Examples Of OKRs That You Can Set For Your Organization’s Growth Team
Businesses comprise different teams or departments that function as one to meet their business objectives and grow. Within this sentence, we have two aspects – teams and objectives. Companies that focus on only one will find themselves floundering instead of growing because you need the employees, and they need an objective to strive for. Sounds pretty straightforward, right? But, it can still be a challenge without defining the teams, their goals and the desired results.
Hence, OKRs bring clarity of purpose, keep the teams focused and on track, and ensure objectives are perfectly aligned with those of your organization. They also help bring together various teams to enable holistic growth. And if you have a growth team that brings together experts from different departments, you are already halfway there.
These teams, by definition, drive growth within organizations through innovation and data-driven decision-making. They are often responsible for acquisition, engagement, and retention initiatives and work closely with product and engineering teams to build and optimize growth-focused features.
So, why do you need OKRs specifically for your growth teams? You have already told your growth teams what they are expected to accomplish; you have a performance management system to ensure your employees perform as expected. Do you still need to implement the OKR methodology?
First, let’s talk about the OKR methodology
OKRs are a methodology or framework that helps you set up your vision in a structured format, i.e., breaking down the vision into multiple objectives and setting forth expected key results from the teams. These objectives become less nebulous when further split into goals or tasks. An effective OKR process not only aids in establishing expectations but also in measuring clear progress. For without measurable metrics, how would you know if you have achieved what you set out to do?
OKRs are important for growth teams because they provide a roadmap for what needs to be accomplished in order to achieve specific goals. Additionally, OKRs help in holding individuals and teams accountable for their performance and contribute to overall company success.
The importance of the OKR process to fuel your organization’s growth team
Growth teams are typically composed of a mix of marketing, product, and engineering professionals, with a team leader or manager. Since the team has members from different departments with their areas of expertise, it is a clear example of how they come together to work as one. Hence, it is of utmost importance that they follow the OKR framework, which includes:
- Define what you want to achieve – good objectives are specific, measurable and time-based.
- Draft measurable goals or objectives that support the overall objective – these could be attainable (but challenging) goals that you want your team to hit.
- Create a timeline for each goal – this will ensure that each objective is given a due date and remains actionable.
- Assign each goal to specific team members – this will help to ensure that everyone has a sense of ownership and responsibility for hitting the objective.
Examples of OKRs for your organization’s growth teams
OKRs can be extremely useful for growth teams to measure and track progress. Firstly, it’s crucial to understand that there could be more than one objective for your growth team. For instance,
1. Increase the number of customers
2. Increase the number of new products
3. Increase the number of new features
4. Increase the number of new markets
5. Increase the number of new channels
But they all start with SMART goals. So, if you want to increase the conversion rate, you will set your OKR thus:
Objective: Increase conversion rate by 5%
KR1: Test new copy and designs on key pages to improve conversion rate
KR2: Analyze data to identify areas of improvement on the website
KR3: Implement changes to improve the conversion rate
Objective: Improve customer satisfaction ratings by 3% every quarter.
KR1: Identify and implement strategies to improve customer satisfaction ratings.
KR2: Monitor customer satisfaction ratings and feedback to identify areas of improvement.
KR3: Customer satisfaction ratings improve by 3% in the next quarter.
Objective: Improve customer satisfaction by increasing the Net Promoter Score to 9 or above.
KR1: Research and implement strategies to improve customer satisfaction.
KR2: Monitor customer satisfaction ratings and work to improve any areas of dissatisfaction.
KR3: Maintain a Net Promoter Score of 9 or above.
To conclude
At the end of the day, OKRs can be as unique as your business. The framework lends itself to adapt to any organization or industry, from the smallest single-team company to a large enterprise.
However, what is clear from the above examples is that each of the objectives requires communication and collaboration across different teams, including product development, customer support, UX/ UI, marketing, etc. Equally clear is that teams cannot work in isolation if you want your organization to see your objectives become a reality. While each unit focuses on a specific area, your growth team will strategize, prioritize practical solutions, analyze data, and set OKRs to help your various teams work seamlessly to achieve positive business outcomes.
Also Read:
