside the team because all the framework components must fit together. As a result, ask all members to participate in writing the okr so that everyone is aligned with it and steps in the same direction.
4. First, write down your goals
When writing an okr, you might be tempted to write critical results initially. It is usually easier to write these results, but it is impossible to determine a practical framework without specifying the goal.
Write down your goals in one or more sentences with brief explanations. These goals should be challenging to push the company forward.
5. Determine key outcomes
Key results are measures that help measure your progress. So, set measurable results that are relevant to the goal.
6. Initiatives are also important
When writing okr, also dedicate a section to initiatives. These initiatives may show up along the way. For example, it may be that the best thing to do is for the team to work remotely, and this idea will come to your mind when something happens along the way.
you say
OKRs are practical management tools. Writing these general frameworks is not only helpful in running companies, but it can also help you achieve your personal life goals. A good okr shows you the right path and makes measuring progress easier. With such a framework, you can evaluate and try to correct your shortcomings.
What other issues do you think okr is used for? Have you ever used this management method?
