Summary
Many teams feel they don’t have the capacity to do more than BAU. Or they think OKRs come after BAUs, done only if there’s time left over. But this thinking keeps organizations stuck in maintenance mode. Here’s how to leverage both processes.
“If our Business as Usual activities aren’t captured in OKRs, will they still get done?”
This question comes up a lot.
The concern is real. Reasonable. Human.
After all, the lights need to stay on. Payroll must run. Customer service can’t just stop. These critical functions, known as BAUs, can be the heartbeat of your organization.
Many teams feel they don’t have the capacity to do more than business as usual (BAU). They act as if OKRs come after BAUs — done only if there’s time left over. But this thinking keeps organizations stuck in maintenance mode.
The three buckets of work
Most organizations have three distinct types of work:
1. Chores (BAUs): Keep-the-lights-on, day-to-day, miscellaneous tasks. These are essential operations that maintain current performance, like payroll processing, system maintenance, and customer support. (You’re not usually going to find an OKR here unless something’s gone terribly wrong.)
2. Improvements: Tasks, projects, and initiatives related to incremental changes that are important but not top priorities. A few may be explicitly linked to a team’s road map, but the vast majority are not OKR-related.
3. Transformation (OKRs): Significant, concrete, action-oriented goals that inspire teams to go outside their comfort zone in pursuit of a company’s mission. These link your daily priorities to the North Star of how the organization can change for the better.
All of these buckets should roll up to the organization’s strategy. But if you lean too heavily on BAUs and incremental improvements, they can trap you into maintaining the status quo. To stay relevant, all organizations need to grow and transform. That’s why a team that puts most of its time, focus, and energy into BAUs feels as if they have to squeeze OKRs in around this work.
But it’s actually the opposite: The point of OKRs is to focus as much of the organization as possible on the most mission-critical work. Skilled teams balance BAUs with strategic transformations. OKRs help.
When BAUs become barriers to improvement
No matter how hard you train teams, they often repackage BAUs as OKRs. So why is the habit so hard to overcome? As with all change, you have to listen closely to whispers of deeper concerns:
“We barely have capacity for our day-to-day work so how can we take on more?” “Will OKRs shift resources away from my essential functions?” “Will I become obsolete if I’m just maintaining, not transforming?” “If my work isn’t visible in our goal system, does it matter?” “I don’t have time to maintain two tracking systems, just use the same goals for both so we have more time to work.”
These anxieties are valid. It’s hard to maintain current operations while simultaneously transforming.
Consider following Allbirds’ lead. The company creates two separate lists: OKRs and the Breathe List.
Separating “Breathe” tasks from OKRs allows teams to balance “business as usual” projects with where the company needs to go next.
How leaders can manage BAU while achieving audacious goals
Think about a racing team trying to win the Indy 500. The team’s “business as usual” is maintaining driving excellence. That’s enough to compete. But to win, they need transformation.
So what do effective leaders do?
1. Establish separate tracking systems. For a brand new company, keeping the lights on may be the No. 1 priority. But as you grow, clearly separate BAUs from strategic objectives
2. Focus OKRs on your biggest opportunities for improvement. Just like the racing team might set an objective to reduce pit-stop times, not just drive well, your OKRs should capture your highest priority or the biggest hurdle you’re facing.
3. Connect work to outcomes. OKRs empower teams when they know how their daily work connects to the company’s mission. The more clearly they inspire rich dialogue about the goal (not just the deliverable), the more leaders can trust teams to make the right decisions.
Distinguishing BAUs from OKRs
Avoid Objectives based on what the team can achieve without changing anything they currently do.
Some BAUs are permanent (paying people on time), while others are temporary (maintaining operations after a natural disaster). But regardless of their duration, they’re different from OKRs:
1. OKRs measure outcomes, not activities. Remember that the “R” in OKRs stands for “Results.” When teams focus solely on completing activities, they miss the bigger picture. Launching a new product on time is an activity; increasing revenue by 20 percent is a result.
2. OKRs answer “why,” not just “what” or “how.” Project plans track the sequence of steps needed to complete work. OKRs communicate the purpose behind the work and how success will be measured. They give meaning to the activity.
3. OKRs focus on transformation, not maintenance. They’re for what makes you meaningfully better, not what keeps you steady. They orient the team toward “What’s next?”
Finding the balance between BAUs and OKRs isn’t about finishing one before starting the other. It’s about integrating transformational thinking into your organization’s DNA.
Every organization has essential day-to-day activities. And they have initiatives to help them grow, transform, and achieve excellence. Great leaders don’t choose between maintenance and transformation. They make space for both, continually.
Without OKRs, vital transformation initiatives get swallowed by the routine.
With OKRs, they’re protected. Prioritized. Pursued.
You want strategic thinking and these practices ingrained early, so OKRs don’t feel like “extra” work. They’re the work for growth.
Because in a rapidly changing world, “business as usual” isn’t enough. And definitely not for long.
