When getting started with OKRs, the biggest challenge you face is how to define a good OKR. Defining an Objective, the “what do you want to achieve?” part may not seem difficult as compared to defining key results, the “How are you going to achieve?” part.
For Example, Delivering amazing customer support is the top priority for the Customer support team. This can be defined as their objective and then key results can be derived from asking the following question: What can my team do to deliver amazing customer support?
Profit supports 6 types of key results to use based on your maturity level in OKRs. Defining effective key results is vital for the success of your OKR implementation since key results measure the achievement of the Objective they are associated with.
In Profit, you can start with “Percentage Tracked” to define your key result, the simplest type, and then move towards KPI based and milestone tracked key results as you gain maturity. Let’s see how you can move from Percentage tracked to some advanced key result types.
Percentage tracked as KPI based key result
For example, the key result at the corporate level “Increase # of speaking engagements to 12” is defined as percentage tracked.
Instead, you could create “Speaking Engagements” as a KPI in the Marketing category and use that directly in the KR, using the “Increase KPI” type. So, it would read like this:
This way,
- There is no need to mentally translate from KPI to % while checking in. You got one, and you can update that number directly.
- This KPI is saved in the KPI library and can be reused by anyone in your organization for better tracking and reporting.
- And also, you can add the KPI “Speaking Engagements” to your Marketing KPI Board and can monitor everyone’s KRs that are focused on this in one place.
Percentage tracked as Milestone tracked key result
For example, the key result at the corporate level “Organize an event for Q2” is defined as percentage tracked.
Instead, you could create a milestone tracked key result. So, it would read like this:
There are scenarios where you may not have numbers associated with your key results. The use of milestone tracked is to break down any binary KR (0% or 100%, For ex: Hire a Vice President) into milestones and give progress % for every step so that we know where we are in completing the key result.