Mistakes when working with the OKR system
Posted: Tue Jan 07, 2025 8:53 am
Is it possible to look into the future and play it safe before implementing OKRs? Yes. Below are some mistakes to consider when implementing the OKR system:
Goals that are too ambitious at the planning stage. If you have just launched, you shouldn’t immediately try to conquer the top of global trends. It is important to collect feedback from employees at general meetings in order to adjust goals if necessary.
The goal is not inspiring. It is too vague, does not sweden whatsapp phone number affect all employees, is difficult to achieve, or will not bring any benefit to the business. It is important that the goal has meaning not only at the top management level, but also for every ordinary performer. As in the previous point, the error is solved at OKR meetings.
Employees do not communicate with each other. The lack of communication does not allow for the proper development of connections between teams. It is important to know about the successes and failures of your colleagues for cohesion in the overall work.
Key results are incorrectly formulated. Perhaps employees overestimated themselves or were not motivated enough to implement KRs.
Goals and results remain unchanged. If OKRs suddenly do not change from month to month, this is a reason to think - how is it that the company does not develop at all.
Employees are sure that they can work at 80%. This mistake occurs due to a misunderstanding of one of the OKR theses: “goals do not require 100% fulfillment”. It is important to convey to the performers that they need to work in the same way. The company’s goals become more ambitious, but the amount of work does not decrease.
Use OKR as a task list. It is not for nothing that some types of KR are called milestones, the system is focused on the values and development of the company, and the key results here are the value that the company acquires on the way to the goal.
OKR is written and forgotten. The team wrote down their goals, specified key results, and never touched it again.
How to implement OKRs at all levels?
OKR can be introduced “from above” as an initiative of top management and superiors, or “from below” as an independent experiment within one team. If the innovation proves successful, the team leader will most likely report the results of OKR implementation to the boss. The boss, in turn, will decide whether to continue and expand the experiment to the entire company.
When introducing OKR, at a minimum, the team lead must be involved, and at a maximum, the management or other stakeholders who can influence global changes in the team must be involved. Let's consider the option in which the initiative comes "from above."
Related: Not Just a KPI: How a Startup Reinvented the OKR System to Set Conscious Goals
Step by step instructions
Choose an OKR implementation strategy. How exactly do you plan to implement the new planning system — at the employee level, at the team level, at the department level, or for the entire company at once. Depending on where you start implementing the methodology, you need to adjust the following steps.
Tell us about the company's OKR system. Employees need to be introduced to the system and inspired to experiment and potentially switch to the new system. There will be no one-time transition, it is a step-by-step setup.
Divide goals into strategic ones - those that determine the direction of the company's development, and tactical ones - specific steps that need to be taken to achieve the goals.
Define OKRs at several levels:
— Company-wide OKRs — those strategic goals that affect the entire company;
— OKRs of related departments — if your company is involved in several projects, all teams should have their own goals and key results.
— OKRs for each team — tactical. You can find a template from Avito that the company uses
at the link . It comes with detailed instructions on how to use the table to create OKRs at all levels.
Set personal OKRs for employees if necessary. It is best for the team leader to do this together with its members. This way, each employee will feel their contribution to the common goal.
Plan OKR events. Feedback from the team has a special place in the system. At first, it is necessary to strictly control the indicators and generate statistics. Below is a list of the most important events of the methodology:
- weekly tactical OKR meetings. Conducted for interaction between teams;
- monthly Check-in-OKR. Conducted to present the successes of the teams. It is important that there is not one "responsible" person - the speakers need to change. In this way, the teams are aware of the work of other departments;
- quarterly OKR meetings. This is a global analysis of progress towards goals at all levels with a detailed retrospective.
Summarize the interim results. When working with the OKR system , feedback is important. This is what all OKR events are for, where employees gather, discuss the results and, based on the exchange of feedback, adjust their activities to achieve the goal at the moment. The more often you collect employee opinions, the more personal and suitable the system becomes for your team.
Analyze the results. Were you able to achieve 80% of the goals? How many key results were achieved? How did employees from different departments communicate with each other? Did OKR help you or did the results and goals not move forward? And if the OKR system suits you, you can set goals again.
Goals that are too ambitious at the planning stage. If you have just launched, you shouldn’t immediately try to conquer the top of global trends. It is important to collect feedback from employees at general meetings in order to adjust goals if necessary.
The goal is not inspiring. It is too vague, does not sweden whatsapp phone number affect all employees, is difficult to achieve, or will not bring any benefit to the business. It is important that the goal has meaning not only at the top management level, but also for every ordinary performer. As in the previous point, the error is solved at OKR meetings.
Employees do not communicate with each other. The lack of communication does not allow for the proper development of connections between teams. It is important to know about the successes and failures of your colleagues for cohesion in the overall work.
Key results are incorrectly formulated. Perhaps employees overestimated themselves or were not motivated enough to implement KRs.
Goals and results remain unchanged. If OKRs suddenly do not change from month to month, this is a reason to think - how is it that the company does not develop at all.
Employees are sure that they can work at 80%. This mistake occurs due to a misunderstanding of one of the OKR theses: “goals do not require 100% fulfillment”. It is important to convey to the performers that they need to work in the same way. The company’s goals become more ambitious, but the amount of work does not decrease.
Use OKR as a task list. It is not for nothing that some types of KR are called milestones, the system is focused on the values and development of the company, and the key results here are the value that the company acquires on the way to the goal.
OKR is written and forgotten. The team wrote down their goals, specified key results, and never touched it again.
How to implement OKRs at all levels?
OKR can be introduced “from above” as an initiative of top management and superiors, or “from below” as an independent experiment within one team. If the innovation proves successful, the team leader will most likely report the results of OKR implementation to the boss. The boss, in turn, will decide whether to continue and expand the experiment to the entire company.
When introducing OKR, at a minimum, the team lead must be involved, and at a maximum, the management or other stakeholders who can influence global changes in the team must be involved. Let's consider the option in which the initiative comes "from above."
Related: Not Just a KPI: How a Startup Reinvented the OKR System to Set Conscious Goals
Step by step instructions
Choose an OKR implementation strategy. How exactly do you plan to implement the new planning system — at the employee level, at the team level, at the department level, or for the entire company at once. Depending on where you start implementing the methodology, you need to adjust the following steps.
Tell us about the company's OKR system. Employees need to be introduced to the system and inspired to experiment and potentially switch to the new system. There will be no one-time transition, it is a step-by-step setup.
Divide goals into strategic ones - those that determine the direction of the company's development, and tactical ones - specific steps that need to be taken to achieve the goals.
Define OKRs at several levels:
— Company-wide OKRs — those strategic goals that affect the entire company;
— OKRs of related departments — if your company is involved in several projects, all teams should have their own goals and key results.
— OKRs for each team — tactical. You can find a template from Avito that the company uses
at the link . It comes with detailed instructions on how to use the table to create OKRs at all levels.
Set personal OKRs for employees if necessary. It is best for the team leader to do this together with its members. This way, each employee will feel their contribution to the common goal.
Plan OKR events. Feedback from the team has a special place in the system. At first, it is necessary to strictly control the indicators and generate statistics. Below is a list of the most important events of the methodology:
- weekly tactical OKR meetings. Conducted for interaction between teams;
- monthly Check-in-OKR. Conducted to present the successes of the teams. It is important that there is not one "responsible" person - the speakers need to change. In this way, the teams are aware of the work of other departments;
- quarterly OKR meetings. This is a global analysis of progress towards goals at all levels with a detailed retrospective.
Summarize the interim results. When working with the OKR system , feedback is important. This is what all OKR events are for, where employees gather, discuss the results and, based on the exchange of feedback, adjust their activities to achieve the goal at the moment. The more often you collect employee opinions, the more personal and suitable the system becomes for your team.
Analyze the results. Were you able to achieve 80% of the goals? How many key results were achieved? How did employees from different departments communicate with each other? Did OKR help you or did the results and goals not move forward? And if the OKR system suits you, you can set goals again.