As we come to the end of another month I was reminded this morning to update my goals for Echo Consulting goals reporting. Every month we gather our team and review those goals we have met, share insights and status on those not yet completed. This reminded me of the Objective and Key Results goal framework of a great book I read several years ago on business strategy: John Doerr’s book Measure What Matters.
Setting goals is both deceptively hard as well as unexpectedly valuable. Goal setting sets a strategy to articulate what we reach and share
our values to add to the company. It is so valuable
to have targets, based on transformational simplicity
\and power to help teams actually accomplish goals.
Doerr’s framework of Objective & Key Results (OKR) goal framework consists of two parts:
Objective: (O) what you are trying to accomplish
Objectives are qualitative, and should be inspiring. This defines what is important and why. Objectives are a set time frame and can be weekly, quarterly, annually, and even long-term. The objective should be difficult, the point is to push ourselves as team members, team, and the company. The objectives facilitate clear thinking and foster clarity in execution.
Key Results: (KR) how you will measure if you reach the objective.
A Key Result is measurable and verifiable; it is met or not met / yes or no as to whether you reached the objective. Completion of all the key results is an achieved objective.
Setting goals comes with superpowers! As described in the book these packed powers include these four highlighted challenges.
An important concept I learned from OKRs and goals is that not meeting the goal and the key results is not failure; it is instead the opportunity to learn from the experience and improve on it next time. It is the opportunity to look at what kept me from reaching this goal and is something that should be included in my outputs and value to the company. Both achieving and not achieving goals are part of being part of an amazing team.
Are you ready to set goals, and adopt OKRs for your team’s projects? Reach out to Echo Consulting when you are ready to get started at ContactUs@echoconsultingpm.com
Reference: Doerr, J. (2018). Measure what matters. Portfolio Penguin.