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Looking for a way to align your team behind the same objective?
Most shortfalls and challenges are solved by thinking - BUT - we can’t solve problems with the same thinking we created them with.
In order to change our thinking and to give us the best chance of solving our challenges (be that business, organisational or personal), we need a framework to help us reach and set the right objectives and goals.
Here at Genie Goals we use the OKR framework - also championed by companies such as Google & Intel - with OKR standing for Objectives and Key Results.
Understanding objectives and key results
OKRs help you describe in an inspirational yet crystal clear way what it’s important to you as an organisation, team or individual and offer the right structure to illustrate the road ahead in such a way that pushes us to take more risks as they offer a degree of control and confidence which other goal settings frameworks don’t.
From a company perspective, OKRs offer control and transparency. They allow you to see that everyone is working towards a common goal. From an individual viewpoint, OKRs helps you form a clear picture of what you need and can achieve personally whilst contributing to the company goal whilst also ensuring you are progressing in line with your ambitions and desires.
OKRs requires that we engage in structured thinking. Much like SMART goals, OKRs force you to stand back and think hard about where you want to get to as an organisation or individual and crucially how you can get there.
Objectives
Objectives are a description of what success will look like. They are the ultimate goal, the north star for that period. We should be able to review the objectives at the end of the period and without need for interpretation, understand whether we have been successful and to what degree.
Objectives must be transformational and innovative. They should be risky and make you uncomfortable. They often involve committing time and money to something that may not work and might not happen. If you look at your OKRs and feel super-confident you’ll achieve them, then you’re not thinking big enough.
Objectives should be (something like):
Key Results
Key results on the other hand are the KPIs of the objectives. They are the things that tell you that you have achieved the objective. They are in effect the deeper, measurable meaning of the objective.
They must be measurable - if it does not have a number, then it is not a key result ("made it better" is not a key result).
The only exception is for key results that are binary much like "launch website” although “launch website and deliver £10,000 in sales” would be a better key result.
Example
An example OKR we previously had within our people team was:
PEOPLE Objective: Build an unbelievable career & development framework that inspires both staff and candidates
KR1: Minimum average of 9/10 in staff satisfaction rating on career & development
KR2: 100% of staff have an agreed personal development plan
KR3: Drive 10 more speculative job applications following publication of career framework
Why do OKRs work?
If we remember that the value of setting goals is greatly loaded towards the very fact that we stop and consciously think about where we want to go.
OKRs force you to stand back and think hard about where you want to get to as an organisation or individual and crucially how you can get there.
Going back to basics, they help you describe in an inspirational, yet crystal clear way, what is important to you as an organisation, team or individual. While offering the right structure to illustrate the road ahead in such a way that pushes us to take more risks as they offer a degree of control, confidence and transparency.
We’ve run external OKR sessions for our clients such as Karl Lagerfeld and Raging Bull - which have enabled us to better align the digital marketing activities we run with their business objectives.
If you’re interested in finding out more about how Genie Goals can support you with your digital marketing get in touch at hello@geniegoals.co.uk
