Implementing OKRs in your organisation? Why should you start with OKR Champions & Facilitators?

One of our recent corporate clients in Singapore, booked us for a full day OKR Champion introduction and alignment workshop before starting to implement Goal Setting by OKRs (Objectives & Key Results) at their company and team levels.

This gave us time to adapt the methodology to their needs and get the internal facilitator and coordinator team ready before we work with the rest of the organisations.

Here an overview about what is needed to prepare before you start with OKRs

1. Align on key methodology adaptations (3, 4 or 6 months / Stretch targets? / Layers?)

2. Be clear why your organisation needs a short-term agile goal setting approach

3. Have your long-term planning (Mission, Vision, Strategy, etc.) ready and updated

4. Understand benefits of using OKRs for teams, projects and team members

5. Have a your yearly objectives in place for next fiscal year.

6. Align on key methodology adaptations (3, 4 or 6 months OKRs / Stretch targets? / How many layers of OKRs? / Cross-functional OKRs?)

Above that, it was important to identify and train 4 - 5 OKR Champions on the overall methodology and implementation cycle. That gives us internal change management support for the upcoming OKR Training and Workshop with the teams. The OKR Champions also support us directly to choose an OKR template or Tool and to set-up the workshop and check-in cycle meetings and calls.

1. Align on key methodology adaptations

   Like any other methodology, OKRs should not just be blindly implemented but adapted to the needs of your organisation. We managed to clarify following points during the OKR Champion Workshop:

   1. What is the length of the OKR cycle (3, 4 or 6 months): A shorter cycle gives the business faster time to adapt but also needs an organisation which delivers results fast. Normally startups and tech companies adapt a 3 months OKR cycle while more traditional industries like banking, production, government, etc. adopt a 4 or 6 months cycle.

   2. Should we apply stretch targets? If you organisation is used to work against 100% fulfillment and cannot handle a 70% success rate, it is advised not to use stretch targets during the first OKR implementation.

   3. How many layers of OKR in the organisation? For a new OKR implementation we recommend to start with maximum one or two layers on company and team or project level. More than three layers are not advised for full roll-out as otherwise the teams are stuck every 3-6 months in lengthy OKR planning sessions.

   4. Do we use cross-functional OKRs? As an agile methodology OKRs favour cross-functional or project teams as we can define a common Objective and let different sub-teams or team members work on fulfilling the Key Results. We advise to not only use OKRs in siloed team or departmental structures as it defies the OKR principles of alignment and collaboration.

      
      

OKR Implementation Cycle - OKR Asia

2. Be clear why your organisation needs a short-term agile goal setting approach

   
   

   Make sure that your leadership and change coordination team is clear on why OKRs could be beneficial for your organisation. Our recent client acknowledged that the current market situation does not favor a strict 12 months KPI planning anymore. Furthermore the leadership would like to engage all team members to have more ideas and impact on the business results, rather than just working their tasks down. Finally, the client would also like to change its evaluation system more into aligned business results and team impact rather than individual contribution measurement.

   
   

3. Have your long-term planning (Mission, Vision, Strategy, etc.) ready and updated

   During the OKR Champion workshop we started to revamp the existing Mission, Vision and Strategy of the global group and realized that it does not fully fit to the APAC situation. The OKR Champions together with the management will update the long-term planning for our first OKR Training and Workshop with the teams by the end of this year.

   
   

   This is paramount in order to align and inspire the teams on a long-term vision and to give the team a chance during the OKR Workshop to give feedback on the strategy. OKRs works best when the teams are inspired and part of the overall companies' direction.

   
   

4. Understand benefits of using OKRs for teams, projects and team members

   We also discussed why it could be beneficial for teams in different locations, projects and individual team members to be involved in the OKR planning and check-in process.

   This is crucial that a new methodology or a major change to result-oriented progress measurement has also advantages and benefits for everybody involved in the organisation, not just the leadership.

5. Have a your yearly objectives in place for next fiscal year before implementing OKRs in your organisations

   Before starting with 3, 4 or 6 months detailed OKR planning, we have to be clear and aligned on what are the overall targets for this fiscal year. Once we are clear on that and everyone agrees in the workshop, we can start to prioritize what is important to start in the first term or quarter.

In conclusion, successfully implementing OKRs in your organization requires thorough preparation, strategic adaptation, and strong internal support. Clarifying methodology choices, aligning on short-term goals, updating long-term strategic plans, and understanding the diverse benefits across teams are essential steps. Additionally, cultivating internal OKR Champions ensures effective change management and ongoing support throughout the process. By thoughtfully tailoring OKR practices to the organization’s unique needs and engaging leadership and teams early, companies can unlock greater agility, alignment, and impact. Proper groundwork paves the way for a smooth transition to a goal-setting framework that drives meaningful results and fosters a collaborative, purpose-driven culture.

For more information how to introduce OKRs, Project & Action Management and how to achieve a result-oriented and agile culture please contact us here or on transform@asiapmo.com 

This blog was written by Carsten Ley, Entrepreneur, Enabler & Project Lead in Employee Experience, Project & Business Transformation leading large scale project implementations in Banking, Consulting, Project & Experience Management for companies like Deloitte Germany, VW Mexico, Rolls-Royce UK and Lazada Vietnam. He founded 2018 Asia PMO, a consulting firm focussing on getting clients fast and efficient into implementation of company objectives, customer & employee experience improvements to foster a result- and team-oriented environment.