Teamwork makes the dream work, but that only works when the teams are aligned with the utmost clarity regarding the company’s vision.
When your team members have clarity about the goals and ambitions of your company, they will work with enthusiasm.
It has been observed that teams that are passionate about their roles tend to be way more productive, creative, and responsible, delivering high-quality work.
Keeping teams aligned is not as simple as it may sound, especially when your team grows past the mark of 10 members.
That’s when OKRs are introduced to the business landscape.
OKRs, or Objectives and Key Results, serve as a powerful tool to align teams, drive focus, and propel growth.
Table of Content
1. Why you need OKRs?
2. Role of OKRs in business growth
3. What is an OKR?
4. How many types of OKRs are there?
5. How do OKRs work?
6. What is the right time to setup OKRs?
7. How to define OKRs for your business?
8. Must haves of a Good OKR
9. How to track OKRs in PM tool?
10. Tips for populating OKRs in PM tool
11. Best PM tools to manage OKRs
11.1. ClickUp
11.2. Monday.com
11.3. Asana
Why you need OKRs?
OKRs are a must-have for every business. They are a great tool that aligns teams and drives execution towards the company’s vision and goals.
OKRs help you define KPIs or milestones to track progress and ensure that all efforts contribute to the company’s success.
Here are some of the benefits that you can achieve using OKRs:
Focus and Alignment:
OKRs provide a clear focus and align individuals and teams towards shared objectives, ensuring that everyone is working towards common goals.
Transparency and Accountability:
OKRs promote transparency by making objectives and key results visible to everyone in the organization. This fosters accountability as progress is tracked and shared.
Clarity and Prioritization:
OKRs help clarify priorities by defining clear objectives and measurable key results. This allows individuals and teams to prioritize their efforts and resources accordingly.
Measurement and Tracking:
Key results in OKRs provide a quantitative way to measure progress and success. This enables regular tracking and evaluation of performance.
Agility and Adaptability:
OKRs encourage continuous learning and adaptation. If key results are not being achieved, adjustments can be made to improve performance and align with changing circumstances.
Motivation and Engagement:
OKRs provide a sense of purpose and motivation by setting ambitious goals. They inspire individuals and teams to strive for excellence and take ownership of their work.
Collaboration between teams:
OKRs foster collaboration and alignment across different teams and departments. By setting shared objectives, it encourages communication and coordination toward common outcomes.
OKRs not only guide you to keep your efforts aligned with your goal, but they also help you to communicate the enthusiasm and dedication that you have towards your company’s vision.
Here are a few other ways how OKRs help small businesses grow:
- OKRs help small businesses to identify the most important growth opportunities and focus their resources on areas that will have the biggest impact.
- OKRs enable teams to create a culture of continuous improvement by encouraging people to set ambitious goals and track their progress toward those goals.
- OKRs also allow small businesses to attract and retain top talent by demonstrating that the business is committed to setting ambitious goals and to achieving them
What are OKRs?
OKRs, or Objectives and Key Results, are a goal-setting framework widely used in businesses and organizations to define and track objectives and their corresponding measurable results.
Objectives: These are the qualitative goals that you want to achieve.
They should be ambitious but achievable, and they should be specific enough that you can measure your progress toward them.
Key Results: These are the quantitative metrics that you will use to measure your progress toward your objectives. They should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.
How many types of OKRs are there?
Based on the nature of the objective or goal, there are two main types of Objective Key Results (OKRs);
- Committed OKRs
- Aspirational OKR
In addition to these two main types, there are also some other types of OKRs that are sometimes used:
- Learning OKRs
- Impact OKRs
Committed OKRs
Committed OKRs are the goals that are most important to the organization and that everyone is committed to achieving. They are typically ambitious but achievable, and they should be measurable so that progress can be tracked.
Committed OKRs are the foundation of the OKR framework, and they help to ensure that everyone in the organization is working towards the same goals.
Examples of committed OKRs could include:
- Increase website traffic by 20% in the next quarter.
- Reduce customer churn by 5% in the next year.
- Launch a new product by the end of the year.
Aspirational OKRs
Aspirational OKRs are the goals that the organization aspires to achieve, but that may not be realistic or achievable in the short term.
They can be used to stretch the organization and to think outside the box.
Aspirational OKRs can help to keep the organization focused on its long-term goals and to encourage innovation.
Examples of aspirational OKRs include:
- Become the market leader in our industry.
- Launch a successful IPO.
- Be recognized as a top employer by Fortune magazine.
Learning OKRs
Learning OKRs are the goals that are focused on learning and experimentation. They are not necessarily about achieving specific results, but rather about gaining new knowledge and insights.
Learning OKRs can help the organization improve its products and services, to better understand its customers, and to stay ahead of the competition.
Examples of learning OKRs include:
- Conduct a user survey to understand our customers’ needs better.
- Experiment with a new marketing campaign to see if it drives more traffic to our website.
- Develop a new product prototype to test our assumptions about the market.
Impact OKRs
Impact OKRs are a type of OKR that focuses on the positive impact your business has on the world. They are used to measure your progress toward your ESG goals.
ESG stands for environmental, social, and governance. These are the three pillars of sustainability, and they are increasingly important to businesses of all sizes.
By setting Impact OKRs, you can show your customers, employees, and investors that you are committed to positively impacting the world.
Here are some examples of Impact OKRs for small businesses:
Objective: Reduce our environmental impact by 10% by 2023.
Key Results:
- Implement a recycling program for all office waste.
- Reduce our paper consumption by 5%.
- Switch to a more efficient light bulb.
Objective: Increase our social impact by 5% by 2023.
Key Results:
- Provide 100% of our employees with paid sick leave.
- Donate 1% of our profits to charity.
- Partner with a local nonprofit to help improve the community.
How do OKRs work?
OKRs are achieved with initiatives by breaking down the goals into smaller, more manageable tasks. These tasks are called initiatives, and they provide a roadmap for how the goals will be achieved.
Initiatives are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) actions that teams or individuals take to achieve their OKRs. They should be specific enough to be actionable, but not so specific that they become overwhelming.
Initiatives should be aligned with the organization’s goals and key results. They should also be measurable so that progress can be tracked.
Here’s an example of initiatives that will be used to achieve an OKR:
Goal: Increase website traffic by 20%.
Key Result 1: Increase organic search traffic by 15%.
Initiative 1: Create more informative and engaging blog posts.
Initiative 2: Optimize the website for search engines.
Key Result 2: Increase social media traffic by 5%.
Initiative 3: Create more engaging social media content.
Initiative 4: Run more social media contests and promotions.
What is the right time to setup OKR?
The right time to set up OKRs is when you start to feel the need for a more structured way to communicate and track your goals.
This could be when you start to grow your team, when you launch a new product, or when you want to make a significant change in your business.
When starting out, you may have your objectives in your mind or scribbled on a notebook. Or maybe it’s just a hunch that you started off on.
However, as soon as you start building a team and building systems, your need for creating processes becomes more evident or clearer.
This is because you need a system to communicate the goals that you have for the business to your team.
You also need a process that your team can use to create and maintain certain goals for the business as well as for themselves.
How to define OKRs for your Business?
Every organization has its own process for setting OKRs.
Some organizations set their OKRs annually and have a mid-year review cycle while others manage their OKRs on a quarterly basis.
At ReadyLogic, we define our OKRs on a quarterly basis.
Even though the detailed process of setting OKRs may differ, the overarching process remains the same:
1. Set the company’s overall goals:
The first step is to set the company’s overall goals. These goals should be ambitious but achievable, and they should be aligned with the company’s mission and vision.
2. Break down the goals into objectives:
Once the company’s overall goals are set, they need to be broken down into objectives.
Objectives are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals that will help the company achieve its overall goals.
3. Set key results for each objective:
Once the objectives are set, they need to be broken down into key results. Key results are measurable outcomes that indicate progress toward an objective.
4. Prioritize the OKRs:
Not all OKRs are created equal. Some OKRs are more important than others, and it’s important to prioritize them accordingly.
We break down OKRs into Company OKRs and Personal OKRs.
5. Assign the OKRs to the team:
Once the OKRs are set, they need to be communicated to the team. This will help to ensure that everyone is aligned and working towards the same goals.
10 Must-haves of a Good OKR:
A good OKR is like a compass for your business. It helps you to track your progress toward your goals and make sure that you are on track.
Here are the attributes of well-defined OKRs explained in bullets:
- OKRs should align with the overall strategic goals and vision of the organization.
- Objectives should be clear, concise, and specific, while Key Results should be measurable.
- OKRs should be challenging but attainable, pushing individuals and teams to reach their full potential.
- Key Results should have specific metrics or milestones for objective assessment and progress tracking.
- OKRs should have a defined timeframe to create a sense of urgency and prioritize activities.
- Each OKR should have a clear owner or accountable person/team responsible for its achievement.
- OKRs should reflect the organization’s core values and culture.
- OKRs should be regularly reviewed, updated, and revised as needed.
- OKRs should be visible to the entire organization to promote shared understanding and collaboration.
- Well-defined OKRs should inspire and motivate individuals and teams.These attributes contribute to the effectiveness and success of OKRs in driving growth, performance, and alignment within organizations.
How to track OKRs using PM tools?
To track OKRs in a PM tool, you will need to:
- Create a new OKR in the PM tool.
- Set key results for your OKR.
- Create tasks for every initiative related to an OKR
- Assign the OKR to relevant Team members
Once you have created your OKRs in the PM tool, you can start tracking your progress. You can do this by setting up a dashboard or report that shows your progress toward your OKRs.
You can also use the PM tool’s built-in features to track your progress.
If you are collaborating with others on your OKRs, you can share your OKRs with them in the PM tool. This will allow them to see your progress and collaborate with you on your OKRs.
By tracking your OKRs in a PM tool, you can stay on track and achieve your goals
5 Tips for setting OKRs in a PM tool:
Follow the following tips while setting up OKRs in a Project Management tool:
- Use a consistent naming convention for your OKRs. This will make it easier to find and track your OKRs.
- Use clear and concise language for your OKRs. This will make it easier to understand your OKRs and track your progress.
- Set realistic and achievable key results. This will help you to stay motivated and to achieve your OKRs.
- Track your progress regularly. This will help you to identify any areas where you need to make adjustments.
- Communicate your progress with others. This will help you to stay accountable and to achieve your OKRs.
By following these tips, you can track your OKRs in PM tools and achieve your goals.
Best PM tools to manage OKRs:
There are many PM tools that you can use to manage your OKRs. The wise way is to manage OKRs using the same PM tool that you are using to manage other tasks.
Here are a few best PM tools that you can use to populate and track your OKRs:
- ClickUp
- Monday.com
- Asana
ClickUp:
If you are using ClickUp to manage your routine tasks, then it will be the best option for you to set up and track your OKRs.
ClickUp has a diverse set of features that enable better team collaboration on OKRs.
For example, you can use ClickUp’s task management abilities to break down your OKRs into actionable items or initiatives.
You can then assign those initiatives to relevant team members, set due dates, and track progress.
This will help to ensure that everyone on your team is aligned and working towards the same goals.
Monday.com:
If you are a Monday.com user, you can manage your OKRs by creating a separate Board for OKRs.
Here’s how you can create and manage OKRs using Monday.com:
- Enislt all the OKRs
- Write the Key results as separate items under the relevant OKR
- Assign the items to a relevant team member
- Assign the sue data and other necessary details
Viola your OKRs are populated on Monday.com and you can your them to keep track of your team progress on their OKRs.
Asana:
Asana is a good option for goal tracking because it offers several features that make it easy to set, track, and achieve your goals.
Here are some of the key features of Asna that you can use to track your OKRs efficiently:
Milestones: To mark important checkpoints so you can track your pace towards achieving that OKR.
Custom Fields: To tag, sort, and filter work. You can create unique custom fields for any information you need to track, from priority and status to email or phone number.
f you are looking for a way to track your goals, Asana is a great option to consider.
It is easy to use, flexible, collaborative, and integrated with other tools. With Asana, you can stay focused, motivated, and on track to achieve your goals.
Key Takeaways
- Systemize the OKRs for better clarity among the team.
- Identify the nature of the objective and select the relevant OKR type.
- The best time to set up OKR is when you feel difficulty keeping your team aligned.
- Have team discussions to define company goals or objectives.
- OKRs must have to be precise and on point.
- Create OKRs in PM tools for better trackability.
Found this blog post helpful?
Share it with your network on social media!
Ready to propel?
Book your FREE Proces Audit Today!
Hurry Up! Click on the button below, reserve your slot & let Ready Logic help you execute more with less.
Free Process Audit
