Setting the right goal in working on a project means achieving half of the success. Among the goal-setting concepts, there is OKR. The abbreviation stands for Objectives and Key Results — or the method of goals and key results. Let's figure out what it is and how to set goals correctly.

What is OKR

The OKR concept originally originated at Intel, and it became popular after being implemented at Google.

OKR suggests setting ambitious goals and describing key results that will indicate the achievement of each set goal. To achieve each key result, tasks or initiatives are identified that need to be addressed.

Goals are set at all levels: for the entire company, for each team, and for individual employees. Thus, every employee knows which goal he himself must reach, how this result will affect the achievement of the goal by his team, and how the team's result will affect the achievement of the company's overall goal.

At the same time, it is important that each employee can choose ways to achieve the goal independently.

OKR Principles

As mentioned earlier, proper goal formulation is the most serious step towards achieving results. Therefore, in order to formulate a goal correctly, it is necessary to adhere to the following principles.

Photographer: RDNE Stock project: https://www.pexels.com/ru-ru/photo/7413915

The goal should be ambitious

Set ambitious goals; the result should be significantly higher than the current average. At first glance, achieving such a goal may seem difficult or almost impossible, but it is not. A hard-to-reach goal is a challenge that requires persistence, quick reactions, teamwork, and ingenuity in ways to achieve it.

If you do not manage to achieve the goal immediately, its result will still be higher compared to the usual one. Moreover, achieving 100% of OKR only indicates that the goal was not ambitious enough. If the result falls short of 30-40%, the goal was too unachievable.

A certain number of goals

Few goals are bad; too many are also bad. The optimal number of goals for OKR is 3 to 5.

The goal should be simple and clear

A good goal is a clear, short, understandable, and not boring goal. Every employee should understand what he is doing and why it is necessary.

Setting goals is a two-way process

The OKR concept assumes that goal setting is a two-way process. There is a common goal for everyone, and there are their own OKRs for each team and employees. And these goals can and should be edited and improved.

OKR is not KPI

While KPI implies rewarding for achieving goals regardless of the atmosphere in which work was done and which tools were used, OKR.

OKR is linked to company goals

At least one OKR of the team should be related to the company's global goals.

How to set goals, key results, and initiatives

To determine a goal and whether it has been achieved, the question helps: "If the goal is X, what will the result look like?" or "My goal is <goal formulation>, and I will know that I have achieved it because <result>".

Photographer: Anna Shvets: https://www.pexels.com/ru-ru/photo/5325056/

So, to set goals and determine key results, you need to do the following.

Like any method, OKR requires discipline and clearly defined tasks. The main mistakes that arise when applying OKR can also be named.

Weak control — discussion of the OKR should occur regularly.

Bad goals — overly ambitious or too easily achievable goals.

Bad indicators — key results need to be measured. Simply "done/not done" is a bad indicator.

Misunderstanding OKR — the goal should be understandable to the whole team.

Set ambitious goals, strive for better results, work together with the team — and everything will work out!