A Step by Step Guide to Writing OKRs with Examples

To track your company’s performance and set goals for the year, using an OKR software program can mean the difference between realizing those goals and falling short of your expectations.

 

Creating OKRs and using the software inspires employees to work harder, stay more focused on their responsibilities, and reduce scope creep.*

 

*Scope creep happens when a project changes or veers off track from its initial purpose. 

 

Therefore, developing an effective OKR system is establishing goals that parallel your business’s strategic priorities. These priorities encourage employees with similar skills and aptitudes to communicate more clearly and collaborate easily. To learn how this is done and write OKRs, you need to know how OKRs work.

1. Know How OKRs Work

OKRs, or objectives and key results, represent a metric-driven system based on quantifiable and measurable goals. Using this business model, each department or team is given an assigned number of OKRs, each of which is further resourced to the team’s individuals.

Some OKR Examples 

OKR examples show why using OKR software is valuable to a company’s expansion and growth. Let’s say you’re creating OKRs for improving employee interactions with customers. For this system, you might customize your program, so it does the following:

 

  • Adds new users to the system
  • Manages the current users and tracks employee interactions
  • Sends out rewards to employees who support customer retention and growth

 

This system may be used if you feature customer-facing functions or products featured as your company’s core services.

 

If you use OKRs in marketing, you can customize your software to keep track of critical metrics, such as the percentage of new users generating revenue or how much time is spent on using a product or service.

 

The above examples represent generalizations. When you set up OKRs, you’ll naturally define them more clearly. 

2. Establish Your Objective and Break Down the Tasks

Your ultimate objective may be to add 100 new customers to your company’s database by year-end. To achieve this goal, you might establish key results (KRs), such as:

 

  • Increase social media posting to 10 posts per week
  • Improve the quality of blog posts, including guest blogs, to increase page views to 1,000 per month
  • Increase the number of pay-per-click ads by 10%

 

When you’re using an OKR system, you are defining your goals precisely so that you can make measurable and quantifiable adjustments along the way. The idea is to work toward those goals without wandering off the course you’ve established for your company.

3. Encourage Collaboration and Communication

To establish clear and definable OKRs, it is essential to encourage collaboration and know your company’s strategic priorities. Doing so will give you the support needed to realize your main objective. 

 

The more people you involve in achieving the goals you set for your company, the less time is wasted on performing unnecessary tasks. That is why, when you write OKRs, you have to keep this in mind. Make sure everyone is given equal consideration. 

The Key Takeaway is the Software You Use

The best OKR software is designed to fit your company’s specific operational needs. It not only actively engages employees but also holds them accountable. When you have those components in place, you’ll have everything you need to meet the mission and vision of your company.