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The objectives and key results (OKR) goal-setting framework is a relatively simple concept; the challenge lies in implementing it within a culture that isn’t used to team autonomy and alignment.
OKRs helped Google become the powerhouse it is today. And many organizations have tried to copy Google’s success by implementing OKRs themselves. However, the leadership of most of those companies thought it was a change for the staff, not themselves. But if leaders don’t understand how their approach needs to change in support of OKR, they’re doomed to fail.
This article spells out five things leaders need to keep in mind to achieve organizational success using OKRs.
But first…
What are OKRs?
To succeed with OKRs, leaders should consider these five tips
1. Let the teams choose their own goals
It feels natural, as a leader, to set the goals for your teams—if goals need to be set. Why would teams set their own goals? (And, anyway, isn’t revenue everyone’s goal? The short answer is “no.”)
If OKRs are going to succeed, each team needs to have goals within their sphere of influence—the part of the product, service, or customer journey they can control. No one is more of an expert on that part of the customer journey than the teams themselves. So, as a leader, you will set the organizational (or departmental) goal—but then ask your teams how they will support it with their work.
That way, they choose their goals and are also aligned with the overall company’s direction.
2. Don’t tell the teams what to do
The other thing that feels natural (almost obvious) for leaders to do is to directly instruct the team on what to make or do. After all, isn’t this what leaders are supposed to do? Not with OKRs.
If you’re going to implement a goal-setting framework based on wanting to change customer behavior (as OKRs do), then it’s up to the team to figure out the best way to drive the desired behavior change.
Your ideas can certainly get mixed in, but ultimately it’s not the highest-paid person’s opinion that becomes a product or service. Rather, it’s the idea that has the most impact on customer behavior.
It’s the job of your teams to figure that out.
3. Reward learning and course-correction
If OKRs are to succeed, your company culture must become comfortable with being wrong.
None of us can predict the future, and yet most companies still reward the production of something and the predicted impact it will have in the market rather than the actual behavior change it drove in our customers.
We assume we know exactly what to do. OKRs expose the risky assumptions in our ideas. When your teams discover one of these risks, they need to be able to change course based on that insight.
It’s your job as a leader to encourage this type of learning and evidence-based course-correction.
If your teams feel comfortable (hint: read up on psychological safety) sharing findings with you that contradict the original plan, your OKRs implementation will succeed. Without that, teams will continue to build what you told them to build, regardless of what they’re learning.
4. Provide access to customers and customer insight
It’s amazing how many teams—especially in the enterprise—struggle to get access to their customers.
If your teams are going to make OKRs successful, they need to understand their customers deeply. As a leader, your job is to facilitate that access. Support the path of least resistance for talking to customers. Provide unlimited customer research budgets. Unblock teams that are struggling to reach their customers.
Do everything in your power to ensure that customer insight figures prominently in how your teams make decisions about their OKRs.
5. Model the behavior you want to see in your teams
OKRs require humility and curiosity to succeed. They require an admission that we don’t have all the answers and that we’re willing to be wrong in the quest to learn the right answers.
If you want your teams to use their curiosity at work and to change their minds without fear of retribution, then show those qualities in the way you work.
When your teams hear you say things like, “I know I was confident about going in this direction back in the fall, but the data we’ve collected so far shows I was wrong. We’re going to adjust course based on this new information and go in a new direction,” they will feel safe sharing their own misjudgments.
It’s incredible what a few, short subtle admissions of humility can do to build team morale and motivation. OKRs thrive on that kind of mindset. Because humility isn’t the abdication of vision or leadership; humility is the ability to change your mind in the face of contradictory evidence.
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If teams feel empowered to learn, change course based on what they learn, and set their own direction, the work they do is more inspired, creative, and innovative.
OKRs can deliver that kind of work if you create the culture for teams to thrive.
More Resources on Organizational and Marketing Frameworks
Building Better Customer Outcomes With a Customer Experience Quality Framework
How to Ensure ABM Success via Organizational Structure
A Framework for Getting Started With Customer Journey Mapping
A Messaging Framework: What It Is, Why You Need It, and How to Build It
