“Global organizations have used OKR to succeed,” is a very common statement that is used by Internet content creators. And in most cases that has persuaded people to adopt OKR for their organizations or start-ups. Does one size fit all? Not at all. Start-ups or organizations should not adopt OKR without tailoring it according to their needs or analyzing whether it suits them or not. Creating OKRs is easy but bringing it to life by making every individual in the organization work on it is the most difficult task. Implementation and execution should also be given importance like creation.  

Before analyzing whether Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) are suitable for your company or not, learn what OKRs are, their benefits, and also pitfalls.    

Benefits  

1. Agile process    
2. Role clarity  
3. Transparent work culture  
4. Employees know what’s expected out of them    
5. OKRs focus all efforts of talents toward one common goal  
6. The goal-setting framework builds mutual trust through open communication      
7. OKRs increase the workforce’s morale and make them stay committed to their work    
8. Fuel innovation through engagement  

Pitfalls to avoid while setting OKRs  

1. Interchangeably leveraging committed and aspirational OKRs  
2. Setting what can be achieved and not what is really needed  
3. Sandbagging – not using most of the resources  
4. Not setting the right number of key results for an objective  
5. Setting a vague objective that provides no space for measurement   

After learning about OKRs, it is time to check whether they are suitable for your organization or not.  

There are people who think OKRs are not right for a company with a 5-person team, and there are people who think otherwise. The reason for the difference in opinions is because of their diverse experiences. Instead of following someone’s opinion, why not experiment with it to find the answer that suits for your start-up. A start-up needs speed and if you think you can afford the time to experiment with OKRs, go ahead. If not, first scale your company and then try OKRs with the help of an expert to make it a success.  

For larger companies, there are many proofs of success stories of OKRs, but again the conditions and environment vary with each company. OKRs will succeed only if you have the following suitable conditions.  

1. Right culture  
2. Open communication  
3. Broadminded leaders  
4. Experimenting mindset  
5. Responsible workforce  
6. Visionary management  

If you do not have one of these, plan strategies to build the missing one. If you do not have a strong culture that is lived out by your workforce, build one, and then start with your OKRs. For OKRs to be effectively executed, the people should believe in the leaders and work as one.   

What Happened with Nuna?  

“At Nuna, a health care data platform and analytics company, the  cofounders overcame a false start with OKRs. They went on to clarify priorities for the entire organization. They realized that they needed to show a sustained  commitment to reach their own individual OKRs, and to help their team do the  same.  Nuna took off in 2014. Four years and one enormous Medicaid contract later,  the company is leveraging data to make the health care system work better for  millions of people who need it most. Applying the technology and lessons  learned from its Medicaid work, Nuna is helping large companies improve the  efficiency and quality of care in their private plans. All of this work is supported  by the goal-setting prowess of OKRs, which Jini first encountered as a Google  product manager.”  

-John Doerr, Measure What Matters  

Jini Kim, the founder of Nuna, was an ex-Googler and OKRs had been a part of her. She could not overcome her love for OKR even after creating her own company. Therefore, in 2015, Jini Kim tried to implement OKR in her own organization. When she started her company, she did not try to implement OKR as they did not have enough money and projects to do it. And in 2015, she failed to make her workforce execute OKRs successfully.   

The employees did not take them seriously. So, Jini Kim went to every employee and forced them to do their OKRs, which eventually did not work. Later, she realized what true commitment is. She realized that only if she does what she wanted her employees to do, she will be able to persuade her officers as they will know that even the top management is held accountable for their OKRs. This inspired the others in the company and the transparency worked.    

The well-planned execution finally worked for Nuna. Nuna knew when to roll out their OKRs, what to do when the planned way fails, and how to successfully work out things. That is how every company should plan their OKRs and should not blindly try to implement Objectives and Key Results without a proper plan.   

Even the global companies executed OKR only after having a proper action plan and tailored features of OKR in hand.