In this post, by drawing attention to some of the most discussed and debated points about OKRs, we wanted to highlight what the OKR concept actually "is not." Because sometimes, talking about what a much-debated topic is not can yield far more than talking about what it is.
Happy reading to the curious 😊
1. OKRs are not a framework you can use to organize everything you do.
- Aligning everyone in the same direction,
- Concentrating everyone's attention and focus on "what truly matters most" for the relevant 3 or 6 months
- We are talking about a concept that gives teams alignment, synchronization and high productivity.
A concept with such valuable benefits should not be perceived as a planning and organization tool, or as a tool for cascading teams' tasks within organizations.
The main purpose of OKRs is for everyone to "focus on the same thing that matters" and to be able to use all their resources as efficiently and productively as possible to achieve it. In other words, looking at this process only from a planning/organization or cascading/alignment perspective may do OKRs and their benefits a bit of an injustice.
2. OKRs are not a performance or goal management methodology or tool.
When OKRs are run correctly, goals are achieved and high performance follows, but these are not the main purpose. Here is what the CEOs of the world's largest companies that have used this process from the very beginning have in common:
"I didn't use OKRs to set goals or to measure or improve my employees' performance. Our business was growing and we couldn't afford to lose control. To monitor our business more soundly and in real time, to manage our growth correctly and scale, we needed to manage and use our resources as efficiently as possible, identify bottlenecks as quickly as possible and design the most optimal solutions for them. OKRs gave us that. We managed and grew our business with maximum efficiency. By the end of the process, our goals had been achieved and we had achieved high performance both as employees and as an organization. And we had done all this while growing our business."
As we can see from this, OKRs are actually a "growth-focused business management methodology"; goals and performance follow naturally when the process is designed correctly. Unfortunately, though, we treat this process as if it were merely a goal-setting and performance management methodology. I think this needs particular attention. In a single sentence: OKRs are a business management methodology, and the companies that apply them best have used them out of a need to manage their business better and, more importantly, to grow and improve it, and they have succeeded.
3. OKRs are not, and absolutely should not be, the only input used in individual performance reviews.
OKRs certainly affect your business results and outputs, but your performance does not depend solely on your business results. Using OKRs as the sole source or sole input in employees' individual performance reviews is one of the biggest traps organizations can fall into.
Many different factors determine your performance: your work outputs, your technical and behavioral competencies, the projects you run, the value you add to the organization, your communication approach, your vision, your potential, the blockages you face or may face in the organization and how you manage them, your team and your role in it, your relationship with your direct manager, the feedback you receive and give... All these factors affect your individual performance, and in the performance review process they should all be taken into account together with your business results and included in the evaluation.
4. Your OKRs do not mean your daily routine or your standard, everyday work, and they should not be used to define them.
In every company, each team has certain jobs and tasks it must carry out. There are roles and responsibilities that need to be maintained. These are carried out and completed within certain work plans on a weekly, monthly, quarterly or annual basis. This is about continuing the existing process, keeping everything as it is and sustaining what we currently have in the same way. If that is our goal, then standard goal and KPI management will be enough for us.
But if that is no longer enough for us, that is, if preserving what exists or continuing in the same way no longer serves us and we are now talking about something more, then our priority will be to get started with the OKR concept and benefit from this resource.
If our goal is to grow, develop and improve our business and to do all this in the most efficient and focused way possible, then it is time to make room for the OKR methodology in the organization.
In short: if you have no intention of, or need for, increasing your revenue or improving your internal processes, then the usual goals and work plans may be enough. However, if things are going badly or you recognize a need for improvement, you need to think about what needs fixing, what could be changed or what new opportunities you could seize. This is the point where you turn to OKRs. Or, conversely, if things are going well but you want to take them even further, OKRs will again be your greatest ally in deciding where and how to focus and how to achieve growth, and the most fundamental resource for identifying what to really focus on. In other words, OKRs are a concept that goes far beyond your daily routine workflow and is many times bigger than it.
With that, I have come to the end of this post, in which I have tried to explain "what the OKR concept actually is" through "what it is not." I hope it has been a useful resource for those interested.
See you in the next post,
Wishing you healthy days.
