OKRs — Fundamental way of meeting Business Objectives

OKRs — one of the most popular goal management methodologies used by companies like Google, Netflix, and Twitter — is the secret sauce to creating alignment around measurable goals in an organization.

But what are OKRs ?

Objectives are your committed or aspirational goals and Key Results measure the achievement of an Objective.

In business terms, OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) is a performance management framework designed to encourage companies to set, communicate and monitor broad organizational goals and results.

Objectives

Ask yourself the following questions when setting objectives:

• Does the objective help achieve company goals?
• Is the objective inspiring?
• Does the objective move the company forward?
• Is the objective timebound?
• Is the objective set for the end of the quarter or year?

Key Results

Key results should be:

• Specific
• Quantifiable,
• Achievable,
• Lead to objective grading
• Be difficult, but not impossible

There are two types of goals in the OKR methodology you should know: committed and aspirational.

🤝 Committed OKRs

Committed OKRs are the agreed-upon goals prioritized to reach company success. People, resources, and schedules are rearranged to ensure they get done. Companies want to achieve 100% of their committed OKRs.

🌔 Aspirational OKRs

Aspirational OKRs (moonshots) are ambitious and more challenging to accomplish, but they push us to think outside the box and innovate. Unlike committed OKRs, they don’t have a clear path for completion or actual knowledge of how to get there.

Three Key Benefits of OKRs

1. They’re faster to create and easier to use

Many companies take weeks trying to develop a large-scale goal instead of spending time actually achieving that goal. You break down a measurable objective into simple results that help you quickly determine if you achieved the objective or not.

2. Boosts focus and commitment to goals

When you set OKRs, you’re limiting your focus to specific objectives and key results. This way, you can complete things quickly and efficiently. This way, all the team has to focus on is tackling those key results throughout the year!

3. The bi-directional approach helps you align goals better

In most companies, goal setting is not a collaborative approach. Top-level management decides what the goals are and everyone else has to follow.

The OKR setting process includes everyone in the company — it’s not just a top-down approach! Additionally, you can also create company wide OKRs where the whole organization commits to the same goals, like the company’s mission.