Happy Tuesday Everyone, While we continue to spend time working towards your goals for 2023, I came upon an interesting read. Measure What Matters by John Doerr and I feel the concepts for Objective and Key Results (OKR) as developed by Andy Grove while at Intel in the early 70’s, map and mirror right into our tracking systems of the 1-3-5 and 4-1-1. Funny enough they actual talk about the challenge of goal setting in that that are pie in the sky and most to often thoughts or ides and most of all not achievable as they are not measured by accountable data points. Objectives: What direction do you want to go or want to accomplish? Significant, Concrete, Actionable, & Inspirational Key Results: What are you going to do to accomplish the objective? These HAVE to be measurable and verifiable. It can not be a key result if you can not tie a number or metric to it. The great thing about Objectives and Key Results is that when done right they trickle down through the organization chart. Everyone knows the overall organizational objectives and the key results being focused on. From there each team member would, could, should have supporting objective and key results to help achieve the overall objective.
As you set and define your objectives ask yourself these questions:
What is the most important thing over the next 3 months, 6, 12? What are the main priorities? Where should we concentrate our efforts? Then look at your Objectives and see if these questions are answered. If yes then hammer out the measurable Key Results, If NO then focus in on the Objectives again. Talk to those you trust and gain their input and feedback. To do this well it takes discipline, practice, and time. Do not expect to nail this your first time out, be patient. Your Key Results should be reviewed often and modified quarterly as needed to maintain the objective, be careful to not be so focused on the overall objective and belief in the original set of key results that you overlook the opportunity or need to refine them when the real work begins to get accomplished. IF you feel you need to make a change be sure to ask, How does this new Key Result get us to the Objective? Should we drop a K.R. to make room for the new one? Do not cloud the field with too many objectives or Key Results, if you focus on everything you actually are focusing on nothing. The Art of Management, lies in the capacity to select from the many activities of seemingly comparable significance the 1,2, or 3 that provide leverage well above the others…Andy Grove