The OKR method is used to set and measure goals in your business. This is just one of many managing strategies you can adopt.
The OKR method was developed in the 1970s. Quite simply, it’s a way to align your team, and your stakeholders around common goals, and then to measure your progress towards those results.
How to set OKRs
An objective should be short and memorable so that it can be easily shared throughout the company and understood without long-winded explanations. The objectives should be drawn from your business plan.
An example of an objective is ‘increase brand awareness and engagement on social media’.
Your key results should be specific things that you can use to measure your progress towards achieving that objective. If we continue with the same example, some key results could be:
- Grow your Instagram following by 25% before the end of the year
- Increase social media engagement—likes, comments and shares—by 40% across all social media platforms.
As you can see, it’s pretty easy to verify if you hit these key results or not. The objective could run across several months, quarters, and even years, but you set key results for shorter time periods and measure your performance periodically. That way you’ll know if you’re on the right track.
You also have to figure out how to reach these key results. In this case, how are you going to grow your Instagram following? Are you going to have giveaways or influence takeovers? Are you going to try increasing engagement by pivoting towards climate-conscious content or another topical subject?
Figuring out how to achieve your key results can be a daunting job, but checking in on your key results progress periodically will let you know if you’re on the right track.
Benefits of using the OKR method
There are many benefits to using the OKR method:
- OKRs are good for aligning your team, making sure everyone is pulling in the same direction
- OKRs help you set clear business goals that are measurable
- OKRs also help you invest your time and resources where they’ll yield the best results.
- Being goal- and number-oriented gives a good impression to potential employees, investors, stakeholders, and shareholders.