Objectives and Key Results

Objectives and Key Results: What are they?  

Objectives and Key Results ( OKR for short) are currently considered the hottest flame for igniting the motivation and willingness to perform of employees. At the latest since the publication of the video "How google sets goals: OKR", this method is surrounded by a whiff of Silicon Valley and agility in its highest form. Read the following blog article to find out what OKR is all about and which basic elements you absolutely must observe.

OKR: A brief overview

OKR has something to do with independence, great performance and transparency, as dozens of German-language book titles in the world's largest online bookstore suggest. It originated back in 1971, when Andy Grove introduced what was then a new, ambitious and fully transparent target system at the up-and-coming Intel company and led it to resounding success. In 1999, in turn, Grove's former employee John Doerr brought his knowledge of OKR to the then-small start-up Google. In 2014, 15 years later, Google made the concept famous with the aforementioned YouTube video.

How does OKR work?

OKR is based on the fundamentals of the autonomy of teams, coupled with a common focus of all stakeholders in the company. In order to be able to adapt to changing situations in the agile sense, objectives and key results are defined in a cycle of 3 to 4 months. This is how it works:

• The management level defines one or more objectives for the entire organization. These describe in qualitative, i.e., non-measurable terms, what the company will focus on in the next three or four months.
  (Example: "We are bringing edutainment back into training!")
• From this, the teams and/or departments are inspired and define for themselves their own objectives on which to focus their energies in order to support the stated corporate goal.
  (Example: "The next version of the OKR training inspires our participants with a high degree of interactivity and practical relevance!")
• The teams describe key results with which they want to make their objectives measurable - always with the customer's perspective in mind.
  (Example: "We would like to have 3 suggestions for improvement from participants implemented and confirmed" and "At least 50% of the planned training time should consist of group tasks").
• The team meets on a weekly and bi-weekly basis. They consider which initiatives they would like to launch in order to drive forward the achievement of the objectives, how successful the last initiatives were and what progress the team has made.
• At the end of the cycle, the achievement of objectives is considered and aggregated across the teams - in the spirit of a review and retrospective. Then it starts all over again.

What should I pay attention to with OKR?

The benefits of OKR are enormous. Used and implemented correctly, the method mobilizes undreamt-of forces in the company. You will achieve changes that you would not have thought possible. These forces must be used with caution. Therefore, please keep the following basic rules in mind:

• Use the power of OKR to achieve massive changes in workflow, major improvements or, for example, to conquer new market spaces. However, OKRs are not suitable for everyday work - that would be like trying to do the week's shopping in a Ferrari F8.
• Ensure sufficient time and resources so that teams can actually work on achieving their goals. Otherwise, a lot of heart and soul will flow for too little result, which is enormously demotivating.
• Also give this method time to take effect and consolidate it. Use experienced coaches to help your teams overcome stumbling blocks.

Want to know more about the importance of an overarching mission statement at OKR? Then listen to our podcast episode 012 at https://www.serview.de/podcast. You can find more knowledge about OKR as well as our OKR training here: https://www.serview.de/okr-trainings