3 Ways A Champion is Bad for Your OKR Program.

OKRs are this excellent framework that can help any organisation transform its strategy into results through the work of it’s teams. That’s the promise at least.

3 Symptoms of OKR Zombification.

1. People hate (but don't challenge) them.

2. "If it's not in OKR form, it won't get budget".

3. No OKR checkins without push from the top.

A common leadership solution is to appoint an OKR Champion or Czar, a single individual who has the CEO’s blessing to go forth and make sure everyone does OKRs right.

But OKR champions tend to fail for 3 main reasons:

1. An OKR champions has no skin in the game.

2. An OKR champion shifts the burden to the intervenor.

3. An OKR champion triggers unproductive power dynamics. 

Let’s examine each of these and how you can fix it as a manager who wants to make OKR excellence your advantage at work.

1. OKR Champions Have No Skin in the Game.

Think about this:

Who stands to lose when any team fails to transform strategy into results?

1. The frontline manager.
   (It’s literally your No 1 responsibility.)

2. The team members.
   (They invest at least 80% of the effort and time.)

The OKR champion? They might temporarily suffer some damage to their reputation, nothing close to the consequences you and your team have to suffer.

💊 What to do as a manager:

1. Become your team’s primary OKR champion: Never leave something as important as your team’s performance at the mercy of a champion.

2. Leverage the champion's skill & wisdom & influence with leadership. Engage in a win-win infinite game of mutual value with the champion.

One manager I coached was so effective at this that most of the practices in his team got adopted by the rest of the company and guess who was her No. 1 evangelist? - the company OKR champion.

Now let’s examine the political side of why OKR champions might make things worse for OKRs … politics.

2. OKR Champions Trigger Unproductive Power Dynamics.

Think about this for a moment:

Who does the OKR champion ultimately serve?

• his/her boss?

• the managers s/he works with?

Ideally, the OKR champion serves managers like you. In reality, they serve their boss and his/her agenda. This is where the pitfalls lie.

1. The champion's boss might be different from the managers’ boss.

2. This shadow “deputy boss” dynamic makes managers resent the OKR champion.

Politically astute managers will “play the game”, others resist. In both cases OKR zombification has already started.

💊 What to do as a manager:

First, never forget:

Therefore, your greatest source of leverage is your team’s trust. Always be earning it through your leadership style and consistent 1:1s.

Finally ...

Proactively seek win-win outcomes with the OKR champion (allies are always better than enemies).

Your company is what it is, not what you wish it is.

If you're lucky, it's a meritocracy, you have a great boss and the OKR champion is a god-send. If you're unlucky, your company is a political mediocracy … deal with it rather than become a victim.

Let’s look at the final reason … a failure to think systematically.

3. Champions Shift the Burden to the Intervenor.

They lied to you about Batman (and all superheroes). In the long run, they make cities unsafe. Here’s why:

This same dynamic happens when when leadership entrusts the OKR program to a champion rather than frontline managers.

If managers already distrust the champion (because they’re a shadow “deputy boss” without skin in the game), then part of playing the game is to abdicate responsibility and accountability for OKR success to the champion. (In reality, they’re actually using the champion as an excuse.)

When team members see you their boss just going through the motions with OKRs, they’ll also just go through the motions.

Complete OKR zombification achieved.

💊 What to do as a manager:

1. Talk to your boss to understand why leadership is counting on the champion rather than on you and your peers
   

   • Do they think that you lack the skills to deliver?

   • Do they think that you don’t cross-collaborate?

   • Do they think that you can’t deliver fast enough?
     

2. Own OKRs for your team. This starts by co-creating a team OKR that’s so totally aligned with company strategy and the business model that the OKR champion has nothing more to add.

3. Help your Leverage your champion for cross-team collaboration and deliver on your OKRs. Use their skills, relationships to help (not direct0 you and your team.

Your Ultimate Solution: Don’t Be a Cog (Be a Gear). 

OKRs won't work unless you do and if you know implement them

• You’re directs will thank you.

• Your boss will respect you more.

• The OKR champion will count on you

All of which make you a gear, rather than a cog in the strategy execution wheel.

Don’t know where to start? Check out this step by step playbook that not only helps you start but finish strong and position yourself as an OKR expert in your company.

Until next time ... be BRILLIANT! 💎