How to set ambitious goals for their business and seek
His Work / / December 26, 2019
"My business is developing in the right direction there? I put the right goals? "- these questions are given by the entrepreneurs at different stages of development of their own business. One of the tools that will help us to make progress by the system, can be OKR (Objectives and Key Results, «Objectives and Key Results") - a system of setting goals, developed in the company Intel.
Its key difference from others - flexibility. Many companies plan to work the year aheadAnd ends it is usually hopeless obsolescence plan. OKR be agile-ideology, in which the purpose and results are reviewed regularly. This usually happens once in a quarter, but many companies are adapting the system for themselves and additionally introduce weekly and annual OKR.
Rating System owes former Intel employee and venture investor John Doerr. Today, this technique is used in many well-known IT-companies of which GoogleHow Google sets goals: OKRs, LinkedInThe Management Framework that Propelled LinkedIn to a $ 20 Billion Company, TwitterWhat Twitter's CEO Learned from Google and others.
, You need to start working on the OKR:
- Begin to prepare employees for 3-4 months prior to the transition to the new planning system, that it goes easier. Conduct meetings, webinars, advise the appropriate literature, and try to implement OKR on corporate culture level.
- Formulate goals.
- Determine the results.
- Monitor the implementation and adjust the objectives.
How to formulate goals
Goals OKR system - a memorable and a brief description of what you want to achieve. Their main purpose - to challenge the team or company.
Another distinctive feature of the R & D system in the one who creates goals and results. Unlike KPIWhich, as a rule, established by the management, OKR can form and the performers themselves. This encourages greater initiative and involvement in the affairs of the company from the rank and file employees.
In addition, goals should meet some important criteria.
1. ambition
It is important to maintain a balance: the goal should be achievable, but not too simple. Imagine what you could do to the limit. It would be a great goal.
bad aim | a good goal |
Create application-calculator | Create application-calculator with artificial intelligence and voice control |
2. Finality and clarity
Everything is simple: to be defined endpoint, which must be achieved. Try to make sure that target It was an independent fighting unit, the slogan, which does not require an explanation.
bad aim | a good goal |
Better website | Speed up the loading site |
Ambiguous wording could lead to conflict with those of other employees. For example, Team A wants to update UX website: remove obsolete elements, change colors and buttons. Team B wants to optimize your site and increase download speeds. In this case, both used the vague wording of "Improve the site", although by that they mean quite different things. To avoid inconsistencies, the team set a goal worth A "UX Upgrade Site" and Team B - "Accelerate the loading of the site."
3. short
Goals should not be much. If it is small startup of five people, one will suffice. For example, "Create a calculator application with AI and get into the top Google Play bestseller" - is not a good goal. The best choice would be to focus on the launch of the product ( "Create application-calculator with AI"), and after that, in the coming quarters, focus on his progress.
And even in the case of a large company with a complicated structure, try to once again not to create an additional target. If too many of them, the synchronization between the departments and the figuring out who is doing what, will leave a lot of time.
How to formulate results
Once you have decided on the goals, you can take for the results. If the goals motivate and indicate the general direction of the work, the results should be as specific and measurable. This tools and metrics.
They are also important to observe moderation: each target can be up to five results. Otherwise you will be in vain efforts to spray. For example, you have an online store and you want to improve email-newsletter with offers to users. You put the ambitious goal of "Making the most profitable mailing list in RuNet." In this case, the results are as follows:
- Enlarge openability letters up to 70%.
- Increase sales with each mailing to 20 000 rubles.
- Raise the number of purchases in each newsletter to 50.
- To win the competition "The most profitable distribution Runet».
In the key findings also have several important criteria that must be considered.
1. measurability
No figures - no result! If in the preparation of the objectives more abstract designs are possible, then the formation of the results is unacceptable.
poor result | Good result |
Increase traffic to your website | Increase the organic traffic to 1 000 users per day |
2. confirmability
The result must first be achievable. If you can not confidently say that at one point you have reached the desired, then in fielding this result does not make sense.
poor result | Good result |
Improve customer loyalty | Enlarge index Net Promoter Score by X% |
3. density
One result - one metric. If you try to make the wording of everything in the world, to no good it will not.
poor result | Good result |
Increase the number of registered users, reduce returns and increase loyalty | Reduce the number of returns to X% |
How to track the performance of OKR
Results are monitored on a short meetings - check-in. They are held on a weekly or monthly basis and last for approximately 30 minutes, depending on the tasks and the specifics of the business.
There are many different formats of such meetings. You can meet the staff personally, if all are in the same city, or video conferencing with Skype or Google Hangouts. However, any check-in followed by about a formula:
- Report on progress. How have indicators OKR from the start or the last check-in.
- Confidence in achieving. Staff give a rough outlook, whether they will be able to achieve the above results.
- Obstacles. External and internal factors that can slow down or slow down the OKR.
- Initiative. What steps the team can take to speed up or facilitate the achievement of results.
For the quarter held the final check-in-meeting: each team will report on the results and assesses success and failures. OKR of his philosophy involves ambition, therefore, achieve the objectives of 70% is considered to be successful. If an employee or department to complete the task at 100%, it is likely they were too simple. Therefore, when planning a new quarter to be significantly raise the bar.
In addition, if you're not one of the key findings, the goal shall not be considered achieved.
Output
OKR - a great tool that will help businesses to organize and synchronize the processes. Despite the fact that it popularized the IT-giants like Intel and GoogleNo one prohibits the use of the method in companies that are not related to technology.
But do not treat OKR as a magic wand, with a wave of which all will be adjusted by itself. It is, rather, a professional drill or expensive electric screwdriver, which works as expected only in the right hands. The success in the use of the system depends on how you will carry it up to the staff and implemented in the organization.
To make the job of OKR is more convenient, you can also use:
- special template for «Google Sheets";
- service Coda, which we recently wrote;
- application for managing projects Trello.
Also, if you are interested in this topic, you can read the book of John Doerr "Measure the most important", And more to see webinar Google.
see also🧐
- 10 tools for achieving the goals
- 5 ideas for businesses that do not require dismissal
- 25 useful books about business for beginners