The OKR method, born at Intel and popularized by Google, has become an indispensable tool for many companies. But why is it so popular and relevant today? By providing a clear and effective framework for setting strategic objectives and measuring their success, it promotes team alignment, transparency and adaptability - crucial qualities in a constantly evolving business environment. Let's take a look at a method that stimulates innovation and maximizes business performance.

Defining your OKRs

Aiming for goals

Before starting to implement the OKR method, it's imperative to take the time to think it through carefully, to ensure its success. This starts with asking the right questions, the ones that will guide the whole process of defining Objectives and Key Results (OKRs). What is our ambition to contribute to the vision over the next period? This fundamental question requires in-depth reflection on the company's short- and medium-term aspirations. Over the next 3 months, what direction do we want to focus on?

Example:

Let's imagine we're an emerging technology start-up. Over the next few quarters, our vision is to become an innovative leader in our sector. To achieve this ambitious goal, we need to focus on three crucial aspects:

1. X% growth: Our ambition is to achieve significant sales growth over the coming months. Setting a quantified objective, such as an X% increase, gives us a clear target to reach and guides us in our actions to stimulate this growth. It also provides tangible metrics to measure our progress, and keeps employees motivated by giving them a challenge.
2. Implementing a new marketing strategy: In a rapidly changing market, it's essential to stay ahead of the game in terms of marketing strategy. Defining this objective requires us to carefully examine our market positioning, identify new opportunities and develop innovative strategies to attract and retain customers. By emphasizing innovation and adaptability, this sparks employee interest in meeting this challenge.
3. Improving customer satisfaction: Customer satisfaction is at the heart of our long-term success. By focusing on this goal, we are committed to understanding our customers' needs and expectations, continually improving our products and services, and strengthening relationships with our existing customer base. This helps to motivate employees by offering them a rewarding goal and encouraging them to develop practices that directly benefit customers.

By defining these three key objectives, we are establishing a clear roadmap for the coming quarters. Each of these objectives contributes to our overall vision and enables us to focus our efforts on the areas most critical to our success. The clarity of these objectives guides us in defining the Key Results that will enable us to measure our progress and ensure that we are on track to achieve our ambitions.

Specify results

Defining relevant objectives is a crucial step in implementing the OKR method. These golden rules not only guide the selection of key results, but also determine the extent to which they actually contribute to the company's overall objectives.

• An actionable result, often referred to as "leading ", is one over which the team has direct control and which can be influenced by its actions. In other words, it's an indicator whose improvement is directly linked to the efforts of the entire organization. For example, if our objective is to improve customer satisfaction, an actionable result could be the number of positive feedbacks received from customers after the implementation of new initiatives.
• A business result, sometimes called "lagging", is an indicator that measures the company's final results or overall performance. It is often influenced by several factors, and can be more difficult to change directly. Take sales growth as an example: although this is a crucial objective for many companies, it depends on a variety of factors, such as marketing strategy, product quality, etc., and can be difficult to change directly.

To ensure the relevance of key results, it is essential that they answer the fundamental question:"We will know that we have achieved the objective if at the end of the period...". This formulation requires a clear definition of success criteria and enables objective assessment of progress towards the objective.

By avoiding selecting items over which you have no direct control, or which require complex and imprecise measurements, you ensure that your OKRs remain aligned with achievable and meaningful objectives. Ultimately, well-defined key results ensure that your efforts are concentrated where they will have the greatest impact, leading to optimal performance and the achievement of your company's strategic objectives.

Implement them within the team

Choosing the right manager by KR

The selection of managers for each Key Result (KR) is a critical step in the OKR implementation process. These leaders act as pilots for their respective KRs, guiding employees towards the achievement of set objectives. It is therefore imperative to select individuals who are not only close to the mission, but who also possess the skills needed to effectively coordinate a team and achieve the desired outcomes.

• Opting for someone close to the mission ensures that the manager fully understands the importance and impact of KR on the company's overall objectives. Their proximity to the mission enables them to contextualize key results and make informed decisions to achieve them.
• Choosing leaders with team coordination skills is essential to ensure collaboration and synergy within the group. These individuals must have the ability to bring team members together, delegate tasks effectively and create an environment conducive to collective success.

However, appointing a manager is not enough. It's just as important to equip them with the skills they need to communicate effectively with their team. Proactive communication is an essential element in bringing OKRs to life on a daily basis. Managers must be able to clearly articulate objectives and expectations, provide constructive feedback and maintain an open and transparent dialogue with their team members.

Ultimately, the right choice of leaders for each KR, combined with their ability to coordinate a team and communicate effectively, is a key element in the success of the OKR method. These individuals play a crucial role in aligning and mobilizing the team around common objectives, leading to outstanding performance and the realization of the company's ambitions.

Communicating well

Communication is undeniably an essential pillar in the success of the OKR method. Much more than a simple transmission of information, it represents the glue that binds the company's strategic objectives to the concrete actions of each team member. As such, the way OKRs are communicated is of vital importance in ensuring that they are understood, adhered to and achieved.

• Communicate OKRs orally in an impactful way:

Meetings, brainstorming sessions and presentations are prime opportunities to highlight key objectives and results. These moments offer a unique opportunity to capture the team's attention, create a sense of urgency and inspire commitment to shared goals. Using stories, concrete examples and powerful data can help make OKRs more tangible and meaningful to team members.

• Use the usual communication channels on a regular basis to talk about OKRs :

Whether in team meetings, e-mails, informal discussions or online collaboration platforms, constant and consistent communication on objectives and progress reinforces alignment and transparency within the team. This enables each member to understand his or her role in achieving OKRs, and to see how his or her efforts contribute to the company's overall objectives.

Ultimately, effective communication of OKRs is a key element in transforming objectives into tangible actions, and aspirations into concrete ends. By focusing on impact, regularity and clarity in the transmission of OKRs, organizations can foster greater commitment, enhanced collaboration and outstanding performance within their teams.

What's the best way to learn the OKR method?

Training in the OKR method is an essential step in ensuring the successful implementation of this approach to goal management. This training course offers a deep dive into the OKR methodology, highlighting its challenges and outcomes for participants.

The main objective of this training course is to arm participants with the tools they need to use the OKR framework effectively. This includes the ability to write a clear and concise Action Plan, and to communicate it persuasively and effectively to the team.

And the course :

1. Choosing the 3/6 month mission in line with the company's strategy: Understanding the importance of linking individual goals to the company's strategic objectives is crucial to the successful implementation of OKRs. Participants will learn how to align their short-term mission with the organization's long-term vision.
2. Choosing priority objectives and identifying the right key results to work on: Selecting the most relevant and impactful objectives and key results is an essential skill. This training course will help participants identify priority objectives and define key results that lead to outstanding performance.
3. Communicate your plan with impact within your team: Knowing how to effectively communicate your action plan is essential to getting team buy-in. Participants will learn persuasive communication techniques to share their action plan in a way that inspires and mobilizes their team to achieve their objectives.

To find out more about NUMA training, download our catalog or contact our team directly. 

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