What is an OKR?
OKR (Objectives and Key Results) is an effective goal-setting system. It is used by many organizations worldwide, such as Google, LinkedIn, Twitter, Intel, Spotify, and Dropbox, followed by thousands of others. Far from being used only by digital giants, it has been launched in banks, retail chains, newspaper companies, and other industries. OKRs promote the focus, consistency, and involvement of all employees.Objectives
Objectives are short qualitative descriptions of what you want to achieve. Goals should be inspiring and motivating. A goal must motivate and challenge the team.Key Results
Key Results are indicators that measure your progress towards the goal. For each goal, you need to have enough of them so that together they form a cohesive story.Why Use Goal-Based Leadership?
Can we achieve more with OKRs? Absolutely.Goals drive us forward
Motivation is one of the key factors of satisfaction. The goals we set
together drive development and innovation.
Goals lead to accountability
Agreed objectives and, above all, the key results we strive to deliver put
us in a position of responsibility.
Goals define success
Without objectives, how would we know if we are successful in our work?
Goals are the basis for action
Action is not about sanctions but what we have learned from success or
failure and making data-driven decisions.
Goals communicate purpose
Transparently set objectives, visible to all teams and individuals,
communicate the focus and content of the teams’ work over a given period.
Monitoring progress
Setting a goal is already an important event, but regularly monitoring
progress is a mandatory practice that must become part of the company
culture.
Goals set priorities
Too many tasks on time is a recipe for poor performance and burnout and is
generally an indicator of disorganized management.
Goals improve morale
It’s not just successful events where targets are met that can improve
morale - the very event of setting team goals is a good motivator.
The History of OKRs
OKRs have a rich history dating back to Intel and have evolved through adoption by major technology companies.OKR Origins
Read about the origins and history of OKRs in our OKR Basics resource.
Types of OKRs
When Andy Grove initially created the OKR methodology, he intended it to act as a stretch business exercise. The Goals should only have a 50-50 chance of achieving them.“Output will tend to be greater when everybody strives for a level of achievement beyond his immediate grasp, even though trying means failure half the time.” — Andy Grove
Aspirational OKRs (Moonshots)
These are stretch goals with only a 50% chance of achievement. They push teams beyond their comfort zone and drive innovation. Also known as Moonshots or Stretched Goals.Committed OKRs
The accountable person for any given Key Result or Objective is expected to achieve it 100% by the end of the observed period. While this wasn’t in Andy Grove’s initial vision, decades of implementing OKRs across culturally different countries and companies have established the Committed type as a valuable option.Learning OKRs
Some OKR practitioners prefer to use Learning OKRs as a distinct type. However, all Goals should be set and used to learn from outcomes!Classifying Key Results
You can also classify not just the Objective but every Key Result individually. You can easily decide that not all Key Results are so hard to achieve to be called a Moonshot but rather Committed.This guide is a work in progress. We are agile - visit us again for updates!