If you have just started a business or are running a startup, you have probably come across numerous strategies that promise you results. But not every system you come across is suitable for your business and you might be left wondering what to implement and what not to.
Among the most recognized strategies in business management is the OKR idea. Coined by Intel CEO Andrew Grove in the late 60s, this management framework can trace its roots back as early as 1954 but is still very relevant in the modern world of business.
So, what is it, who uses it, and how can it bring value to your new business? Continue reading to learn that and more.
OKR – What Does It Involve
OKR is an acronym that stands for Objectives and Key Results. By definition, it is a collaborative goal-setting strategy whereby teams/ departments and even individuals set ambitious but realistic goals with measurable results.
Approaching the OKR meaning in a broader sense, you can say OKRs dictate how you create alignment between the team and the goals set out, encourage engagement and transparency, and track your team’s progress as well as results.
Key Advantage of OKR for Businesses at All Levels
John Doerr, who learned the OKR methodology at Intel and later introduced it to Google Co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, summarizes the key benefits of the strategy in one word- FACTS. This acronym stands for the following:
1. Focus
The most obvious benefit of implementing OKR is greater team focus. That is because this strategy involves setting a couple of realistic priorities that you can communicate with your team. So, you can get your team to prioritize and work on the tasks that have the most significant value to the project or business.
2. Alignment
OKR helps you to define your ultimate business purpose. Once you have that, you can align your entire business from the management level to the lowest in order to achieve this ultimate goal. This goal should help you create smaller objectives that each department, team, and employee must accomplish to realize the company’s ultimate vision.
3. Commitment
Another advantage of using OKRs is that they help instill a level of collective commitment from everyone in your business to ensure set outcomes are achieved. OKRs help you instill a sense of responsibility towards achieving business goals in your team members.
You can keep tabs on everyone’s progress transparently since each team member gives clear signals that they are working towards their individual assignments. As a business owner, you can track each employee’s progress via Google Sheets or an OKR software tracking tool, and so on.
4. Tracking
OKRs enable you to monitor how your team is working towards a goal to know when or where to improve. You can track tasks right from the initial stages to the outcome, which is a major reason why management by objectives is so popular with top-tier companies.
Every goal should be trackable using the metrics established when it was written. And while you do not have to monitor things daily, regular check-ups—preferably weekly—are essential for avoiding falloffs.
When you have reference points to gauge your progress towards realizing objectives, you can better steer your business to success.
5. Stretching
Last but not least, OKRs enable you to set goals that fall way beyond the norm. This benefit inherently pushes your business to strive further, and in turn, achieve objectives that you did not think possible from the get-go.
Start Using OKRs in Your Business to Achieve Goals More Efficiently
Since the development of the OKR several decades ago, multiple companies have leveraged OKRs to realize their business goals. Top among them include Google, Netflix, Microsoft, Apple, Code for America, and Adobe
So, if you want to start ticking items off your business’s objectives list? With OKRs, you will not be struggling to accomplish them as per your set timeframes. Instead, you can track your tasks at every step to ensure that you and your team are on course to achieving the business’s goals.
All in all, the OKR model is an effective way to outline your business’s goals and increase employee engagement and productivity.