“Ideas are precious, but that’s relatively easy. It’s execution that’s everything.” 

-John Doerr, Partner at Kleiner Perkins Caulfield and Byers.

The businesses are bouncing back with more power to thrive in these uncertain times. Innovation always knows no bounds, and it exists till the human race survives. But the execution becomes the question if the business environment is not favorable. Again, adaptability is one of the human traits that keep everything going when the conditions are not supportive enough. In this business situation, innovation along with execution should play an equal role to grow in the new normal. The powerful management and goal-setting tool that can help us adapt through its execution strategy is Objectives and Key Results (OKRs).  

Objectives are what needs to be done and why. Effective and well-defined objectives answer these questions. Many companies fail at having motivating and most-needed objectives but it is highly significant to decide on the right objectives. If the destination is not clear, we all end up in the wrong way. Key Results are how you are going to achieve the objectives. It is going to be the guiding light to measure your progress toward your goals and your company’s business objective. The purpose-driven goals with the right execution plan will increase the success rate, and that is what OKRs do. 

“If the heart doesn’t find a perfect rhyme with the head, then your passion means nothing. The OKR framework cultivates the madness, the chemistry contained inside. It gives us an environment for risk, for trust, where falling is not a fireable offense- you know, a safe place to be yourself. And when you have that sort of structure and environment, and the right people, magic is around the corner.” 

― John Doerr, Measure What Matters 

If this is your first time creating OKRs for your department, here are a few tips for you. 

You have a number for Objectives 

Objectives are like the lighthouse and key results are the light emitted from the lighthouse. When you set your objectives, focus on one goal or to a maximum of 3. Do not go above 3. When there are too many goals, you and your team tend to forget your goals or you become overwhelmed that you fail to focus on any. Therefore, it is always the best strategy to have a few objectives and focus all your efforts on those objectives to get the maximum out of your employees. Also remember, the objectives should be strong and well-defined ones that serve the purpose of why your company was created and help you achieve how you want to be looked at in the future. 

For example, Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, set the objective of making Google the best browser in the world in 2008. This objective was very clear and inspiring. Sundar Pichai knew clearly what he wanted for his company. That is how objectives should be set. 

Numerically defined Key Results 

This is the most important tip that you must remember. If you do not set a deadline or a number, the task will go on for eternity. The numbers motivate the workforce to work harder and learn their priorities. If there are no numerically defined key results, the employees will be uncertain of what’s expected out of them and how long they can take to complete their tasks. For each objective, there should be only 3 to 5 key results. The key results should be attained 100% for committed goals. For stretch goals, if the employees attain 0.7 on a scale of 0 to 1, then it can be considered as they tried harder. Encourage your team even if they attain 0.7 for stretch goals.  

Sundar Pichai had a key result to increase the number of users to 20 million by the end of 2008 to achieve the objective of making Google the best browser. However, in the first year, he achieved less than 10 million users. In the second year, he increased his bar to 50 million users and achieved only 37 million. In the third year, he again increased his target to 100 million users. And he made it! More than expected. Google Chrome had around 111 million users. This is the power of key results. 

Align the Goals and Give Autonomy 

Setting department OKRs is an important task. As a department head, before setting OKRs, you must be fully aware of the business objectives. You must set your department goals in alignment with the overall business objective. When setting the department OKRs is done, encourage every member of the team to set their individual goals. Managers should go through the individual goals to check whether it is aligned with business goals and discuss it with the employees and suggest revisions if it is not in alignment. Giving autonomy to the team members in setting goals increases the morale of the workforce and also enhances the employee experience at your organization.  

Decouple OKRs from compensation 

Objectives and Key Results will be executed well only when they are decoupled from compensation. OKRs, if tied with performance reviews, will stop employees from setting stretch goals. The employees will always try to play safe as the OKRs are part of their performance reviews. This will result in mitigating the growth of the company as there would be no one ready to set aspirational goals and go for it. Objectives and Key Results should be used as a tool that increases the morale of the team members and focuses all their efforts toward a common goal. 

Continuous Check-ins to Learn the Progress 

As a department head, you should conduct frequent meetings with your direct reports to learn the progress toward the objectives. The major benefit of doing so is that the chances of failure will be alleviated. You can guide your employees along the way if they go off the track and help them in trying different innovative ways to achieve the key results. LinkedIn followed the same strategy when it decided to become public. The result is that their share prices doubled on debut.  

Follow these tips to set your department OKRs and succeed. All the best