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Most companies that struggle with low performance of their workforce have a common trait: their goals are abstract and vague.
There are no clear and quantitative goals set for the employees to follow, making it difficult for them to proceed in the right direction.
Here's how to make your goals more structured and effective for your company, along with the do's and dont's while writing OKRs.
83% of decision-makers agree that OKRs positively impact an organization.
OKRs help organizations narrow down their goals into a more measurable format, which makes them clearer, more concise, and, above all, more achievable for employees. If you have not yet started using OKRs to set and achieve goals for your organization, you are missing out.
Organizations that make use of OKRs are able to align their goals and objectives with the daily activities performed by employees. This way, a clear system is formed, and managers are able to track the effectiveness of the organization's performance.
According to John Doerr, OKRs have five superpowers which they render to whichever company uses them:
- Focus: OKRs help companies reduce the clutter and focus on the core values that really matter. It helps companies evaluate themselves and identify the benefits they offer the customers. These benefits are then maximized by focusing on such aspects alone.
- Alignment: Since an organization is made up of employees from different backgrounds and departments, the goals of the workforce do not often follow the same line. But with OKRs, the organization is able to align the goals of the company with that of the workforce to create a unified goal.
- Commitment: Each employee has a certain level of commitment to the organization, which usually comes in the form of tasks and projects allocated to each of them. Employees have a commitment to their team and the company as a whole to deliver what is promised. OKRs help employees stick to their commitment.
- Tracking: The biggest reason why OKR is a favorite choice among managers is because of the effectiveness with which it tracks the progress of activities.
- Stretching: OKRs have the ability to ‘stretch’ the abilities of an organization by making them achieve more than what they planned to do.
The effectiveness of OKRs depends heavily on how well the OKRs are structured. In order for employees to achieve the goals, they have to first understand it clearly.
1. Make Everything Measurable
No matter how ambitious your performance plan may be, it won’t succeed unless progress can be measured objectively. Managers should ensure that every OKR is both quantifiable and trackable at any point during the cycle. This not only provides a clear benchmark for success, but it also enables employees and managers to monitor progress and make informed adjustments as needed.
Measurability is especially crucial for projects with strict deadlines—when goals are clearly defined and their achievement can be tracked, it becomes easier to allocate time and resources effectively.
For example,
Objective: Increase Monthly Sales Revenue
- Key Result 1: Get 20% more money from sales than you did in the previous quarter.
- Key Result 2: Get 100 new buyers by the end of the quarter.
- Key Result 3: Raise the average order value by 15% compared to the previous quarter.
In short, setting measurable OKRs ensures transparency, accountability, and consistent progress toward desired outcomes.
2. Keep It Clear and Simple
OKRs should always be kept as clear and simple as possible. Avoid ambiguous words that may confuse employees, and minimize the use of jargon or overly long sentences, as these can create uncertainty.
Here’s an example of a clear OKR:
Objective: Enhance Product Usability
Key Result 1: Reduce the average time to complete a task in the product by 15%.
Key Result 2: Achieve a usability score of 80 or above on a standardized usability scale.
This clarity ensures the team’s focus stays on achieving meaningful outcomes that drive the company forward.
3. Align OKRs With Company Goals
When setting OKRs, managers must ensure they align closely with the company’s overarching objectives. For example, if the company’s primary focus for the year is sustainable growth, employee goals should reflect and support that priority.
Here’s an example:
Objective: Drive Sustainable Growth
Key Result 1: Increase annual sales by 15% compared to the previous year.
Key Result 2: Expand market share by launching products in two new strategic priority areas.
This OKR clearly supports the company’s focus on sustainable growth, ensuring that individual efforts contribute directly to broader business goals and foster organizational success.
4. Transparency and Communication
A key factor in the success of OKRs is clear, transparent communication with all employees. Instead of assigning goals separately to departments and individuals in isolation, it’s important to share and discuss the company's overall goals openly. This approach helps every employee understand how their individual contributions connect with the broader organizational objectives.
ThriveSparrow's Tree View helps each employee understand how their individual goals are connected to broader objectives.
Managers can facilitate this by holding town hall meetings every quarter to review OKRs and explain the company’s strategic direction. These sessions promote alignment, foster a sense of shared purpose, and ensure that everyone is moving toward the same goals together.
5. Keep It Challenging but Attainable
When setting OKRs, it’s important to strike a careful balance: goals should be ambitious enough to drive growth without becoming unrealistic or demotivating. Stretching objectives encourages both employees and the organization to reach new heights and unlock their full potential.
- Push Beyond Comfort Zones: Set goals that require effort, creative thinking, and collaboration. Reaching beyond what’s comfortable helps teams discover new skills and strengths.
- Ensure Achievability: Ambitious goals are only effective if they feel attainable. If objectives are set too high, employees may feel overwhelmed or discouraged. Conversely, goals that are too easy can lead to complacency.
- Monitor and Adjust: Regularly review progress to ensure goals remain challenging yet realistic, and adjust them if circumstances change or new information arises.
- Encourage Learning: Challenging but attainable OKRs provide opportunities for growth, learning from setbacks, and celebrating progress, fostering a continuous improvement mindset.
Finding the right balance helps keep motivation high, energizes teams, and supports the organization in achieving meaningful and sustainable results.
Just like how there are certain things that you must do in order to create an effective OKR, there are certain things you must steer clear of as well. Let us now take a look at what these are:
Setting Too Many Objectives
Overloading teams with too many goals can dilute focus and hinder progress on priority tasks. It’s crucial to streamline objectives to maintain clarity and focus, allowing teams to invest their efforts into achieving key outcomes effectively.
Overestimate How Much You Can Accomplish
Avoid setting overly ambitious OKRs that may lead to unrealistic expectations and potential burnout. Establish challenging, yet achievable, goals to keep teams motivated without overwhelming them.
Confusing OKRs with KPIs
OKRs and KPIs serve different purposes; OKRs focus on setting and achieving broad goals while KPIs measure specific performance metrics. Misunderstanding their distinct roles can lead to misaligned objectives and diluted strategic efforts.
Inter-Departmental Competing Goals
Competing goals across departments can obstruct organizational progress. Promote inter-departmental collaboration by ensuring all teams are aligned with the organization’s overarching objectives and understand how their tasks interconnect.
By recognizing these pitfalls and strategically setting OKRs, organizations can enhance productivity and achieve significant advancements.
Try our free OKR generator.
Start driving growth, accountability, and performance with the right set of OKRs. Generate your free OKRs today.
Drive Results With OKRs
Your employees are your biggest assets.
In order to make the most of them, you need to provide them with clear instructions. OKRs help you with this. If you are wondering whether or not your OKRs are effective, you can quickly conduct an employee feedback survey with ThriveSparrow and gauge the effectiveness of setting OKRs in your organization.
ThriveSparrow also serves as a robust OKR software that can streamline the process of setting, tracking, and achieving goals for various organizational roles.
- Managers can use ThriveSparrow to align team goals with company-wide objectives, ensuring that everyone is working towards the same strategic goals. The platform helps track progress in real-time and provides insights into performance metrics, keeping teams focused and accountable.
- Organizations can leverage ThriveSparrow to foster transparency, enabling cross-departmental collaboration and making OKRs visible to everyone. This increases accountability and helps align efforts toward a unified vision, ensuring sustainable growth and higher employee engagement.
By using ThriveSparrow, companies can:
- Set measurable, clear OKRs that align with strategic goals.
- Monitor progress and course-correct in real time.
- Promote transparency and teamwork across departments.
With these capabilities, organizations can achieve:
- Improved goal alignment.
- Enhanced accountability across teams.
- Measurable business growth and increased performance.
Use ThriveSparrow to empowers leaders and teams to collaborate more effectively and drive real, measurable results.
FAQs on Writing OKRs
1. What Are the 5 Elements of OKRs?
The five core elements include:
- Focus – Narrowing down to the most important goals.
- Alignment – Ensuring team goals are in line with company objectives.
- Commitment – Employees commit to achieving their OKRs.
- Tracking – Regularly monitoring progress toward key results.
- Stretching – Setting ambitious goals that push employees beyond their comfort zone.
2. How to Write Up OKRs?
- Make Everything Measurable: Ensure that each OKR can be quantified and tracked. This allows managers to assess progress and make adjustments as needed.
- Keep It Clear and Simple: Use straightforward language without jargon, so employees can easily understand their objectives.
- Align OKRs With Company Goals: Ensure that individual and team OKRs support the larger strategic goals of the organization.
- Promote Transparency and Communication: Share OKRs across departments to ensure everyone understands how their work contributes to the company’s success.
- Keep It Challenging but Attainable: Set ambitious goals that stretch the team’s capabilities, while remaining realistic enough to prevent burnout.
These steps ensure that OKRs are focused, aligned, and achievable.
