We asked our most successful customers and leading OKR coaches for their top tips for making OKRs a success. There was a lot of overlap and a clear top 10. Here’s a summary for you with links to a deeper dive on each topic.
- Get Committed Execs: If the CEO is not committed to OKRs it’s not going to be as easy as it could be to get everyone onboard. Read More
- Fail to Plan, Plan to Fail: Benjamin Franklin was not wrong. When planning to get your OKRs right you need to plan to succeed and resist the desire to make it up as you go. Here’s a list of planning steps to consider. Read More
- Canvas's are good for initial OKR planning: If you’re new to OKRs, there is nothing wrong with putting your first ideas down in a canvas like this, they are flexible and easy to share. They just don’t scale and have best practice built in.
- The first Quarters doesn't have to be so Hard: Hard goals are good, but whilst getting teams up and running creating a sense of achievement is not a bad idea, so perhaps dial back the OKR difficulty initially whilst the idea that less than 100% achievement on Hard Goals or Moonshots is not failure.
- Communicate and live an OKR Culture: You can easily succeed with OKRs if you’ve got the right cultural values in place, they are communicated, understood and lived on a daily basis. Which is not as hard as you might think. The opposite is also true. If you’ve not got the right culture is going to be hard, really hard.
- Measure what matters: The OKR book name is genius. So simple and so literal. So what measurements or metrics matters, are you measuring it or even set-up to measure it, who owns that number, and how do you make it available for OKRs?
- Get expert help: You don’t get many chances to get the roll-out right. Reading OKR books is a good start but are only part of the answer, as is software. OKR coaches / consultants can be in the trenches with you, helping ensure your get through the first quarters and year without issues and false-starts. We know the best ones so ask us if you’re interested. Contact us if you'd like a ZOKRI coach to help you.
- Give it time: There are not many companies that get OKRs right in the first Quarter. Typically it takes 2 - 3 quarters to really get everyone using them as part of your Business-as-Usual processes and at a quality level where you’re seeing real value.
- OKR Leads help: Having someone in the business with a passion for OKRs that is going to act as the Lead in your company will really help, and it also tells everyone else that you’re serious about OKRs being a long-term part of how you do business.