A template we have used to run 1/2-day OKRs workshops. If you're implementing Objectives and Key Results, then you may find this presentation useful for inspiration. Focus on the history of OKRs, why and how OKRs add value, and how to link OKRs to company mission and purpose.

1. OKRs at YOUR_COMPANY
Bo Pedersen
www.gtmhub.com
bo@gtmhub.com

2. What are you dealing with?
Growth or
Change

3. Who are you dealing with?
People

4. What are you dealing with?
Data

5. This is what OKRs are
made for…

6. History

7. The Challenge:Purpose of Goal Setting
27/09/2017 7
Direction Motivation Persistence Learning

8. The Challenge:What drives Goal performance?
27/09/2017 8
Goal Difficulty

9. The Challenge:What drives Goal performance?
27/09/2017 9
Goal Difficulty
Measurement

10. The Challenge:What drives Goal performance?
27/09/2017 10
Goal Difficulty
Measurement
Commitment
Feedback Complexity
Importance Confidence

11. The Challenge:Management by Objectives
27/09/2017 11
Peter Drucker
SMART goals
Annual
Rewards
Compensation

12. The Challenge: Balanced Scorecard
27/09/2017 12
Kaplan & Norton
Strategy /
Execution
Perspectives
Alignment
Leading / Lagging

13. Organisational evolution
Anarchic HierarchyMatrixTeamsDemocratic
Departmental
Project
✓X
More control
Execution Bias
Less Control
Innovation Bias
Trend

14. We need a way to thrive in changing
world
SMART + Rewards
Alignment
Stretch & Measure Cloud
Mobile
Microservices
Looks like there is a
better way
And all this change is
going on

15. Agile is a reaction to this

16. #FutureofWork
Collaborative
Self-organising
Cross-functional
Team-based
Adaptive
Evolutionary
Early delivery
Continuous improvement
Rapid response

17. What have we learnt so far?
• Goals are good (stretch goals are better)
• Measurement is crucial
• Organisations are changing
• The way we work is changing
• Huge trends are happening

18. The Challenge: And then…
• Objectives and Key Results
• Invented at Intel, adopted by Google
• 1000s of companies using OKRs
27/09/2017 18

19. You’re part of a trend
OKRs – Google Searches
2011 - 2016

20. Why

21. Personal
Team
Company

22. Where to start?
Values – Who are we?
Vision/Mission/Purpose – Why are we here?

23. Your Values
What are the your Values?
(or what should they be)
Form groups of 2-3

24. Your Values
INSERT VALUES

25. What’s in a Mission?
Guide to decisions and actions
Provides a path and direction
Sets context for strategy
“a goal for what a company wants to do for the
world”

26. What does a great mission statement
look like?

27. … designs, manufactures and launches
advanced rockets and spacecraft. The company
was founded in 2002 to revolutionize space
technology, with the ultimate goal of enabling
people to live on other planets.

28. Photo by SpaceX on Unsplash

29. …organize the world’s information and make it
universally accessible and useful

31. empower and engage people around the world
to collect and develop educational content under
a free license or in the public domain, and to
disseminate it effectively and globally.

33. 10-Minute Exercise
What is your Mission?
(or what should it be)
Form groups of 2-3

34. INSERT MISSION

35. Your Objectives (verbatim)
1. INSERT

36. Your Objectives (abridged)
1. INSERT

37. Tools for prioritisation
Prioritize Goals
NASA 1960s Political
Landscape
Strengths
- Education
- Funding
- Facilities
Weaknesses
- Financial mngt
- Bureaucracy
Opportunities
- Soviet Threat
- Military contracts
Threats
- Loss of life
- Public Apathy
• Goal: Publicize threat of Soviet
dominance in space to increase
funding and garner public support.
• Goal: Target zero loss of human life
to avoid public disenchantment
• Goal: Minimize financial
misspending and reduce overheads
to avoid political backlash.

38. The Challenge:Commonly Cited Benefits
• Focus
– choosing what needs to be done
• Alignment
– Everyone working on common objectives
• Engagement
– Employees know how they contribute which
make their job meaningful
• Transparency
– feedback loop between strategy and execution
27/09/2017 38

39. Why OKRs?
Focus & Alignment
Grow and sell the best
organic strawberries in
the world

40. Focus & Alignment
How do you choose what not to do?
Breaking out of BAU mode
Cross-functional teams

41. Why OKRs?
Transparency

42. Why OKRs?
Accountability

43. Transparency
Pros & Cons?
Should we be open about everything?

44. Why OKRs?
Autonomy & Engagement
Select the best
variety of
Strawberries
Gain Access to
Farmers Market
Prepare for an
excellent
harvest
Joe
Horticulture
Esther
Sales & Marketing
Charles
Operations
“I know strawberries
inside out!”
“I believe we should
target Farmers Markets”
“I want to get us ready
for harvest”

45. Autonomy
Less = Top Down
More = Bottom Up
Recommended = Negotiation

46. Engagement
How do we measure it?
Subjective experience

47. The Challenge:
OKRs as enabler of agile micro-
services
Micro-service
Modular
Independent
Loosely Coupled
Supports Business
Goal
Transparent
Parallel
Networked
Agile Team
Autonomous
Independent
Aligned with
Business Goals
Cross-functional
27/09/2017 47

48. Why OKRs summary?
• Link Mission to Action
• You have Values, Mission, Objectives, and
Priorities
• Focus, Alignment, Engagement, Transparency

49. Break

50. How

51. Convert Mission into Action
Values – Who are we?
Vision/Mission/Purpose – Why are we here?
Goal – What’s our big hairy audacious goal?
Objectives – What’s possible now (3 months)?
Key Results – How do we we measure success?
Tasks – How do we make progress?

52. Bringing it together
OKRs
Goal(s)
Mission
Put a man on the
moon before the
end of the decade
Develop a rocket a
engine generating
at least 1.5m
pounds of force
Successful Test of
F-1 Engine in
simulated launch
environment
Develop a fuel
injection method for
Kerosene based
engine
Build a recoverable
re-entry capsule
with space for 3
astronauts
Successfully test
capsule heat shield
under re-entry
maxima conditions
10 years
1 year
3 months

53. OKR Structure
Key Results
Objective Accelerate
Growth
Book $3m
New
Business
Upsell 200
customers to
Enterprise
Max Churn =
1% / month
Measure
ment
What
Qualitative
Quantitative

54. The Challenge:Example
Objective: Improve health
Key results:
• Blood pressure 120 / 80
• Work out 3 times per week
• Cook 3 healthy meals per week
Time frame: Next 3 months
27/09/2017 54

55. The Challenge: Ask these questions
What do you want to achieve?
How will you measure success?
What can you do to get there?
55

56. Exercise – Set an OKR
What do you want to achieve?
How will you measure progress?

57. What do you want to achieve?
• Qualitative expression (make X better,
improve Y, reduce Z errors)
• Creates value (BSC: financial, customer,
process, learning)
• Targets leading indicators, to affect
change in lagging indicators
• Set no more than 2-3 objectives per
quarter
27/09/2017 57

58. How will you measure success?
• Quantitative, objective, numbers
• Use numbers instead of percentages
• Balance upside measurements with
downside counter measures
• Measure outcomes, rather than activity
27/09/2017 58

59. What will you do to make progress?
• Initiatives. Broader definition of
something you’ll do. For example a
marketing campaign.
• Priorities. Based on your understanding
of what you’re trying to achieve and what
the success criteria are, you can prioritise
tasks accordingly.
• Check-ins. Individual, team. Make time
for OKRs as part of your individual and
team routines.27/09/2017 59

60. OKR Alignment - Teams
Objective
– L2
Objective
– L1
Increase
Revenue
Make Existing
Customers
Happier
Turbo Charge
Net New
Sales Process

61. OKR Alignment
Objective - L4
Objective – L3
Objective – L2
Objective – L1 Accelerate
Growth
Make Existing
Customers
Happier
Reduce
Onboarding to
two weeks
Provide
Dedicated
Account
Management
Hire 3 Account
Managers
Turbo Charge
Net New Sales
Process
Roll-out CRM
Tool and
Process
Shortlist CRM
SaaS Providers
Increase Sales
Proficiency
Deliver Sales
Training

62. Negotiating OKRs
Key Points
Social contract
1-1
Light touch
OKR Champion

63. The Question
“How can you help me achieve my
objective?”

64. The Challenge:Who should own OKRs?
• Company
• Teams
• Employees
27/09/2017 64

65. The Challenge: Basic principles
• Max 2-3 OKRs per employee/team
• Ideally 3 key results per objective
• Progress is updated weekly
• Objectives should be ambitious, it should be
almost impossible to accomplish them fully
(target 70% )
• Employees should not be evaluated on OKRs
27/09/2017 65

66. The Challenge:Performance Management
Exercise
How should OKRs and Performance
Appraisals be managed?
27/09/2017 66

67. The Challenge:
OKR Champion
At least one person should be designated
process owner
Ensures that process is being followed
Acts as a resident expert

68. The Challenge:
What not to do
Too many objectives
Using tasks as OKRs
Using KPIs as OKRs
Using OKRs for performance appraisals or
compensation / bonus adjustments

69. Exercise – Company Objectives
Feel up for it?

70. The Challenge:
Final Recap
OKRs came out of goals, MBOs, Agile
OKRs demand transparency
OKRs deliver focus, alignment, engagement
OKRs are separate from HR process
OKRs are separate from compensation
OKRs align strategy with execution

71. Q&A
You made it!

72. Thank you
Bo Pedersen
bo@gtmhub.com
+44 7775448056
www.gtmhub.com