OKRs, which stands for “Objectives and Key Results,” according to Paul Niven, is a framework for critical thinking and an ongoing discipline that seeks to ensure that employees work together, focusing their efforts to make measurable contributions that drive the company forward.
For OKRs to have a positive impact and efficient implementation, we need to work from people and teams. One of the biggest pains in organizations when it comes to achieving their objectives is the lack of alignment of their teams.
Starting point
For OKRs to increase their chances of success, teams must be aligned to the organizational focus, working towards the same north as the one proposed by the organization.
It is important in this aspect, that the teams have an understanding of the strategic guidelines of the organization: purpose, values, culture, long, medium and short term objectives, and knowing the strategic pillars that give life to all these elements.
Inter-team lineup
The first impact expected from the implementation of OKRs is the relationship between the different teams of an organization. It is the moment when all parts of an organization are pointing to the same place, despite the differences in their tasks and in their daily lives.
OKRs provide us with a working framework where teams, working towards the same organizational objective, should have contact and be able to ask for support or collaboration, as well as to offer help to other teams. This happens because the sum of achievements of the OKRs of the teams, boost and increase the probability of success of the organization’s objective.
It is this interaction and collaboration between teams that increases the performance of the OKRs at the general level of the organization.
Intra-team alignment
In addition to aligning the teams with each other, we seek to have an efficient internal operation. I consider this point to be fundamental, considering the person as the center of the organization and the driving force behind everything that happens within it. If people within teams lack clarity and do not know how to drive the team to achieve the OKRs, the likelihood of success decreases. In other words, the teams, from a strategic knowledge of the organization, work on the creation and execution of their own OKRs. They, as specialists in their tasks, work on what they define as critical, and add value to a larger, organizational objective.
As the definition states, teams “focus their efforts” to contribute to and drive organizational objectives.
The importance of equipment
The OKRs defined by the teams represent 60% of the organizational objectives. The other 40% is the result of strategic planning by senior management. That is why the importance of having a focused, motivated and results-oriented work team is one of the most important contributions that an organization can have.
By approaching an analysis from the perspective of people as the heart of organizations, it is possible to generate an impact and added value to everything that an organization proposes for its future.
You in your teams:
Do they have spaces to share and get to know each other?
Are you clear about the impact your planning can have on your organization?