15five's ultimate guide for making okrs work at your company (part 2)

ULTIMATE GUIDE For Making OKRs Work AT YOUR COMPANY

15Five’s

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CHAPTER 3

MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT THE OKR SYSTEM

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12 | 15Five’s Ultimate Guide for Making OKRs Work at Your Company

MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT THE OKR SYSTEMNot everybody is a fan of objective-based management. In this chapter we will address these common critiques and misunderstandings of OKRs and similar systems:

Misconception: The process of creating

OKRs will slow down my team.

Truth: OKRs improve the

rate of performance, by planning ahead

and keeping the team aligned.

Some employees will feel overwhelmed by the 3 to 5 lofty objectives they set every quarter, and overwhelm can cause shut-down.

• According to John Doerr, do not create too many key results. Six is the absolute maximum so as not to risk overextending the team.

• Never set any business goal and simply walk away. Managers should check in frequently to ensure that employees stay on track.

• Go beyond the metrics and ask qualitative questions. “How are you doing? What challenges are you facing? How can I help?”

• Break down quarterly objectives into weekly and monthly goals. Taking small bites feels more manageable and provides a roadmap to completing the larger goal.

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There are a couple of ways to handle this:

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Misconception: The frequency of OKRs are out of sync with the

pace of the market.

Truth: OKRs can be abandoned

if that’s in the best interest of the company.

Misconception: Employees lose

focus because they are worried about achieving results.

Truth: Key Results are

stretch goals that don’t impact reviews

or compensation.

OKRs can become flexible if necessary. For example, a new competitor may arise or the company’s financial outlook may collapse or improve. While the OKRs for the quarter stay the same, leaders canreact by providing new goals for teams and employees to do what’s best for the business. The quarterly objectives will likely not be reached, but everyone gains valuable insights from failed OKRs. They in essence become learning lessons for the company to improve future performance.

OKRs are not a to-do list with a button at the bottom. Allow people to fail at them since OKR performance is not tied to annual reviews, compensation, or bonuses. At the end of the quarter everyone debriefs and learns from the failures. Managers and employees all learn how to set better objectives for the upcoming quarter.

• Don’t tie key results to performance or compensation.• Key results are graded at the end of the quarter. They are stretch

goals that should challenge the employee. The goal is 60%-70% completion. If employees hit them all, they are not striving enough.

Objectives that are set quarterly can seem to fall out of pace with the frequency of change within the company (especially for smaller startups that have to pivot).

Employees can be intimidated because they are afraid of repercussions for not accomplishing their objectives. Management can assuage their concerns by explaining that key results are independent of criteria for performance reviews:

Management wants to set lofty objectives for everyone in the organization. Set sights higher than what one might think is possible, and be pleasantly surprised with the outcomes.

Note: Some organizations use OKRs as a method for goal tracking, rather than the “Google Method” of setting overly-ambitious objectives. Those companies can use a different strategy by having teams and employees set more attainable objectives. Success will then be benchmarked by 90-100% completion, rather than 60-70%.

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CHAPTER 4

THE 15FIVE APPROACH TO OKRS

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THE 15FIVE APPROACH TO OKRS 15Five offers flexible performance management software that gives employees ownership over their contributions, and provides managers with visibility to improve individual performance and the achievement of company-wide objectives.

15Five links leadership’s vision with individual execution so that clarity on top-level objectives helps to create a sense of ownership among individual contributors.

The Objectives and 15Five make it simple for every employee to actually do what they say they are going to achieve.

Give data a context through

regular qualitative feedback. Every company has

metrics and KPIs in place to regularly observe and measure performance, but when it comes to assessing people, quantitative analysis is only half the story.

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15Five is not just about information gathering, but also aids in the establishment of trust. Asking team members “how do you feel?” or “where are you challenged?”, elicits valuable information like, “I am stressed because we re-structured departmental procedures and it feels like there are still gaping holes in our new process”, or “I am getting run down and can’t do my best work”. Managers can then respond to employee needs before they get out of hand.

Managers can quickly and easily discover misalignments and make weekly course corrections. They can see where employees are challenged and offer just enough support to allow them to grow into their roles and achieve their objectives. Employees also have the opportunity to share triumphs and be acknowledged by management. Acknowledgements help motivate employees to perform and they boost morale.

DATA IS NOT ENOUGH15Five and Objectives perfectly complement each other to provide context around objective- focused management. By asking the right questions every week, managers obtain deeper insight into the motivations, distractions and other issues that influence or hinder results.

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When company leaders connect long term goals with communication, they tap into the human element of performance. People move naturally towards doing their best work and becoming their best selves.

15Five is reinventing performance management software from an understanding of human dynamics. The rhythmic pulsing of weekly check-ins and regular one-on-one meetings constitutes the real heartbeat of a growing company. Deep trusted relationships form and managers can inspire greatness by tapping into the passion and creativity of talented employees.

Set goals, measure them, and then have the conversations to replicate triumphs and remediate challenges. 15Five offers company leaders the opportunity to naturally inspire the best work from their teams, while facilitating rapid growth for the business.

“The more a job resembles a game with variety, appropriate and flexible challenges, clear goals and immediate feedback, the more enjoyable it will be regardless of the worker’s level of development.”

-Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, from his bestselling book Flow



Without supplementing the numbers with context, leaders are just guessing about the future of their company.

The quantitative by itself only provides half the picture, but when managers have conversations early enough, so much can be addressed before breakdown. When people can share openly because they don’t feel that their jobs are at risk, managers learn where they are struggling beyond their capacity and become aware of the things that need improvement before it’s too late.

15Five is built around the weekly check-in as the cornerstone that assures people are connecting with their high level objectives every week.

“Don’t use data as a drunken man uses a lamp post – for support rather than illumination.”

-Andrew Lang, Scottish poet

The weeklypulse.

Company leaders who communicate with employees to discover their challenges and ideas are better equipped to take specific action to remedy ailments like low output. Managers need to hear the in-depth story behind performance issues or see what is working so that they can replicate it elsewhere in the company.

The OKR methodology can be implemented along with 15Five, an automated question and answer process that provides visibility into the world of each employee. Managers can uncover employee challenges so that they can offer support, and even find out what’s going on in an employee’s personal life that might be affecting work performance. With these two tools together in one platform it offers managers an elegant solution for receiving employee feedback and responding in a way that re-aligns employees with their quarterly objectives.

The ability to accomplish lofty organizational goals results directly from high levels of employee engagement, productivity and satisfaction. According to Gallup Business Journal, when organizations successfully engage their employees (and customers), they experience a 240% boost in performance-related business outcomes.

There is tremendous value to taking the pulse of a company. By asking questions employees feel safe to report difficult truths to management, who can take the necessary steps to keep them on track.

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Vision

Strategy

Tactics

Feedback

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Aligning people with the big

picture through feedback.

Vertical An individual’s objectives connect to (and do not conflict with) the objectives of managers and the team.

What are your objectives this quarter?

Compay / mission An individual can clearly see the importance of his or her objectives because they are connected to the company goals and mission.

Do you know what is expected of you to help us achieve our company-wide goals?

Horizontal An individual’s objectives connect (and do not conflict) across teams.

Do you see any conflicts between your goals and those of anyone else on the team?

Organizations (especially larger ones) are structured in a variety of different ways, which can add complexity to the process of aligning employees.

Alignment is not just top-down and typically occurs in 3 ways:

15Five’s OKR dashboard provides managers with immediate data to see who is falling behind or at risk of failing to complete an objective. Going a layer deeper provides analysis on goals among and across teams so that conflicts do not arise.

With 15Five, managers can ask these questions directly:

Asking if people understand their priorities creates alignment, and asking clarifying questions maintains it.

If there’s an answer that proposes an idea or indicates a roadblock asking that person follow-up questions like “What do you think is the best way for us to implement this?”, “What resources and support do you need to make this happen?”, or even “Tell me more”. This lets people know that managers care and desire further articulation of an idea.

The final piece of the puzzle is providing feedback to teams throughout the organization.

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CONCLUSIONThis formula for success continues to prove valuable in almost any business scenario:

What can be accomplished in a quarter? 500 work hours fly by quickly and can be wasted without focus. 15Five’s Objectives lets you break down enormous and ambitious quarterly goals into their smaller component parts throughout an organization, from the C-suite down to each individual team and employee. Steady progress can then be made and measured, and the seemingly impossible achieved. Asking Weekly 15Five Questions allows managers to regularly course correct and positively impact morale and engagement along the way.

OKRs create disciplined thinking so that people prioritize their major goals. They let everyone in the organization know what is important and enable more accurate communication because everyone can see everyone else’s priorities. They help establish a metrics-driven culture, and they help focus effort and ensure alignment.

Supporting employees to do their best work can be challenging for early-stage startups and established business with years of success under their belts. OKRs allow management to lead each team to establish objectives that are in-line with company goals. They can give individuals the space to do their best work, and provide them with regular team feedback to always work as a cohesive unit on moving the company forward.

Set company, team, and individual objectives.

Gather data to measure performance. Have the right

communication rhythm to keep the team aligned.

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15Five provides web-based performance management software that helps create high performing teams by combining pulse surveys, weekly check-ins, peer recognition and OKRs all in one platform. Learn more at 15Five.com.

http://15Five.com

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CONCLUSIONThis formula for success continues to prove valuable in almost any business scenario:

SOURCESWeb

http://blogs.salesforce.com/company/2013/04/how-to-create-alignment-within-your-company.html http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/231202 http://firstround.com/article/the-management-framework-that-propelled-LinkedIn-to-a-20-billion-company https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJB83EZtAjc http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/17/business/david-sacks-of-yammer-on-fostering-dissent-corner-office.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/31/business/31corner.html?pagewanted=1&_r=3

Books

Flow by Mihaly CsikszentmihalyiMastering the Rockefeller Habits by Verne Harnish The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey

Image Credits

Canada Library Archives, https://www.flickr.com/photos/lac-bac/Olivier Carré-Delisle, https://www.flickr.com/photos/84593672@N05/Jesus Solana, https://www.flickr.com/photos/pasotraspaso/amenclinicsphotos ac, https://www.flickr.com/photos/125892716@N05/ Adam_T4, https://www.flickr.com/photos/adam_t4/