Unlock growth: 7 reasons to implement OKRs

Think of OKRs this way: Objectives are the 'what' - they are bold, ambitious goals that depict your organization's desired future state, ideally resonating with your vision. Key Results, on the other hand, are the 'how' - they define how you'll measure progress toward achieving each Objective. Each Objective typically has 3-5 Key Results.

For instance, an Objective could be "Becoming number one in the market" - a lofty aspiration indeed, but it's not self-explanatory. Hence, you'd set Key Results like "Achieve $15M in sales in Q1", "Attain 14% market share", or "Secure at least two features in <industry-leading magazine>", to give it context and specificity.

The beauty of OKRs lies in their ambition. They're designed to push boundaries, and as such, achieving about 70% of your OKRs should be seen as a success. If you're constantly hitting 100%, it might be a sign you're not dreaming big enough. Now, let's delve into the seven reasons why your organization needs OKRs.

Two common pitfalls in the business world are focusing too much on outputs and fixating on monetary goals. For example, a company might prioritize the number of features launched or units sold, neglecting the actual value these bring to the business and the customer. Or, they may aim for a certain revenue growth, overlooking long-term business objectives and customer value. Sure, you could launch a thousand unused features or inflate sales by offering discounts on inferior products, but these strategies are unlikely to foster sustainable success.

This is where OKRs step in. They help pivot the focus from mere outputs and financial figures to long-term value creation for both the business and its customers, emphasizing the importance of outcomes. When you set up OKRs, you're essentially answering four critical questions:

1. Where do we want to go?
2. Why do we want to go there?
3. How will we get there?
4. How will we know we've arrived?

By helping you focus on the bigger picture, OKRs ensure that your actions and strategies are not just productive, but also purposeful.

One of the great advantages of OKRs is that they harmoniously marry the bottom-up and top-down approaches to strategy setting.

When done correctly, OKR setting should start by soliciting ideas and drafts from your teams. After all, these individuals are closest to your customers. They have a keen sense of what customers value and a wealth of great ideas on how to deliver that value.

But, as an organization, it's crucial to consolidate these ideas and align goals across different departments and teams. That's where the top-down approach comes in. After collecting drafts from the teams (the bottom-up movement), leadership needs to define the organization's overarching OKRs and communicate them back to the teams (the top-down movement).

Teams will then tweak their OKRs accordingly. However, they will still retain a significant degree of autonomy, effectively determining what to work on and what goals to set. This fosters a sense of motivation and responsibility as teams actively participate in goal setting and are not simply following orders. In this way, OKRs can be a powerful tool for instilling ownership and fostering alignment across your organization.

Another major strength of OKRs is that they bring about consistency throughout the organization, establishing a common language that everyone speaks.

As a rule of thumb, each OKR set at the team level should be tied to higher-level OKRs, whether that's at the department or organization level. This ensures that everyone can clearly see how each team's efforts contribute to the overall growth and success of the organization.

Moreover, OKRs significantly reduce the risk of duplicated work, a common pitfall when different parts of the organization aren't aware of what others are doing. With OKRs, there's greater transparency around who is focused on what, and perhaps more importantly, why they're focused on it.

This common understanding and alignment, fostered by OKRs, promote efficiency and unity, as everyone is moving in the same direction with a shared understanding of their role in the larger organizational picture.

OKRs are an invaluable tool for better prioritizing work within your team or organization. A guiding principle of OKRs is that every piece of work should be undertaken only if its value is clear and it is tied to the objectives and key results we're aiming for.

Aside from unexpected emergencies and necessary firefighting (which, in a well-managed organization, should be rare), all the work a team undertakes should link back to their OKRs in one way or another.

OKRs themselves may or may not have assigned priorities. Regardless, each piece of work is evaluated based on how much it contributes to advancing key results and the overall objective. If the answer is 'not much', then that piece of work is deprioritized, thus saving valuable resources for tasks that will make a bigger impact.

By instilling this discipline, OKRs ensure that teams remain focused on the tasks that bring the most value to the organization, helping to drive productivity and performance.

Navigating dependencies between teams can be a nightmare when each team has its own unique set of goals. For example, you may desperately need Team A to complete a specific feature by the end of next week so that your Team B can finally launch a major campaign. However, if this isn't part of Team A's goals for the quarter, you're likely to encounter difficulties.

This is where the beauty of OKRs comes into play. Teams are evaluated not just on how well they deliver on their individual goals, but also on their contributions to the organization's overarching objectives. This encourages a culture of collaboration and resource coordination, rather than siloed working.

Under the OKR system, teams are prompted to engage in a continuous dialogue and regularly track dependencies. This fosters mutual support, optimizing the value delivered to both the customer and the business. In essence, OKRs don't just enhance individual team performance, but they help the entire organization function more cohesively and effectively.

OKRs inherently promote flexibility because they emphasize outcomes over outputs. This sends a clear message to teams that there is not just one, but multiple ways to achieve these desired results. This flexibility not only empowers teams to adapt their strategies as needed, but also encourages innovative thinking and creative problem-solving.

Further, because teams play an active role in setting their own OKRs, they enjoy the freedom to choose what they work on and why. This autonomy fosters a sense of ownership and commitment to the objectives, resulting in greater engagement and, ultimately, better performance.

In essence, OKRs create an environment where teams are not just following a pre-set roadmap, but actively shaping their journey towards achieving their objectives. This flexibility, coupled with a clear focus on outcomes, paves the way for creativity, innovation, and continuous improvement.

OKRs also play a crucial role in personal growth and team collaboration. They allow us to transition from an individualistic approach to a more holistic contribution model for goal setting and performance management.

In an individualistic approach, each person sets their own goals, which may or may not align with the team's objectives. For instance, if a UX designer aims to enhance their Android design skills and create several new designs for the Android app, but the team decides to sunset the Android app, there's a clear conflict. This mismatch could force the designer to either move to a different team or abandon one of their goals, risking a poor performance evaluation.

In contrast, contribution models focus on the overall contribution of an individual to the team's goals, considering their area of expertise and level of experience. For example, a senior UX designer would be expected to enhance and maintain a consistent customer experience across platforms and products, a measurable objective through surveys and interviews. This approach not only aligns individual goals with team and organizational objectives but also encourages teamwork, enhances job satisfaction, and ultimately, boosts performance.

In essence, OKRs serve as a catalyst for personal growth by promoting a culture of collaboration and shared responsibility, leading to more meaningful and rewarding work experiences.


At first glance, OKRs might seem complex, but once you start implementing them, you'll discover they're actually straightforward and intuitive! They embody the common sense your organization might be desperately needing to streamline its goal-setting and performance measurement.

Embarking on your OKR journey may pose some initial challenges. I recommend starting at the team level for the first round. Provide them with the overarching goals of the organization to guide their OKR creation and establish priorities. From the second round onwards, you can gradually introduce the bottom-up-top-down approach.

Remember, there is no definitive right or wrong way to implement OKRs. What works best for your organization will emerge through trial and error, continuous learning, and adjustments. The most important thing is to start, to stay focused on outcomes, and to consistently prioritize customer and business value. Good luck on your OKR journey!