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Although you might explore the same company-wide OKRs for longer, we recommend quarterly team-wide and individual OKRs. Quarters are an excellent match for OKRs because a 13-week timeframe allows you to aim for 10% progress each week, with a handy 2-3 week grace period to get going and adjust your route.
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If necessary, yes. The OKR-setting process should be thorough enough only to be changed if new information becomes available or if circumstances change. Yet, reevaluating objectives and key results during an OKR cycle has nothing to do with failure.
If a set of key results proves prove unrealistic, you may have to dial back. Or, if an OKR cycle has just begun and your team is already about to reach 100% of the key results, you might want to take them a step (or two) further.
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Achieving results is part of good performance and should be considered when evaluating raises and promotions, but making OKRs a decisive compensation factor is will likely to keep your company stuck.
Why? Objectives should be audacious. And the sweet spot for OKRs will be between 60% and 80% of key critical results.
So what happens when OKR results directly impact team members’ livelihood? The answer is that, understandably, your team might be more conservative when setting up an OKR cycle — and this which is likely to hinder individual development.
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Not frequently tracking progress.
Not aligning OKRs with the company’s vision.
Not working with your team as you define OKRs for a cycle.
Not communicating with all stakeholders.
Setting unrealistic OKRs.
Setting too-conservative OKRs.
Setting too many objectives.
Setting too many key results.
Not defining ownership for key results.
Only working towards OKRs at the very end of a cycle.
Not aligning OKRs of different teams.
Unmeasurable key results. E.g., to “increase quality,” you need to measure it.
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KPIs and key results should be quantifiable and might even speak to the same achievements (e.g., the number of qualified leads in a quarter). However, unlike OKRs, KPIs aren’t necessarily guided by a broader vision–and it’s this vision that will help you keep your team aligned and focused.
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Look for roadblocks and think of solutions as a team. If needed, schedule a deep-dive session to consider further actions. And don’t beat yourself up. It’s up to you to turn a perceived failure into a meaningful learning experience. It’s OK to recalibrate and figure out Recalibrating and determining where to allocate your team’s time and efforts better is OK.
What happens if we don’t meet the key results set?
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In monthly meetings with senior management, stakeholders can decide on how to course-correct. This may mean canceling an OKR or changing its execution strategy altogether. The notes taken during weekly OKR check-ins will benefit senior management reviews.
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