Learn about the expected organizational change when implementing the OKR methodology
In case you missed our recent webinar, OKRs: A Positive Culture Shift for your Company, we’ve recapped the highlights and some key takeaways. Scott Campbell from Koan was joined by our partner, Daniel Montgomery from Agile Strategies for a conversation about the expected organizational change when implementing the OKR methodology.
When implementing OKRs, there are several potential cultural obstacles that teams may need to overcome. Some of the most frequent challenges that we see across our customers are:
In order to make OKRs part of your DNA, you need to make sure that they’re relevant to your strategy and have a management process in place so you don’t set it and forget it. When building a collaborative mindset you should:
OKRs can build a culture of success and achievement, but it’s a myth to believe that every goal needs to be an ambitious stretch goal or moonshot. Success is the sum of small wins, and every team needs a balanced goal-setting approach to stay motivated. Goals traditionally fit into two categories:
KPIs and how they relate to OKRs are one of the most common stumbling blocks when organizations try to implement OKRs for the first time. There’s nothing wrong with setting goals around your KPIs. But goal frameworks like OKRs need a different way of thinking. Instead of focusing on an individual metric and trying to improve it, the focus should shift to broader outcomes, solving problems, and truly pushing the company forward.
It’s a common myth that organizations make progress through heroic acts by individuals. While that may be true in a few cases, accomplishments are mostly achieved by teams. Especially now with a predominantly remote setting, it takes a village to get things done. Leveraging the collective intelligence of people at different levels across the organization will enable leaders to have a broader perspective of how goals are progressing, and ultimately make more informed, strategic decisions.
Many people complain about being in pointless meetings all day, and how it can be distracting from “real work.” But a high-performance organization is a network of healthy conversations where meetings are part of the work.
“Dialogue is the core of culture and the basic unit of work. How well people talk to each other absolutely determines how well the organization will function.” - Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan
Most meetings tend to be around conversations for action, with discussions about what work has been done and what work is going to be done. This can cause OKRs to get stuck in the “set it and forget it” stage. It’s important to have these conversations on a regular basis, in a cyclical fashion, so that they reinforce strategic thinking.
The OKR methodology provides a vehicle for having these cyclical conversations and help to keep goals front and center. When teams have regular discussions around goals, meetings become more efficient and there is a better understanding on the process of these goals.
“The essence of strategy is choosing what NOT to do.” - Michael Porter
Another common misstep to implementing OKRs is having too many goals and not saying no to anything, which causes teams to lack focus. We commonly encourage the rule of no more than 3 OKRs at any level or team. When you’re focused, you’re more likely to achieve that goal. If you’d like to learn more about this principle, you can check out Daniel Montgomery’s book.
Unstructured collaboration creates chaos. Leaders need a tool to keep teams focus and aligned towards goals. Especially in today’s remote world, organizations are looking for ways to collaborate. There are a variety of different collaboration tools, but having a dedicated tool to help track progress towards goals can help keep teams aligned and focused. A purpose-built tool like Koan eliminates silos and creates a standardized process for goal management.
If you’d like to watch the webinar on-demand, the recording is available here.
Remember, Koan and Agile Strategies are here to help you no matter where you are on your OKR journey. If you want to talk about anything we’ve covered in this post or learn more about how we can support you, just let us know.
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