How OKRs Help Employees Stop Losing Focus?

One key element needed to succeed in anything is Focus. By concentrating on a given task or project, company employees may be able to perform well. It may seem difficult, but putting in an effort to ensure a good result is key. Unfortunately, some factors get in the way sometimes, which may affect an organization’s growth and development. 

As far as concerned, Objective and Key Result (OKR) is an important tool needed in keeping track of a company’s performance and goals; however, it has an additional advantage. OKRs help employees stop losing focus and have a proper work-life balance. Read this article to know more. 

Why Your Employees Might Be Losing Focus on OKRs?

Generally, several factors may contribute to why employees may lose focus on their objectives and key results. 

1. The impact of technology has done great good for organizations, but it has also done some evil. Employees find it hard to focus because there are so many distractions in this digital age. The influence of social media is one. It keeps people away from the real world, as they spend more time on their mobile phones or computers. So, instead of your workers focusing on a particular task or project, they get caught up in events around them. 

2. Another reason why employees may be losing focus is multitasking, stress, and anxiety. Your company employees may have a lot of responsibilities, which might render them unproductive. Imagine if a secretary was doing the role of a personal assistant, receptionist, and manager. That is a lot of responsibility for one person – a heightened level of stress and anxiety comes with it. 

3. More importantly, OKRs are dependent on business goals. Employees lose focus because sometimes the strategy doesn’t come with a defined direction. The fault mostly is on a team leader or employer who thinks OKRs work the same way for everyone. 

How Can Your Employees Stop Losing Focus on Their OKRs? 

To have your company employees become more focused on OKRs, you should consider the following:

1. Get your team a proper orientation of what OKR is and how strategic planning works. The team needs to learn what the business goal is, what they need to do, and what they should avoid achieving. It could be through physical workshops, online courses, OKR tools or software, or inviting experts to discuss. 

2. Another method of getting a good level of focus from employees is having them perform a similar project. OKR integration doesn’t mean you jump on the bigger projects – a pilot project is important. It helps employees understand their assignments while working as a small team. In that stage, feedback and reviews are welcome in developing working strategies. 

3. The 3M Technique – Measure, Monitor, and Make Adjustments might just work in maintaining focus. It mostly involves tracking OKR and discussing your organization’s performance with your employees. Review the OKR based on set metrics or scores (KPI) – find out if the company is doing well, i.e., closer to goals or not. If it isn’t, you can ask the team to adjust or develop a new approach for success. 

How a Proper Work-Life Balance Can Improve Focus?

A proper work-life balance will help your employee and your company simultaneously. Focus is one of the rewarding benefits when your team can work effectively under the right conditions. You should understand that for an individual to function best, their emotional, mental, and physical health must be in order. Thus, your organization could integrate the following work practices: 

1. Prioritize health 
2. Organize fun workshops and events 
3. Set mandatory administrative leaves
4. Hangout on weekends and discuss everything but not much for work 
5. Discuss responsibilities over and over and expectations during work hours 

How Can OKR Software Increase Focus & Productivity 

OKRs design a framework of responsibilities so that employees can focus on their input and determine their level of productivity if it aligns with the organization’s mission. An OKR software provides a visual. It is important for business because it documents inputs, strategies, approaches, and reports. Simultaneously, it maximizes efficiency and productivity as employees become more aware of their positions. 

Some Tips to Ensure A Focused Workforce

Below are some useful tips for a focused workforce. 

1. Define goals clearly among teams 
2. Limit all forms of distractions, especially digital ones
3. Prioritize task update 
4. Schedule breaks between work hours 
5. Focus on one task before another – multitasking burns employees out 
6. Maintain good work habits 
7. Keep work station organized