There’s no doubt that setting and achieving objectives is key to any business’s success. But what’s often overlooked is how important it is to have a system in place for aligning these objectives with the key results and tasks needed to achieve them.
When done correctly, an OKR system (objectives, key results, and tasks) can be an extremely powerful tool for driving business growth. Here’s a quick overview of each element and why they’re so important:
Objectives are the overall goals that you want to achieve. They should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART).
Key results are the specific metrics that you’ll use to measure progress toward your objectives.
Tasks are the individual actions that need to be taken to achieve the key results.
The most important thing to keep in mind is that all of these elements must be aligned for the system to be effective. Your objectives should drive your key results, which in turn should drive your tasks.
Here are a few tips on setting up an efficient OKR system:
1. Set realistic objectives. It’s important to have ambitious goals, but they should also be achievable. If your objectives are too lofty, you run the risk of frustration and disillusionment when they’re not met.
2. Make sure your key results are quantifiable. This will make it much easier to measure progress and identify areas that need improvement.
3. Create tasks that are specific and actionable. Vague or overwhelming tasks are more likely to be ignored than completed.
4. Keep it simple. A complex OKR system is more likely to fail than one that’s easy to understand and use.
5. Get buy-in from all team members. An OKR system can’t be successful if everyone isn’t on board with it. Make sure everyone understands the system and its role in achieving the objectives.
How to set objectives that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound
This may seem like a lot to keep track of, but taking the time to ensure that your objectives meet all of these criteria will pay off in the long run. Specific objectives are those that are clearly defined and easy to understand. Measurable objectives are those that can be quantified so that you can track your progress. Achievable objectives are those that are realistic and within your power to achieve. Relevant objectives are those that align with your larger goals. Time-bound objectives are those that have a definite timeline for completion. By taking the time to set objectives that meet all of these criteria, you can be sure that you are setting yourself up for success.
How to set key results that measure progress toward the objective
Key results are the specific measures that an organization uses to track progress toward its objectives. Without key results, it would be difficult to know whether or not an organization is making progress. Key results are often quantifiable, such as the number of sales made or the number of new customers acquired. However, they can also be non-quantifiable, such as the percentage of employees who are satisfied with their jobs. Key results should be aligned with objectives so that it is clear how they contribute to the organization’s overall mission. For example, if an objective is to increase sales by 10%, then a key result could be the number of sales made during a certain period. By tracking key results, organizations can gauge their progress and make necessary adjustments to their objectives and strategies.
How to create tasks that will help achieve the key results
If a task doesn’t help you in achieving your goals then it is probably a waste of effort. The beauty of the OKR framework is that it helps people focus on what matters the most instead of doing hundreds of other things that may not contribute to your objectives. For example, let’s say your key result is to increase sales by 20% over the next quarter. To achieve this, you could create a task to research and identify potential new markets to target. This task would be specific (you know exactly what you need to do), measurable (you can track your progress by the number of new markets you identify), attainable (it is realistic to expect that you can find new markets to target), relevant (this task directly supports your goal of increasing sales) and time-bound (you can set a deadline for completing the research). By following these guidelines, you can be confident that your tasks are helping you move closer to your key results.
Align your objectives, key results & tasks with Huminos
Huminos allows users to establish task completion as a metric to align with the progress of their key results. While creating the key results for your objective, users will have the option of whether they want to use task completion to impact the progress of their OKRs. Once you align tasks with the key results, the task’s completion will influence the progress of the key results too.
