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Research shows that setting clear purposes and goals is a significant part of driving a company's success. Unfortunately, surveys have shown that up to 80% of small businesses don't keep track of their goals, and 77% of these businesses have yet to achieve their vision for the company. While these statistics sound discouraging, they do point out the need to set goals in order to acheive success.
Having clear and concise business goals is crucial in setting your company's priorities, measuring success, and ensuring that your business is headed in the right direction. That's why implementing objectives and key results (OKRs) is imperative to a successful business.
A closer look at objectives and key results
Objectives and key results (OKRs) are one of many essential leadership strategies that help fuel a business's success. OKRs are frameworks that enable companies to outline relevant and impactful values and goals.
- Objective – This is what your company is striving to achieve. For example, is your business aiming to boost sales? Would you like to receive more customer feedback or subscriptions? Are you trying to improve performance? Your company's objectives will largely depend on your industry and your business's vision.
- Key Results – These are the metrics that measure how successfully your business has achieved its objectives. For example, if you set an objective to grow your subscriptions, a key result could be to increase your subscriptions from 200 to 300 within a specified time frame.
Are you searching for productivity hacks that will help your business succeed? Start by implementing objectives and key results.
Here are five of the best practices to follow when creating OKRs.
1. Be specific, but keep goals simple
When setting OKRs, it's essential to take the time to brainstorm. Being specific when outlining your business's goals and how results can be measured will ensure that your objectives are clear and concise. While it's essential to be specific, try to keep your goals simple. Avoid making too many OKRs at once or setting objectives that are too complicated.
2. Set goals that are measurable
For OKRs to work, your objectives need to be measurable. When setting an objective, ask yourself how you will measure its progress. It is easy to measure increases in sales, customer feedback, and subscriptions, but what about goals such as increasing employee productivity? When discussing new objectives, be transparent with your team about how these goals will be measured.
3. Ensure goals are attainable
It's vital to ensure that your objectives are challenging but attainable. While being goal-oriented is crucial for your business, creating unattainable goals can decrease employee productivity and lead to burnout and unhappiness among your team. It's great to be ambitious, but make sure your OKRs are not setting your employees up for failure.
4. Break up larger goals into smaller ones
Breaking up larger goals into smaller ones creates natural milestones and points of achievement throughout an OKR. Smaller goals can also help your team stay focused and on track. For example, suppose you want to double your business's sales or productivity within the next five years. Rather than having one OKR over the next five years, set smaller goals that can be achieved in steps and intervals.
5. Recognize and celebrate milestones
Recognizing and rewarding your team for meeting milestones boosts morale and encourages them to achieve future OKRs. Rather than waiting until the end of an extensive goal to reward their efforts, take the time to encourage your team by providing recognition where it has been earned. Celebrating completed objectives will motivate your employees and foster a positive work environment.
Common OKR mistakes
When preparing to implement objectives and key results, it's worth taking the time to learn about common OKR pitfalls so you can avoid them.
Some of the most common OKR mistakes include:
- Making your OKRs unachievable;
- Creating OKRs that are too easy;
- Failing to follow through on your OKRs;
- Punishing employees for not making OKRs or including them as part of a performance review;
- Failing to discuss OKRs that aren't being met;
- Creating more than five OKRs per quarter;
- Creating more than three key results per objective.
The bottom line
How do you measure the success of your business? Implementing objectives and key results into your business can drastically boost productivity, help define your company’s vision, and create a positive work environment. Once you have implemented OKRs, it’s important to stick with these goals, rather than setting them and forgetting them. Reviewing your key results frequently, celebrating objective milestones with your team, and following OKR best practices will help your business achieve results.
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