Top mistakes not to do with OKR implementation

Recommended reading: How to write great OKRs?

Introduction:

It is okay to make mistakes in life as it doesn’t come with a manual. However, it is not okay to make mistakes while implementing your OKRs. Remember, OKR is a methodology that will help you achieve your goals. If you properly set goals, the results will also be favorable. 

However, an improper OKR implementation plan will lead to chaos and waste time and business resources. Life doesn’t come with a manual, but OKR implementation does. This blog will discuss major mistakes to avoid while implementing your OKRs. 

OKR implementation- Top mistakes to avoid:

• Never treat your OKR as tasks. Always remember tasks are actions that lead to achieving your Objectives and corresponding Key Results for the specified time period. Considering your OKRs as tasks will lead to disengagement and overwhelmed employees resulting in no progress. In simple words, we are aiming to achieve outcome-based growth here. Not output-based growth.
• Many leaders make the mistake of directly adapting OKRs from someone else’s company; Although you might be in the same industry, the OKR must be customized according to your company and business needs. 
• Never set Low-value Objectives. Setting relevant objectives with monetary business value or resources is vital. Low-value objectives will demotivate your team and also decrease their productivity. 
• Setting insufficient Key results or too many key results is vital. Ideally, according to John Doerr, 3 to 5 Key results power objectives can be set. Most companies adopt 3 Key results per objective. Too many key results or fewer will hinder achieving your goal. The key results must be ideal in number and specific. A vague key result that lacks clarity will lead to disruption of the efforts.
• Committed and Moonshot objectives- committed objectives are achievable objectives that require the team to stretch a little out of their comfort zone. Committed objectives cannot be easily achievable. A little challenge can be given to your team to extend their limits and potential.  Moonshot objectives are those that are far-fetched. These objectives can be set to understand how much your team can push their limits and extend their bandwidth on a scale of 1.0; even a  0.7 for a moonshot objective is considered positive.
• As a leader, the business owner has a significant role in helping the team achieve the OKRs. The leader must provide the required manpower, tech power, and other assistance for the team to increase productivity and help them achieve their Objectives.
• Never constantly track the OKRs. Empower your employees and trust them to complete their OKRs. Constant tracking or micromanaging will demotivate them and cause them to lose confidence in themselves. But having regular one-on-one meetings is very important to achieve the OKRs. 
• Never Sandbag. Sandbagging in corporate means projecting a weaker team potential so that when they achieve their usual potential, it seems like more than anticipated results. This will lead to demotivated employees who won’t push their limits. 

Start Implementing your OKRs today:

Avoid common OKR mistakes, and implement your OKRs using a robust objective and key results software that helps the proper implementation of your OKRs, when you have clear-cut aspirational (moonshot) objectives and committed objectives for an achievable time period. 
10xWinners provides OKR tracking software for an effective OKR implementation plan. Our software has a smart tracking system that provides actionable insights for the leaders to monitor as and when required. It identifies the resource gaps and helps leaders to provide adequate resources. The software has pre-existing customizable OKR templates that can be altered according to the company and its goals. Choose the perfect implementation software for your organization with 10xWinners. To know more, click the link below.

https://10xwinners.com/