Discover the power of OKR for business

OKR (Objectives and Key Results) is a methodology that was created by former Intel CEO Andrew S. Grove. However, it only became known in 1999, when one of Google's investors, John Doerr, introduced it to a group of company employees.

The intent of this methodology is to guide business efforts towards critical measurable goals. The OKR management model seeks to establish clear directions to reach the numbers that indicate the growth of a company. OKR has two formulas as pillars: “I will” (goal) and “measured by” (set of key results).

Our objective in this text is to explain to you the importance of this methodology and how they help companies, whether small or large, to have above-average results in digital.

OKR: learn how this methodology works in practice

One of the reasons for the lack of consistency in many companies is that they are only concerned with the pace of the market and neglect efficient management. The lack of a solid management model that can be easily applied is one of the biggest bottlenecks that can harm a business.

The OKR methodology comes to meet this need in a simple and practical way. As mentioned before, this method has two management pillars which are the objectives and the key results.

The first presents a clear direction of what the business intends to achieve. The second are smaller goals that directly help in achieving the main target. They serve as a parameter to determine how close the company is to achieving a goal.

See an OKR example for clarity.

Goal #1: Become an authority on the market.

KR #1: Rank #1 on Google for a specific keyword;

KR #2: reach 10 thousand newsletter subscribers;

KR #3: Form 5 successful co-marketing partnerships;

KR #4: Increase by 50% the number of customers who found out about the company through digital channels.

When OKRs are defined by a team, it becomes easier for everyone to understand their importance and the efforts that need to be made to achieve them. In addition, with this method it is possible to evaluate in a more concrete way the results obtained over time and make the necessary adjustments.

Why is the OKR methodology powerful for business?

There are several benefits of applying the OKR methodology in business. It differs in some aspects in relation to traditional methodologies. Some of them are:

• Your goals are set for a shorter period of time, being more tangible where you can achieve them and also allowing you to correct a mistake quickly.
• The clarity and simplicity of the objectives and key results are the basis for the methodology to generate high team engagement.
• Key results are reported weekly, making it possible to anticipate the end of the quarter and recover to reach the established target. If unsuccessful, learning and iteration will be over a quarter and not over a full year, as in traditional methodologies.
• As a way to facilitate alignment, OKR is a tool that prioritizes transparency. All employees can see the company's OKRs.
• OKRs reinforce the data-driven culture within a company, as they make decisions based on data.
• When using OKR, you will measure the result and not the effort of the tasks, as is commonly found in companies that use traditional management methodologies.

With all this information, it became easier to understand how the OKR methodology is so important for efficient management. At 4leads, we use this method so that we can focus and measure results, adjusting the processes whenever necessary. In this way, we are able to deliver an even better job to our customers.

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