OKR Management
AGILE LEADERSHIP - MAKING IT SUCCESSFUL
OKR management with the OKR solution LoopNow
A simple method with great promise: OKR management.
It’s being used not only in the Silicon Valley. Every organisation can benefit from structuring their leadership with a focus on the most important objectives and key results. With the cloud-based OKR software LoopNow, you can flexibly start using the goal management method in your company today!
Request your free, no strings attached 14 day test of LoopNow now!
Flexible goal management with OKRs
Great teamwork is enabled by great goal-setting - no matter if they work together in an office, remote or in hybrid structures.
LoopNow’s OKR management module allows for flexible handling of individual, team, and organisation level objectives.
A particular focus is on full customizability in how different objectives and key results interact, as well as different levels of visibility to fully reflect different company cultures.
That way, progress is made transparent and success is visible. Our know-how and experience with continuous surveys allowed us to develop our "progress card" technology. In fully customizable cycles, LoopNow asks you about your progress on your key results. You can answer with just one tap - no login needed, from your phone or desktop, wherever you are. The result: Objective progress in LoopNow and the reality in your organization always stay in synch.
Structuring objectives with OKR management:
In LoopNow, objectives can be created bottom-up by employees or top-down by management. We support multiple owners per objective as well as individual goals. Our flexible labeling system enables you to differentiate between company, team and individual objectives.
OKR – the advantages;
Focus on the most important objectives and intelligently distribute resources
Measurable success
Transparent task distribution
Motivated and engaged employees
Productive teamwork
Improved internal communication
Avoid task overload by making work distribution transparent and clear
Actively involve all team members
How do OKRs work?
The agile management system with objectives and key results is based on a cyclical organisation with flexible cycle length (e.g. three months). Instead of creating goals in the beginning of the year and following up at the end of the year, OKRs are updated more frequently to increase efficiency. This way, the more dynamic reality of modern organisations is reflected in their active objectives.
...In order to maintain structure and transparency throughout the whole process, it pays off to work with an OKR software like the cloud based OKR tool LoopNow. With digital goal management solutions, all stakeholders can view a real time status of the defined objectives and key results.
This is how an OKR cycle example could look like:
“OKR Planning”: A structure to describe and define all objectives for the next three month period. Vision and mission of the company should be as much drivers of goal planning as the strategies for their implementation.
The “Weekly OKRs” are short meetings to check-in on objectives and key results once a week (or more). In these 15 minute meetings, team members and managers update each other on their progress.
At the end of the three month OKR cycle, objectives are presented and reflected on in the “OKR Review”. Here, overall objective progress of mutual goals is agreed upon.
The last phase, the “OKR Retrospective”, is all about analyzing what went well and what can be improved in how key results have been achieved. The end result should be concrete ideas on how to improve collaboration for the next OKR cycle.
OKR management with OKR tools like LoopNow
The OKR solution LoopNow by Loopline Systems is a digital tool to make objectives in companies measurable and to allow for strategic goal setting. Discover what the OKR software LoopNow can do:
OKR - FLEXIBLE GOAL MANAGEMENT WITH LOOPNOW
Optimize teamwork with our next generation goal management
- Make progress transparent and work towards mutual goals - together
- Stay on top of who did what, anytime
- Keep track of your success with no extra work
FULL CUSTOMIZABILITY WITH OKRS
A goal management system tailored to your company
- Fully customizable team objectives and individual goals
- Full control over visibility options
- Owner and change history always at your fingertips
Objectives And Key Results
Keep objectives up-to-date - without tedious data entry
- With our innovative progress card technology, key result progress can be updated in customizable cycles - from anywhere and without logging in
- Our progress cards are optimized for mobile and just a tap away
Collaboration on objectives is possible and supported by the option to comment on key results - anytime and anywhere
Which organizations can benefit from using OKRs?
OKRs benefit more organisations than just the big tech corporations in silicon valley. All over the world, the OKR method has unlocked new potential in companies. There’s no clear-cut classification, but managing with objectives and key results is a particularly good fit to companies and organizations that are working with agile methods, that want to sharpen their focus and that are working in an environment that requires dynamic goal setting.
OKRs work in any company size and can be implemented in small and large teams. In startups, the OKR method can be especially beneficial by increasing focus while simultaneously supporting a fast growing and fast paced environment.
Typical challenges of organizations - no problem thanks to OKRs
Defining objectives and key results can create true breakthrough situations in how many organizations are managed. These are some of the challenges that can be solved with the OKR method:
- The company's strategy and objectives are not clear for teams. They don't know what's expected of them and what goals define success.
- The company is lacking a coherent mission and vision as well as a way to implement them - the symptoms of this can be a lack of coordination between managers and within teams.
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- The existing structure doesn't contribute to company objective achievement.
- Employees are missing a sense of purpose with regards to the company's vision.
- Different teams are working in silos and have no transparency about what other teams are working on.
- Individual and team performance and results are not recognized.
Efficiently tackle these problems in your organization with LoopNow, the intelligent OKR solution. Loopline Systems offers you a free 14 day test of the cloud based tool, no strings attached!
Where does the OKR method come from?
Even though the OKR method has a long and successful history, it has been pushed to the limelight only recently. It’s roots lie in the 1970s. Andy Grove, the Intel co-founder developed the management method “management by objectives” to what is today’s OKR method. Its breakthrough came in the early 2000s:
John Doerr implements the OKR method at Google, which is successfully using it to this day.
Comparing the OKR method
OKR or Balanced Scorecard (BSC) - the differences:
The tool for successful strategy implementation, Balanced Scorecard, shares a lot of similarities with the OKR method. The most important difference is the timeframe in which goals are defined, implemented and assessed.The goals in BSC are defined for a full year while the objectives and key results with OKR are defined for shorter cycles like three months...
Another difference is how objectives themselves are handled. While objectives in a Balanced Scorecard are separated in four areas - finance, internal operations, customers, growth & learning - the OKR method concentrated on the most important objectives to work towards the company mission and vision in the next three months.
The differences between both tools allow for combining both methods. The shorter OKR cycles can supplement the longer BSC cycles and can serve as a further breakdown of the objectives within the four areas of the Balances Scorecard.
OKR or Management by Objectives (MbO) - the differences:
The OKR method is not only a close relative of the BSC method, but also shares roots with another popular management method: “Management by Objectives”. It even developed from this method first described in the 1950s. As an evolution of MbO, there are obviously not only similarities but also differences as well.
- MbO: Results are the main focus, goals have to be quantitatively measurable
OKR: Process of how goals are reached is focused on, objectives and key results can be qualitative. - MbO: Company executives define objectives for the company, single teams and employees.
OKR: 40% of objectives are created by management, 60% bottom-up by the teams themselves. - MbO: Goals are defined for one year.
OKR: Objectives and key results are defined in shorter cycles, usually three months.
