Summary
Do your employees feel seen? If not, something’s broken in how leadership communicates priorities that connect their teams. OKRs help align individual roles with leadership goals and the organization’s mission.
You’re halfway through your first cup of coffee when the company leadership gets to the main event: this cycle’s top-line OKRs.
You scan the slide. The big bets are all there — secret A.I. projects, product moonshots, and, of course, revenue targets. But there’s nothing on what you’ve spent the last few weeks hard at work on. “Next big thing”? That’s not happening without the groundwork you’re laying. You wonder, Is leadership really measuring the right things?
If employees don’t feel seen, it is often a signal that something’s broken in how leadership communicates priorities that connect teams.
So what do managers usually do in this situation? They might add more OKRs so everyone feels included. Or they may stall to avoid making a decision, saying, “I’ll get back to you.” Or they may promise the team their goals will go in a “parking lot.”
But these moves can be unintentionally demoralizing. Teams lose the clarity that comes with focused OKRs and become overwhelmed. They’re left idling and waiting on a decision. Or if they believe the “parking lot” is actually a graveyard, they lose trust in leadership.
To help teams see themselves in their organizations’ OKRs, leaders can try a few strategies:
Translate how the work of all teams connects to Objectives and Key Results
Communicating across teams usually requires translation. Imagine the company has a Key Result to “Increase qualified inbound leads by X percent.” The sales department is on board immediately — they know that more high-quality leads means more deals to close.
But the design team may not immediately see how their work connects. That story needs to be told in language that’s relevant to them. Using the sales example, they might ask a senior leader to provide context specific to their role. The leader could then explain that a well-designed, mobile-first website yields more conversions, which yields better odds for sales to close more deals.
Employ allies as advocates
Sometimes people resist OKRs because the “how” of collaboration is unclear. And sometimes, despite your best efforts, you’re not able to motivate them.
Say you’re on the product team, trying to get the operations team to adopt a new feature to improve project delivery — a company OKR — but not getting much traction. That’s when you need to find a respected leader on the other team. It doesn’t have to be an exec. Identify who people look up to. Even if that person doesn’t have a senior title, they may have a lot of social influence. Enlist their help to clarify to their team how their work ladders up to the company’s mission.
Set the stage to understand how future initiatives impact annual goals
Sometimes your work doesn’t show up in the current cycle of OKRs. Not because it’s not important, but because it’s not a top priority right now. So what can you do in the meantime?
Look at your organization’s annual OKR and anticipate the priorities for the upcoming quarter. Can you brainstorm a few ideas that will help your team hit the ground running next cycle and run it by a team leader?
For example, let’s say this quarter’s OKR priority is manufacturing a new product. You know that closer to launch, the company OKRs will include your team’s marketing efforts. Creating a first draft of a branding proposal will keep your team moving toward the bigger goal — and give you a head start when leadership turns its attention to go-to-market plans.
OKRs aren’t just bullet points on a leaderboard for star players. They spark conversation, and reveal how well a team is working together — how strengths are aligned, and how efforts are connected.
