Of the 64 multi-stage, multi-geographic OKR projects that I have done through OKR League | OKR Consulting & Advisory Services – OKR Coaching – Organization Design & Development, more than 50% of them are corrections of a botched-up project. We have done a lot of research on the reasons why OKRs fail. While there are many blind spots in an OKR Implementation, one of the major causes of failure or breakdown is writing OKRs wrongly without proper mapping and KPIs to measure the results.
Consider the following OKRs (warning: these are real OKRs from XYZ company used with permission)
Objective: Increase brand recognition for the organization
Key Result 1: Increase media engagement by 20%
Key Result 2: Launch customer referral program for all clients
Key Result 3: Extend social media reach and visibility to two new target markets
What is wrong with this OKR set?
Before we answer the question, let’s first understand the OKR syntax. (Yes! There is a syntax for OKRs)
When I use the term OKR Set, it means the set has specific components.
Objectives
Key Results
Initiatives
An OKR set is incomplete without the right set of initiatives. Also, when I say key results, I am essentially referring to exactly that – results. In other words, outcome. Actions like “launch”, “extend”, even “hire” are not outcomes in themselves but the means or interim stuff to achieve the desired results. These constitute initiatives. So, in the above OKR set, the problems are:
The objective is not specific in terms of the timeline.
Of the three key results, only one is a real key result. The other two are technically initiatives but again they are scalars without timeline and mapping. All key results and initiatives must have specific timelines.
A better syntax for a key result is to have an “as is-to be” journey defined within a given timeline.
Getting to define right OKRs has a minimum learning period. And it is inelastic.
Are you initiating OKRs the right way in your organization? Are you giving your teams the right support and right amount of time to understand and adhere to the process?