What a year 2020 had been! It is almost over and let’s hope everything goes well in 2021. Companies have met too many uncertainties in the past year and it is time to look back to plan for the next year. Many irreversible decisions have been taken to ensure business continuity and maintain customer service that we almost forgot about our annual goals.  

Have we achieved our annual goals to realize the dream of the next step of our company? Is it even relevant today? Can we stick to the same goals, if not achieved, for the next year too? Or should we completely change our goals to adapt to the changes in the business environment? These are the questions that have been hovering around every top executive’s mind. 

Firstly, analyze your past year’s goals and create a report of what has been achieved and what not and also jot down the reasons for both. Besides, do market research like demand and other competitors’ status, etc., to know what your 2021’s annual goals should look like.  

Leverage the power of Objectives and Key Results (OKR) to set the annual goals to learn where you’re going and how to measure it. OKRs are powerful goal-setting methodology because of its agile nature and progress-measuring feature. Even now, many companies are not very certain about the trends of next year but still, considering today’s scenario, they have to plan for the next year to not feel lost. If the annual goals are set with OKR’s, mid-way corrections are possible.  

How do we set OKRs? 

1. Decide where you want to go. Set that ambition as your goal for the year.  

2. The objective should be clear, action-oriented, and inspirational. 

3. Set 3 objectives, where each Objective has 3 to 5 key results.  

4. When the organization is clear on its objective, each department and team can set their own goals and check the alignment. 

4. The key results should be outcomes, not outputs or tasks. 

5. Continuous Check-ins and regular team meetings are necessary to discuss the progress toward the Goals. 

6. If there is no progress, then it is time to revise your OKRs.  

OKR Examples 

Objectives and Key Results should be set as the below examples for each department. 

Overall business Objective  

Increase sales by 30% by 2022. (The objectives and key results should always be numerically defined to avoid procrastination.)   

Key Results   

1. Generate 50% more leads every month.   

1. The conversion rate of leads from marketing activities should be increased by 80% by September 2020.   

1. Board room, a new feature to notify everyone of the updates in the meetings, should be introduced into the product by April 2021 to suit the current business needs.   

Team Goals 

Objective – Marketing Team 

Generate 20% more leads every month.   

Key Results   

1. Churn 20% more content in the form of blogs and eBooks to bring in more leads.   

1. Increase the number of leads through social media by 10% and retarget them. 

1. Increase the open rate of emails by 60%   

Objective of the HR team 

Enhance employee experience by 20% in an organization 

Key Results 

1. Conduct fun activities every Friday for all employees virtually to increase employee engagement rate by 10% every month. 

1. Conduct one-to-one meetings with every employee every Tuesday to learn their concerns and take action within five working days. Increase employees’ job satisfaction rate by 10% every week. 

1. Recruit 10 employees for the marketing and sales team to speed up the lead generation process. 

Individual Goals 

The objective of a content writer in the Digital marketing team 

Churn 20% more content in the form of blogs and eBooks   

Key Results   

1. Create quality blogs and bring in 10% more leads by creating 10 blogs a month.  

1. Two eBooks a month to bring in 20% more leads 

1. Create three case studies to use them as sales material and for email marketing campaigns   

The objective of a product developer 

Board room, a new feature to notify everyone of the updates in the meetings, should be introduced into the product by April 2021 to suit the current business needs. 

Key Results 

1. Create a feature design by researching the competitors’ products by January 15, 2021. 

1. Develop the code for the feature before March 31, 2021. 

1. Reduce critical bugs, if possible zero bugs for the feature by May 15, 2021.  

Actions to be discarded while setting OKRs 

OKRs should be carefully set especially if it is your first time. Beginners should focus on only one objective until OKRs become your cup of tea. If it is your first time, try not to fall into these traps. 

1. Do not set too many objectives. You cannot do everything at a time. Focus on one objective or if you’re confident, you can go with three objectives. But setting OKRs more than three might demotivate your workforce, and they would eventually forget. 

2. In a few organizations, leaders do not stay committed to the OKRs but expect the workforce too. If the leaders are not clear and dedicated, the effort put into setting OKRs is squandered.

3. If you are setting too aspirational goals, know that it might take years. Your team should be ready to embrace failures and work hard until success comes your way.  

4. When individuals start setting tasks as key results, there is a higher chance for the departments’ goals to get swayed by the outputs. Therefore, from the lower to the top executives, everyone should focus only on outcomes. 

5. If your OKRs are not using all your resources, then either you have excess resources or your OKRs are vague and not efficient. 

Objectives and Key Results can be set effectively with the help of technology. Innovative software assists the leaders in monitoring the goals and tracking the progress toward the objectives. Also, leveraging the power of Artificial Intelligence and bots in tools engage employees. Digitize the workplace to get the best out of your Employees.