Question

What are Objectives & Key Results (OKRs) and how do they link to company goals?

Objectives & Key Results (OKRs) are a goal-setting framework that helps organizations set challenging and ambitious goals with measurable results. OKRs consist of an Objective, which defines what is to be achieved, and Key Results, which measure how to achieve the Objective. They link to company goals by providing a clear and direct path to achieving them. OKRs are set at various levels of the organization, including the company, team, and individual levels, ensuring alignment and focus across the organization. They are typically set on a quarterly basis and are graded at the end of the period to measure success and inform future OKRs.

This question was asked on:

Setting unreasonable expectations -- OKRs provide challenging objectives that link clearly to company goals. But if they are unrealistic, they don't appear as credible to the staff and can discourage them. "At Google, employees set four to six quarterly OKRs; more than that is too many to manage. At the quarter's end, each employee grades his performance on a 0 to 1.0 scale. If someone hits 1.0 on every OKR, his objectives aren't ambitious enough. On the flip side, low scores shouldn't be punished but rather be used to refine the next quarter's OKRs," Fatemi shares. Shortchanging celebrations -- OKRs make a great management tool, and when you celebrate milestones and achievements throughout the process, you get a chance to recognize your team's accomplishments. Fatemi says: "If OKRs sound simple, that's because they are. But that's the beauty of them. They help companies – from Google-sized giants to tiny startups – break down big goals into bite-sized, tough-but-doabl...

View presentation Preview