One of the most important skills that a modern leader can possess is the ability to align their entire workforce to the big vision of the company, that's why talking about OKR benefits is very important!
Remember that aligning your entire organisation is just a small skill set that you must possess in order to ADAPT your company to the digital era! If you are an executive leader looking to ADAPT your company to the digital era, check more about our approach by clicking the link: ADAPT Methodology™.
Would your company or organisation benefit from Objectives and Key Results (OKRs)? Well, this is what we will explain in this blog post, the OKR benefits. This goal-setting framework is useful for any company regardless of the industry. Below are some of its major merits.
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The framework is different from traditional goal-setting methods in the sense that they are reviewed on a short-term basis. The short cycles allow for speedy adjustments and enable companies to adapt to change.
Another OKR benefit is that it ensures alignment, interdependency and unity among employees/teams. It promotes collaboration which facilitates better problem-solving.
Setting goals can be a difficult and time-consuming process. However, with this framework, goal-setting is fast and easy for every level of the organisation.
It promotes transparency by letting everyone have access to what others are doing. This will enable employees to understand the goals of the company and what their individual contributions should be.
The bidirectional approach of OKRs is of advantage to connecting employees with the company’s objectives. This promotes engagement.
OKRs foster a sense of responsibility and autonomy in employees. It gives them a sense of accountability and ‘mutual obligation’.
OKRs make sure that you have fewer goals in a shorter time-frame. This allows employees to focus on their GSDs. This also boosts their discipline and effort over the company initiatives.
OKRs boost confidence in setting ambitious goals. It involves using stretch goals to aid your employees in setting higher goals and attaining them.
The above advantages of OKRs can also be referred to as OKR benefits enjoyed by a company.
Using OKRs only for a shorter term (e.g. three months) might cause teams to miss the big picture (the ultimate goals of the company). Therefore, there may be need to set annual goals. You might want to adopt this strategy or test it and see what works for your company or team.
Companies that have utilised OKRs for so long understand that different goals can have different cadences. For example, tactical goals tend to change faster than strategic goals. Therefore, OKRs separates tactics and strategies by utilising a nested model.
Strategic goals are long-term high-level goals. This doesn’t mean that they are not subject to changes. The company has to be open about their strategy and make necessary reviews. On the other hand, tactical cadence is adopted for setting short-term goals. They are adopted primarily by teams and involves regular check-ins for tracking progress.
A successful OKR approach can be determined by the following:
In most cases, the quarterly cadence makes more sense because it provides adequate time for employees and managers to develop initiatives and measure their effects on the company. The shorter the cadence, the smaller the overhead. Also, the longer the cadence, the lower the business uncertainty.
To adopt a shorter cadence, you have to adopt a streamlined approach to develop OKRs. Otherwise, you will take more time than necessary in setting goals. Also, if your company/organisation faces uncertainty or your market changes too quickly, having long cycles of OKR is not going to help.
If you are new to OKRs, it is advisable to start with a quarterly tactical cadence in addition to a mid-quarter review. This will give room for your team to learn and adapt to the new model. You can also have joint cadences for separate teams, depending on necessity. For example, you can set an annual OKR for a sales department and utilise quarterly OKRs for a different department.
Your goal should be to maximise synchronisation opportunities. This gives room for all teams in the company to sync at least once a year in order to ensure alignment.
Cascading is a different approach where there is a top-down process with no feedback cycles.
Decisions simply flow from the management to the team-member level. However, the rule of thumb in executing OKRs is that 60% of it should be defined by team members from the bottom to the top. This also means that executives/leaders also have a say on what OKRs should be about.
As an executive or leader, you shouldn’t be afraid to experiment. Feedback from your team is also very important, so keep an open mind. This is because adopting OKR is for everyone in your company to be in sync. You can’t achieve this without feedback from those at the lower levels.
If you liked this article and you are looking for a way to align everyone in your organisation, we offer OKR consulting and OKR training inside of our ADAPT Methodology™ approach, contact us in case you are interested.
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