Finally, A Stethoscope for OKRs

Greetings!

I’ve run 30+ cycles of OKRs over 7 years as a manager.

I’ve reviewed over 500 OKRs for other teams.

Do you know the biggest mistake people make when crafting OKRs?

Bullshit Key Results.

Bullshit Key Results.

A bullshit Key Result is one that doesn’t measure what really matters. Bullshit Key Results are the foundations of bullshit OKRs.

“Poor quality OKRs” were identified as the biggest cause of OKRs not delivering benefits to the organisation by almost 60% of the respondents to this poll in the largest OKR LinkedIn group.

This is why I created the closest thing there is to a stethoscope for OKRs - The OKR Quality Matrix that I’m going to give you for free today.

OKRs Are Here to Stay

Love them or hate them, OKRs are all the rage now.

• Google uses them

• Microsoft uses them

• Apple uses them

• Facebook uses them

• Intel uses them

• Adobe uses them

If elite managers at the G-MAFIA (the world’s most valuable companies) are using it, you don’t want to ignore it.

Too Many Bad OKRs

The biggest challenge managers and teams face with OKRs is how to write quality Key Results for their OKRs. This poll from the largest OKRs group on LinkedIn proves that.

Do you know what the most common OKR mistake is? Creating Key Results, which are tasks! e.g.

• Send 5,000 cold emails

• Launch newsletter

• Install CRM software

I’m not surprised. Most threads and blogs about OKRs and the most popular OKR book make this mistake, and I sometimes want to punch those guys in the left eye 😈 (but I remember my home training)

I’ve got a tip and a tool to help you avoid that mistake. These come from my 30+ cycles of implementing OKRs in over 7 years.

The magic formula for creating great Key Results

Every excellent Key Result follows the 6 points of the above formula. I’ll illustrate with this example:

Increase newsletter subscribers from 0 to 500 by the end of 2023

1. it has a clear metric: → [number of] newsletter subscribers

2. the metric has a baseline: → 0

3. the metric has a target: → 500

4. the Key Result has a due date: → “end of 2023”

5. it’s not a task: → it’s something to accomplish by doing a series of tasks.

6. it’s at least 80% influenceable by the team’s effort and creativity: → it cannot just happen by luck or other people’s efforts.

If these 6 points are familiar, it’s because they meet the SMART criteria for goal setting (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound).

But we’ve had SMART goals for almost a hundred years, so why the hell do people struggle to write great Key Results?

I think it’s because they don’t have a tool to measure it. So I created one which implements the general formula above.

The OKR Quality Matrix

Think of it like a stethoscope that measures each of your Key Results on 3 dimensions:

• metric type: what the metric measure. from tasks to impact

• quantifiability: whether it has a baseline and target

• influenceability: to what extent it can be accomplished by effort & creativity

TLDR … if you map any of your Key Results onto a red cell, it’s bad. Aim for green

If you like to learn more, grab the Key Results Quality Guidebook

>>>>>>> Download The OKR Quality Matrix Guidebook (Free)<<<<<<

Along with the guidebook, you’ll receive a free email course, application suggestions and a ChatGPT prompt that helps evaluate any Key Result instantly.

Until next time ... be BRILLIANT! 💎

Mukom | @perfexcellent

The Chief Excellence Officer Academy