Dear Andy,
A common mistake when companies implement OKRs is setting too many OKRs that don’t align cross-functionally and far too many KRs to remember. I was so excited when my business unit inside a large company started using OKRs two years ago, but unfortunately we aren’t using OKRs to drive cross-functional focus. Each department leader defines their own different OKR sets. We are only using “OKRs” as a tool to concisely communicate each department’s annual goals.
Leaders do collaborate and review everyone’s OKRs to develop them annually, but an outsider (or even an insider) would not be able to connect the dots between the OKR sets in the resulting final product. The cascading to create more subteam OKRs is slow and results in a proliferation of far too many different KRs, and ultimately lack of focus across the organization.
I’ve been ineffective in my efforts to influence change in our OKR-setting process. Short of John Doerr sitting down with our C-level leaders, what strategies do you recommend to guide leaders to self-discover the importance of prioritizing a small core set of cross-functional quarterly OKRs to drive radical focus?
Sincerely,
Seema
Hi Seema,
Thanks for writing in!
One common mistake teams make is writing OKRs that mirror their organization chart. It turns the process into a box-checking exercise, mistakenly enforcing a “team x must write 4 OKRs per quarter” rule. Siloing at the executive level negates one of the most important assets of OKRs: collective commitment.
What does your company most need to do this year? What needs to happen to make the North Star a reality? Notice how I didn’t say: “What does [insert team name here] need to do to make the North Star a reality?” First, leadership needs to clarify the most important milestones for the company as a whole. Resist the temptation to immediately silo OKRs department by department.
To give a real-life example, Pinterest starts off with strategic priorities that cover all aspects of the organization, calling them “pillars.” These range from product to culture to recruiting-centric goals. Only then does the company assign ownership to groups or teams. Keep in mind that team does not automatically mean “department.” Identify who needs to work together to turn that OKR into reality.
From there, teams determine how to align with top-level “pillar” priorities using a process called cascading and laddering. The end result should look like a beautiful web of connected OKRs, often with multiple departments sharing responsibility.
As far as the “radical focus” you’re very rightly seeking, consider telling your C-suite the tried-and-true story of how Andy Grove introduced OKRs to Intel back in the 1970s. In what was lovingly referred to as “Operation Crush,” Andy saw that Intel was being outpaced by Microsoft and demanded radical focus from the entire company on a single, high-priority goal: beating Microsoft in the personal computer market.
Instead of each team working in isolation with separate goals, Intel united the entire company behind one common Objective. Every department focused on how it could contribute to advancing microprocessor technology. By eliminating distractions and focusing solely on this goal, Intel outpaced Microsoft and dominated the PC chip market.
OKRs work most effectively when leaders identify the few most important goals that will move the company closer to its mission. While this kind of intense prioritization can feel uncomfortable at first, we’ve seen it lead to powerful results. Concentrating efforts on what matters most, and aligning everyone toward the same goal, has a far greater impact than individual efforts. Here’s hoping your C-suite learns to see it this way, too!
Thanks for writing in, Seema, and best of luck to you on your OKR journey.
Sincerely,
Billy from the What Matters Team
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