Issue #13: How to Set OKRs and Crush Your Goals

Align Your Team, Drive Results: How Setting OKRs Can Revolutionize Your Organization

Reading time: 6 Mins

Today, we're going to talk about how to set OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) and crush your start-up goals like a pro.

If you're not familiar with OKRs, they're a powerful goal-setting framework that companies like Google, Amazon, and Netflix (and many more) use to achieve their ambitious objectives.

Via Data Intelligence

So, why should you care about setting OKRs? Well, the benefits are numerous. For one, OKRs provide clarity and focus, allowing you to prioritize your efforts and measure your progress. They also promote accountability and alignment, ensuring that everyone on your team is working towards the same goals.

Unfortunately, many people struggle with setting effective OKRs or fail to make progress towards them. Here are some common reasons why:

Lack of clarity and focus is a goal killer

Many people have vague or poorly defined goals, which makes it difficult to know what specific actions to take to achieve them.

Additionally, many people struggle with distractions and competing priorities, which can make it challenging to stay focused and make meaningful progress towards their goals.

This applies to companies too with typical reasons for missing goals including:

• Reason #1: Lack of clarity on what you want to achieve

• Reason #2: Setting vague or unrealistic objectives

• Reason #3: Failing to break down objectives into measurable key results

• Reason #4: Not involving team members in the OKR-setting process

• Reason #5: Not reviewing progress regularly and adjusting course as needed

But don't worry, I'm here to help you overcome these obstacles and set great OKRs. Here's how, step by step:

Step 1: Set clear and ambitious objectives

To start, it's crucial to set clear and ambitious objectives. This means having a clear understanding of what you want to achieve and why it's important. Your objective should be specific, measurable, and aligned with your overall business strategy.

For example, instead of setting a vague objective like "increase sales," you could set a specific objective like "increase sales by 20% in Q2 by expanding our customer base and launching a new marketing campaign."

Case Study: Netflix

One of the most successful companies in setting clear and ambitious objectives using OKRs is Netflix. A few years ago, they set an objective to become the world's leading streaming service, and their key results included expanding into international markets and increasing the number of subscribers.

To achieve this objective, Netflix developed a culture of experimentation, innovation, and risk-taking. They encouraged employees to take calculated risks and to challenge the status quo, which led to the creation of successful original content like "Stranger Things" and "The Crown."

Netflix also had a clear and consistent communication strategy around their OKRs. Every employee knew what the company's objectives were, and how their own work contributed to those objectives. This ensured alignment and accountability, and kept everyone focused on the big picture.

Thanks to their OKR process, Netflix has become the leading streaming service in the world, with over 200 million subscribers in more than 190 countries. Their success is a testament to the power of setting clear and ambitious objectives, and using a rigorous process to achieve them.

Step 2: Define your measurable key results

The second step is to define measurable key results that will help you track progress towards your objectives.

Key results should be specific, measurable, and challenging, but achievable.

They should also be relevant to your objective and aligned with your overall business strategy.

For example, if your objective is to increase sales by 20% in Q2, your key results could include "acquire 100 new customers in Q2" and "generate $50,000 in new revenue from the new marketing campaign."

Google

One of the most famous examples of using measurable key results as part of an OKR process comes from Google. In the early days of the company, they had an objective to increase the number of searches performed on their search engine.

They set a goal of increasing the number of daily searches from 10 million to 100 million within six months, and they broke down this goal into smaller, measurable targets.

One of the key results was to increase the number of searches per user from three to four. To achieve this, they ran experiments to improve the relevance of their search results, and they made changes to their user interface to make it easier for users to perform multiple searches.

Another key result was to increase the number of searches performed by users in non-US markets. To achieve this, they developed localized search engines for different regions and languages, and they worked to improve the relevance of search results for these markets.

Thanks to this process… well we all know where Google ended up 😂

Step 3: Involve your team members in the OKR-setting process

Lastly, it's important to involve your team members in the OKR-setting process.

This promotes alignment and accountability, and ensures that everyone is working towards the same goals.

You can involve your team members by soliciting their input on the objectives and key results, and by setting team-level OKRs that align with your overall business strategy.

Here are three actionable steps to involve team members in an OKR-setting process:

1. Encourage team members to provide input and feedback: Before finalizing the company's objectives and key results, ask team members to provide input and feedback. This will help to ensure that everyone is aligned and committed to the goals, and it will help to surface any potential issues or concerns early on. Consider holding a brainstorming session or a survey to gather input from team members.

2. Create individual OKRs that ladder up to the company objectives: Once the company's objectives and key results have been defined, work with team members to create individual OKRs that align with those objectives. This will help team members to see how their work contributes to the company's goals, and it will help to ensure that everyone is working towards a common purpose. Consider holding one-on-one meetings with team members to help them define their individual OKRs.

3. Hold regular check-ins and progress reviews: To ensure that everyone is making progress towards their individual and company OKRs, hold regular check-ins and progress reviews. This will help to keep everyone accountable and focused on the goals, and it will provide an opportunity to course-correct if necessary. Consider holding weekly or bi-weekly check-ins with team members, and holding monthly or quarterly progress reviews with the entire team.

Conclusion

Setting clear and measurable objectives and key results (OKRs) is a powerful way to align teams and drive progress towards organizational goals. By following the steps laid out in this blog - defining specific and ambitious objectives, breaking them down into measurable key results, and involving team members in the process - organizations can increase their chances of success and achieve remarkable results.

Netflix and Google are just two examples of companies that have successfully used OKRs to drive growth and success. But any organization, regardless of size or industry, can benefit from implementing this framework. By setting OKRs that are challenging but achievable, and involving team members in the process, organizations can create a culture of accountability and focus that can drive them towards success.

So, if you're looking to improve your organization's performance and align your team towards a common goal, consider implementing an OKR process. With the right approach and commitment, you can unlock the full potential of your team and achieve remarkable results.

---

That’s it for this weeks newsletter. Thanks for reading 0xGregH! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.