Every sector, including HR, is rapidly adopting AI in 2024. As of early 2024, about 38% of HR leaders are actively piloting or have already implemented generative AI technologies within their operations, showing a significant increase from 19% in mid-2023. This is in line with another survey where 61% of CHROs planned to invest in AI in 2024.
Joanna, a manager, notices that one of her team members seems demotivated and is not performing well.
To identify the underlying cause, she walks up to him and says, “I noticed a change in your results over the last few weeks.
If anything is the matter, you can always speak to me.
I’m sure we can solve the problem together.
Shall we talk about it at our one on one meeting this week?”
As you can see, Joanna did not assume the worst.
Instead of slotting her direct report as lazy or incompetent, she invited him to discuss his challenges with her in a safe space – the recurring, scheduled one on one meeting.
She demonstrated willingness to work together to figure out a path ahead.
Your ability to empathize with your direct reports is the best weapon in your people management arsenal.
If you show your belief in their abilities, it will signal to them that you support their efforts.
This is the single-most important factor in building a culture of appreciation.
Not surprisingly, as per a survey some traits of a good manager according to employees are:
Recognizes me when I do good work (71%)
Listens well (74%)
Cares about me personally (72%)
Cares about my career and development (71%)
The workplace has radically changed today, and with it, so has the traditional, one-sided way of giving feedback.
To be a good manager, you must actively listen to your direct reports, gain context, and encourage two-way conversations with them.
Importance of feedback during one on one meetings
Just as the professional landscape has changed, managers need to change their management style as well to keep up.
The biggest mistake that managers can make is to wait for the next quarterly performance review meeting to provide feedback to their direct reports.
To be effective, you need to view feedback as a spontaneous and honest exchange of inputs rather than a one-way delivery of instruction.
Don’t wait for the next scheduled meeting to discuss the behavior that is bothering you. Walk up to your direct report and initiate a conversation on a positive note.
Invite her to talk with you. Allow her to trust you so that she can open up without fear of retaliation.
You are much more likely to have a candid interaction if you genuinely seek to help.
Most managers waste the most important opportunity they have to hold such conversations – the one on one meeting.
Variously known as check-ins, 1 2 1s, or 1:1s, the one on one meeting is a schedule, recurring (usually weekly or biweekly) meeting between a manager and a direct report wherein the two can have a free-flowing and open conversation about work-related topics, relevant personal topics, and can exchange feedback.
It is important to remember that NOT every face-to-face meeting is a one on one meeting.
Typically, quite a few topics are discussed at these meetings, such as work habits, professional development, challenges, engagement levels, and performance goals.
Kim Scott, author of Radical Candor, believes that
The most important thing you can do to build trust is to spend a little time alone with each of your direct reports on a regular basis. Holding regular 1:1s in which your direct report sets the agenda and you ask questions is a good way to begin building trust.
If you treat your one on one meetings as an opportunity to get status updates, you are woefully under-utilizing them.
These meetings are an ideal time for you and your direct report to discuss things that would not be brought up at group meetings.
Why is a one on one meeting the best place to exchange feedback?
You have so many modern methods of communication at your disposal – text messages, emails, and phone calls.
However, nothing comes close to the effectiveness of giving feedback face to face.
Written feedback fails to convey the tone, body language, and context, which is vital for proper understanding and assimilation.
Often, busy managers cancel one on one meetings or delay them because they feel it is a huge time suck.
In fact, it is a most effective use of your time because it gives immense returns on investment. 58% executives feel that their current performance management approach is not useful because managers wait for quarterly performance reviews to ask about challenges or discuss concerns.
Both managers and direct reports benefit from feedback exchange during one on one meetings.
Managers can ask strategic questions that will help them gain valuable insights, build rapport with their direct reports, improve engagement and productivity, and improve their own active listening and coaching skills.
On the other hand, direct reports can understand what their manager expects of them, can discuss their challenges and ambitions, and receive guidance for their professional goals.
Gallup found that the biggest driver of employee engagement is the employee-manager relationship.
Due to the recurring nature of one on one meetings, it is the ideal space for authentic and consistent two-way conversations.
How do you give feedback during one on one meetings?
We’re sure you agree that giving feedback in any form is useful for direct reports. In fact, the act of checking in regularly is the biggest driver of performance.
We’re also aware that many of you dread giving feedback lest the conversation turns confrontational and you have a defensive, teary direct report to deal with.
However, with some practice, even the most awkward conversations can be made constructive and meaningful for both of you.
We’d like to discuss the three most common forms of feedback (positive, constructive, and negative feedback) that managers give to their direct reports and how to go about having a productive feedback session.
Do note that direct reports need a balanced mix of all three types of feedback in order to perform their jobs properly.
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1 Positive feedback during one on one meetings
It is a misconception that it is easy to give positive feedback.
Contrary to popular belief, positive feedback does not mean lavishly praising the direct report.
Feedback should always be balanced and meaningful, which will reinforce positive behaviors and make the direct report more productive. To help you understand this better, here are few examples of positive feedback.
Unfortunately, most managers take good performance for granted and fail to recognize people for their good work.
They air their concerns only when something is going wrong, which serves to demotivate the direct report and lower his engagement with work.
In short, you recognize the good work done by direct reports in positive feedback sessions.
How to give positive feedback:
A few important things you must keep in mind when giving positive feedback during one on one meetings are:
Be genuine. The most important thing is to be authentic when giving positive feedback–not overgenerous with praise. Your direct report will be sure to see through your fake praise and it will have a damaging impact on your relationship with him.
Be timely. We cannot stress this enough–giving feedback in a timely manner will halt the offending behavior, reinforce the positive behavior, and work wonders for morale. Do not delay feedback or wait for the next scheduled meeting to air your concerns. If you let resentment build up, it becomes difficult to defuse the tense situation.
Be specific. When you discuss desirable actions or behaviors, mention specific instances when the direct report performed that action. Vague praise will do little to help the direct report identify where she is going right and continue it.
Focus on effort and behavior. People have two kinds of mindsets – a growth mindset and a fixed mindset. People with a growth mindset believe that abilities and intelligence can be cultivated over time, whereas people with a fixed mindset believe that their abilities are static and cannot be improved.The significance of a growth mindset was first discovered by Dr. Carol Dweck, a psychologist at Stanford, who was studying why some students bounced back from failure whereas other students were overwhelmed by it.People with a fixed mindset tend to view feedback as a personal attack. Thus, you need to focus on a direct report’s efforts and behavior instead of their personality traits or what they are like. This will demonstrate that you’re not looking to “fix” them, but want to help them develop their abilities.
Recommended: Focus on the behavior/action of the direct report that you want to encourage.
Not recommended: Don’t bring attention to the personality traits of the direct report, what she’s like at the workplace.
Frame accomplishments in a bigger context. For your positive feedback to have meaningful effect, you can showcase it in the larger context. You can explain to your direct report how her actions and behavior have an impact on you, on the team, and on the organization as a whole. If the direct report gains context on how their actions have a ripple effect, they are more likely to receive your feedback productively.
2 Negative feedback during one on one meetings
In essence, negative feedback involves a conversation where you discuss behaviors or actions that need to stop.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to giving negative feedback because no two direct reports are the same.
You are the best judge of how you should deliver negative feedback, and you may get better results if you give different people feedback in different ways.
We have described a few popular ways in which managers give negative feedback during one on one meetings:
1 CEDAR
The CEDAR model was created by Anna Wildman, founder and director of a performance management skills company called Oil in the Engine, to help managers hold quality feedback sessions. The model has 5 steps:
C – Context: Set up the context so that the direct report understands how the negative feedback is relevant to their overall performance.
E – Examples: Give specific examples to support your argument.
D – Diagnosis: Help your direct report understand why they are at this point.
A – Action: Encourage your direct report to choose actions which will help them achieve the desired objectives.
R – Review: Remember to follow up and support and encourage your direct report when they demonstrate new behaviors and improvements.
2 3-2-1 technique
The 3-2-1 technique evolved out of research done by Dr. John Gottman, Dr. Barbara Fredrickson, and Dr. Marcial Losada.
If you give negative feedback using this technique, you:
Mention 3 things that pleased you.
Mention 2 areas for improvement.
Describe 1 thing that you liked the most.
3 CORE feedback model
If you choose to give negative feedback using the Core model, your conversations will be concrete, functional, and specific. Follow these 4 steps:
C – Context: Explain when the behavior occurred, who was involved, and where you were when it happened.
O – Observation: Describe the specific behavior you noticed.
R – Reaction: Explain the effect of the undesirable behavior on you, the team, and the company.
E – Expectations: State what you expect from your direct report in the future.
4 IDEALS
Mark Murphy developed the IDEALS technique of giving negative feedback, which is discussed in more detail in his book, Hundred Percenters.
You navigate 6 steps when you use this technique:
I – Invite: Invite your direct report to have a conversation with you. Allow her to choose the meeting time.
D – Disarm: Adopt a calm and positive attitude. This will help your direct report relax and be more receptive to whatever you have to say.
E – Eliminate blame: Don’t criticize your direct report. Instead, work with her to find a solution that is acceptable to both of you.
A – Affirm their control: During the conversation, ask your direct report if she agrees with what you’re saying. Allow her to feel in control of the discussion.
L – List corrections: Create a list of recommendations for your direct report to follow.
S – Synchronize: Ask your direct report how she will ensure that the undesirable behavior is not repeated.
There are plenty of other negative feedback techniques to choose from, such as Plussing, EEC (Evidence, Effect, Change), SBI (Situation, Behavior, Impact), the 6 Steps Technique, Stop-Start-Continue, and I Like-I Wish-I Wonder.
It is really up to you which method you use because everybody may not respond in the same manner, and you may be more comfortable adopting a certain approach.
3 Constructive feedback during one on one meetings
If you’re a fairly experienced manager, you understand the struggle to give constructive feedback which is optimally balanced between meaningful praise and useful suggestions for improvement.
First-time managers often find that they must learn how to conduct difficult conversations in one on one meetings and offer recognition at the correct times.
Constructive feedback and negative feedback are entirely different things.
You suggest measures for improvement in constructive feedback, whereas you highlight behaviors that must cease in negative feedback.
We recommend that you keep the following framework in mind when giving constructive feedback:
Start on a positive note How many times has it happened that you have to deliver not-so-pleasant information to your direct report and you’re worried about her reaction? To defuse the tension right from the beginning, establish a positive atmosphere. A smile, a pleasant greeting, a quick word of praise–such things help your direct report relax and feel like a valued and respected member of the team. Avoid: Phrases like “Better than last time,” “Not bad” Use:“I like the way you handled that assignment.”
Be clear and specific Talk about specific behaviors and actions in a specific context. This will help your direct report understand which behavior to continue and which to stop. Give her steps to correct the situation. Not recommended: “Your presentations are poorly made. Improve them!” Recommended: “Your presentations must be clear. Please use graphs, relevant photos, and bulleted lists to make them understandable.”
Frame your feedback using a growth mindset We’ve discussed the growth mindset previously and described how people may become defensive if they feel attacked. Thus, talk about the behaviors and actions of your direct report and not her personal qualities.
Avoid overwhelming people with feedback You may be tempted to unburden yourself and list all the behaviors that you feel are not desirable. But avoid bombarding your direct report with too much feedback if you really want her to improve. Instead, choose 1-2 most significant areas for improvement and discuss those.
Look for a solution together Your direct report should feel that you and she are in this together. After stating the problem, allow her to describe her perspective of the issue. Next, create an action plan together with clear goals and steps to get there. Give suggestions on how she can reach the stated goals. Also, remember to ask your direct report how you can help her reach these goals. This tells her that you are open to feedback yourself and you are willing to assist her.
Follow up by acknowledging achievements Nobody likes a manager who breathes down one’s neck. If you have had a micromanaging boss, you will understand what we mean. However, you need to keep a track of your direct report’s progress as well. A good way to do this is to show appreciation and recognition when she achieves one of the goals that you had listed together.Just like you started the one on one meeting on a positive note, you should strive to end it with a pleasant frame of mindas well. If you stay calm and composed throughout the meeting, your direct report will be more receptive of the constructive feedback.
Beware of the sandwich approach to giving constructive feedback, where you “sandwich” a negative statement between two positive statements. Even though this method is widely recommended, it is often ineffective. Your direct report may either focus only on the negative statement and feel demotivated, or she may get carried away by the positive statements and forget about the negative statement. Not recommended:“Your work is amazing, but I have noticed that you do not gel well with the rest of the team. However, you are always on time to work—so that’s great!” Recommended:“I feel that you need to associate with your team members more. However, your work is amazing and you are always on time to work. Good going!”
How to receive feedback from your direct reports effectively?
You may wonder why we’re talking about managers soliciting feedback during one on one meetings when there are several other avenues for them, such as HR surveys and 360-degree surveys.
These surveys are anonymous and provide feedback compiled from many sources.
Whereas, personalized feedback received from the direct report in a private, confidential one on one meeting is much more effective.
You can tailor your management style to suit each direct report and get better engagement in return.
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Tips to get candid feedback from direct reports
Ask the right questions.If you want real, candid answers, you must ask the right questions. For instance, – On a scale of 1-5, how would you rate my support to you as your manager? – What can I do to bring down stress levels in our team? – What can I do to prepare you for success? – Can you think of an instance where I said or did something you didn’t like or agree with? – What do you do to cheer yourself up when you’re feeling low?
Peoplebox has an exhaustive list of more than 500 one on one meeting questionsthat you can use to elicit honest responses from your direct reports. The questions are categorized under various headings, such as Career Growth & Development, Feedback, Goals & Alignment, Icebreakers, Organizational Feedback, and Team Work & Collaboration.
Keep your emotions in check. Your direct reports should be able to trust you enough to feel comfortable to open up with you. Since you’re soliciting feedback, you should be prepared to hear things that you may not like. Stay calm and try not to feel threatened. Ask yourself why your direct report feels this way about you. If you lose your temper, you will ensure that you never get honest feedback again.
Understand their perspective. Your direct reports hail from diverse backgrounds. Thus, you will inevitably get to hear different viewpoints about you and your management style. You will hear about their expectations from you about maintaining proper workplace ambiance, offering guidance on their professional goals, and your management style.
Conclusion
A critical part of leadership is the ability to ask the right questions and listen actively.
If you have the right context, you can figure out a great solution and also teach your employees to view their work with a critical eye.
What stood out is the deep understanding of the Peoplebox.ai team and their willingness to listen & enhance the platform to scale with our long-term needs.
Khilan Haria
VP and Head of Payments Product, Razorpay
I'm glad that we partnered with Peoplebox.ai for our company-wide OKR rollout. Thanks to its simplicity, we achieved significant adoption within two quarters
Rohit Arumugam
Business Head, Nova Benefits
Since we started using Peoplebox.ai, we have been able to bring all of our leadership across the organization together and show them how all of our goals align
Jaclyn Hoover
Senior Director HR, Propel School
Driving the entire interface through slack is simply brilliant especially for a tech product company! There was zero time spent on training! It can not get easier than that!
Swapna Nair
VP - HR, Khatabook
I chose Peoplebox.ai because it had integrations with the tools we use for sales and engineering to automate updating of key results and sync projects
How to Roll Out OKRs for First Time: 7 Steps Startegy
How to Roll out OKRs for the first time is a question common among organizations just introducing OKRs.
Imagine a scenario-
You are rolling out OKR for the first time.
One thing goes wrong and… Boom!
Your employees are already hating the process- even before it took a pace.
You certainly wouldn’t want that to happen in your organization. OKRs can surcharge and accelerate your organizational growth. But the key is to get this done right.
That’s why a well-planned rollout is significant for the success of an OKR system.
Introduce the new goal-setting approach strategically but not in a mechanical process. Every organization is unique and can face unique challenges while implementing OKRs.
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How to roll out OKRs: Here are 7 Best Practices for a successful OKR rollout
1 Communicate the OKR Methodology to all the teams
Get everyone in the organization on board with OKRs. Present the concept clearly and precisely. Educate everyone on the OKR language.
While some people will embrace the changes with open arms, there are also going to be some skeptics into the bargain. You must let them express their concerns and provide answers to their “why, how, and what?” questions.
Explain to them the benefits of implementing the OKR framework. Highlight how it’s going to impact the business and the individual success of the employees.
Organize workshops, training, discussions, introductory presentations, and seminars to help your employees’ design quality OKRs. Transparently explain to them the strategic execution, alignment, expectations, and tools they will be required to use for the purpose.
To help everyone speak the same language, document your company OKR framework
2 Inspire with success stories
List the names of reputed companies like Google, Netflix, Intel, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. which have successfully implemented OKRs. Narrate their success stories to help them visualize how OKRs can cater to their individual success.
For example, OKRs helped LinkedIn become a 20 Billion Company. Jeff Weiner, CEO of LinkedIn, describes OKRs as, “something you want to accomplish over a specific period of time that leans toward a stretch goal rather than a stated plan.
It’s something where you want to create greater urgency, greater mindshare.”
You can either go for an organization-wide rollout Consider running an OKR Pilot first, depending on what fits you best.
If you have a culture that’s open to change and a flexible structure of functioning, an organization-wide rollout will work best for you. But it’s always best to take small steps. Start from one part and gradually move to others.
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Crafting and implementing OKRs across the entire organization can seem overwhelming especially if you are a large organization. Instead, choose a particular part of the organization and run a pilot project.
“If you concentrate on small, manageable steps you can cross unimaginable distances.”
It’s also important to decide “how often?” will OKRs be reviewed. Will it be done quarterly or annually?
4 Go for the Top-down approach
A top-down approach to OKRs was the first pattern attempted. The top management has a significant role in setting the overall direction of the company. Starting from the top provides clarity for the rest of the organization.
“People buy into the leader before they buy into the vision.”
For example, you can start with the senior leadership team. Make them an example to roll out OKRs to the departmental heads. From there you can move on to team leaders, and to the rest of your teams.
5 Get aligned
You can’t just sit with a blank sheet in front and magically start crafting the perfect OKRs. You need to understand the context. Make the company mission and vision your starting point and tailor your OKRs accordingly.
Buy-ins are critical for OKR success. The success of OKRs depends on the collective effort of each team member. You can imagine it as a group dance performance where everyone needs to perform their parts well to make it a masterpiece.
Thus you need to align the efforts of the workforce, executive leaders, and company heads both horizontally and vertically. This will help you foster transparency, smooth cross-functional communication, and reduce overlap among departments.
6 Track and monitor progress
Tracking OKRs are important to evaluate and measure the progress and understand which teams are falling short.
You can identify any issues and make course corrections as required by Monitoring progress.
Leverage technology to track OKRs. It will make the process transparent.
Using OKR software will also automate the calculations and save your time as you are no longer required to manually update the progress of each team member.
Bonus tip: Remember to celebrate whenever you Hit the nail on the head through OKR win meetings and shoutouts to keep
7 Do frequent check-ins
To stay on top of OKR progress, you need to do regular check-ins. Employees might feel overwhelmed with concerns and doubts, especially in the initial days.
Regular check-ins will give your employees direction. And provide them the required assistance and guidance. Frequent Check-in meetings will also identify the overlappings, increase accountability and ensure execution.
Define your preferred frequency of Check-in meetings. You can do it weekly or monthly as per your organization’s needs. Although weekly check-ins are most recommended to keep track of the progress and evaluate continuously.
Have OKR Champions
Consider having OKR champion who starts implementing the OKR framework with a strong war cry. Build a team of champions who will work as ambassadors to head the change. And make the OKR framework run smoothing across the organization.
They work as mentors and internal OKR experts. And can help you adopt and execute OKRs at all levels of the organization. These OKR enthusiasts will make sure that every concern is addressed, every ‘whys and wherefores’ are explained.
Too many objectives and key results: Less is more. Don’t set more than 5-7 Objectives and 3-5 key results.
Fill it, Forget it: Don’t set OKRs just to forget in a few days.
Mixing KPIs with OKRs: KPIs aren’t a substitution for OKRs. They have separate roles and outcomes.
Rigidity: Rigid adherence to rules can lead to disengagement. Instead, move forward with a flexible and intuitive OKR approach
Link OKRs with Recognition: Don’t make the mistake of making OKRs a base for your reward and recognition program. It can negatively affect performance. And compromises the business output.
The start is never perfect
You might struggle when you are just starting. But after a few OKR cycles, you are sure to hit your stride.
To end, OKR’s success depends on consistency. So, remember to continuously reflect, learn, and refine the process.
Hope we were able to answer all your queries in our blog How to roll out OKRs for the first time? If you have questions feel free to comment below.
Pooja Pooja
Types of OKRs: Aspirational OKRs vs Committed OKRs
Every organization wants to grow, but how do you set goals that are both achievable and visionary? The answer lies in the types of OKRs: committed and aspirational.
Whether it’s near-term performance or long-term innovation for your business, you’ll know just how to leverage the power of committed and aspirational OKRs effectively to unlock new levels of success for your business.
Committed OKRs are about clear, attainable targets that teams can confidently deliver within a set timeframe. This type of OKR delivers accountability and is important for day-to-day business success.
Aspirational OKRs, on the other hand; push teams to be bigger and challenge themselves. The moonshots: ambitious OKRs are meant to stretch an organization from its comfort zone, kindling innovation and long-term growth.
In the rest of this blog, we will take the difference between these two types of OKR apart and see how to balance them in such a way that they enable performance as well as inspiration.
What are Aspirational OKRs and Other Types of OKRs?
A committed OKR is a stretch goal that the team has to achieve or complete before the cycle is over. A committed goal pushes the team to reach, but still achievable attainment. All metrics of the Key Results must be completed fully and on time. Consider a situation like this:
Daniel’s organization and his teams have agreed to execute certain OKRs and have mapped a precise action plan on how they are going to do so.
These are called Committed OKRs.
An aspirational OKR sets the bar for success further out, and by design will exceed a team’s ability to execute in a given quarter. When they set such a high bar as to be seemingly impossible they are called 10x goals, or “moonshots.” While most aspirational OKRs are never fully achieved, they exist to push a team to think bigger than a committed OKR. Consider the following case:
Martha’s organization is more visionary. They have stretched goals. And her teams are not likely to fully achieve these ambitious goals.
These are called Aspirational OKRs.
Understanding the distinction between aspirational and committed goals is crucial for effective goal-setting and team motivation within the OKR framework. Aspirational goals encourage ambitious thinking and long-term vision, while committed goals focus on immediate, measurable outcomes.
Learning OKR focuses on the acquisition of knowledge, new skills, or insights rather than a direct achievement of business outputs. Extremely helpful when entering new areas or uncertainties and requires experimenting, learning, and developing new skills, Learning OKRs distinguish between usual output measuring of success and measuring acquisition of knowledge, that will later add value for future objectives. For example:
Jerry wants to gain a deep understanding of machine learning to drive full product development. He wants to finish three advanced courses and test his skills by building a model in sandbox.
These are called Learning OKRs.
Aspirational OKRs and Committed OKRs: Key differences
When you aim for the stars, you may come up short, but still reach the moon.
– Larry Page
Read on to find out the key difference between Committed OKRs and Aspirational OKRs.
Objective
Aspirational OKRs are meant to push the boundaries and encourage employees to achieve visionary objectives. Committed OKRs, on the other hand, focus on committed objectives that offer a more realistic vision of goals with fully achievable results.
Aim
Committed OKRs help companies achieve their goals through individual and team achievements. Aspirational OKRs are often beyond the current capacities of the organization but help in pushing boundaries.
Timeframe
Aspirational OKRs are usually created to focus on long-term strategic vision while Committed OKRs offer short-term operational priorities to guarantee progress in the short term.
Committed OKRs are supposed to have a 100% success rate as each key result comprises fully achievable targets. Aspirational OKRs are usually found to have a success rate of 60-70%.
Committed and Aspirational OKR examples
The difference between committed and aspirational OKRs is subtle. Committed objectives are meant to be fully achievable, requiring teams to concentrate on straightforward priorities without taking unnecessary risks, ultimately serving as motivational tools to foster small wins and consistent progress.
A standard example in the sales team scenario might be like:
Committed OKR
O: Expand to the US market
KR1: Close first 6 start-ups
KR2: Get a meeting-to-close rate of 6%
KR3: Reach average deal size of $200
Aspirational OKR
O: Capture the entire US market in one quarter
KR1: Get onboard 95% of big customers in the US market to grow over competitors
KR2: Get a meeting-to-close rate of 30%
KR3: Reach average deal size of $2000
In the managerial team, these OKRs can manifest like such:
Committed OKR
O: Improve customer satisfaction with the existing solutions
KR1: Increase customer satisfaction score (CSAT) from 85% to 90% by the end of the quarter.
KR2: Reduce average response time from 15 minutes to 10 minutes within the next three months.
KR3: Train 100% of the support team on the new customer service tools within six weeks.
Aspirational OKR
O: Become the market leader in AI-powered customer service solutions.
KR1: Achieve a 30% market share in the AI customer service industry by the end of next year.
KR2: Launch three groundbreaking AI features that no competitor currently offers within 18 months.
KR3: Secure a partnership with at least two top-tier companies by the end of next year.
In a tech context, OKRs like these can come up:
Committed OKR
O: Improve the performance of the app and reliability
KR1: Reduce app crash rate from 2.5% to under 1% within the next quarter.
KR2: Decrease page load times by 30% in six months.
KR3: Fix 100% of the top ten reported bugs within the next two sprints.
Aspirational OKR
O: Revolutionize the user experience of our mobile app.
KR1: Increase daily active users (DAU) by 100% within 12 months.
KR2: Develop and launch a fully AI-driven recommendation system that personalizes the user experience by the end of the year.
KR3: Achieve a 4.8+ rating across app stores by introducing five innovative features within the next 18 months.
How to decide between Committed OKRs and Aspirational OKRs?
Committed OKRs will work best if your organization is newly introduced to the framework or is still in the rolling-out phase.
With each goal achieved, your team’s motivation and engagement will rise higher. In addition, teams easily get into the habit of running Committed OKRs and make it part of their work culture.
But if you have already used the framework in the past, aspirational OKRs can do wonders for you.
Creating a result-driven work culture takes time. It demands discipline, continuous effort, and a mindset shift of employees and management. So you should start simple and focus on learning the methodology first. And set up the necessary processes to make it work.
Setting aspirational OKRs in the very beginning would make your teams feel overwhelmed and over-pressurized. Extremely ambitious Key Results soon become too much to handle. Learning a new methodology takes time. Once your teams are used to the framework and it becomes a part of their work-life, you can consider aspirational OKRs.
With the later process, you can have objectives and a combination of committed and aspirational key results. While some key results will be easier to achieve, others will aim higher. Understanding the distinction between aspirational and committed goals is crucial for better goal-setting and team motivation.
Choosing the Right Type of OKRs
Choosing the right type of OKRs depends on the organization’s goals, culture, and priorities. Committed OKRs are suitable for organizations that need to achieve specific, measurable outcomes within a set timeframe. They are ideal for teams that require a clear direction and a sense of accountability. Aspirational OKRs, on the other hand, are suitable for organizations that want to drive innovation, creativity, and excellence. They are ideal for teams that want to push the boundaries and strive for something bigger.
When choosing between Committed and Aspirational OKRs, consider the following factors:
What are the organization’s goals and priorities?
What type of culture do we want to foster?
What kind of outcomes do we want to achieve?
What level of risk are we willing to take?
By considering these factors, organizations can choose the right type of OKRs that align with their goals, culture, and priorities. Whether you opt for committed or aspirational OKRs, the key is to ensure that they are aligned with your company aims and internal communication processes, fostering a balanced approach to achieving both immediate and long-term objectives.
How to balance Committed and Aspirational OKRs?
There is no one-size-fits-all answer, but where OKRs are aligned with company strategy, teams are well educated, open communication exists, and performance is reviewed regularly, it will help keep the balance between aspirational and committed OKRs intact.
However, the first step in finding equilibrium between the two forms of OKRs is that there has to be a knowledge of the difference. It needs to be apparent from the outset that everyone involved makes it clear the distinction between the two OKRs.
Teams and employees may have suitable insights that will assist in determining what is realistically achievable (committed) and what is a stretch but possible (aspirational). This can help determine what the balance ratio for the OKRs is going to be.
A very critical element to succeed with OKRs is reviewing and tracking the progress. With weekly check-ins, teams can go through their OKRs regularly and update the same performance data. It becomes easy to track how they have progressed on the outcome of the OKR in the OKR review process.
The grading of OKRs is very clear on the distinction between committed and aspirational goals. Committed OKRs are things to be accomplished within the cycle, and grading is binary: pass or fail. That is, an OKR is said to be successful if 100% of it is accomplished; otherwise, it is regarded as a failure. Aspirational OKRs, on the other hand, are graded along a more nuanced scale.
Common mistakes to avoid while setting up Aspirational OKRs
Here are 6 common mistakes organizations commit while setting up aspirational OKRs-
1️⃣Ignoring organizational structure and needs
A common mistake most organizations commit while writing aspirational OKRs is to write something like, “What can be done more if we have extra resources and luck favors us ?” Instead, you can pretend to be a genie and strive to understand “What our customer needs at present moment?”
2️⃣Unrealistic aspirational OKRs
Aspirational OKRs don’t imply setting unrealistic goals. It should be achievable, with the understanding that your teams won’t have any clue about how to achieve these OKRs. Aspirational OKRs demand overuse of resources. They are fluid and flexible. But still helps your teams focus on well-defined goals.
3️⃣Writing a low-value objective (LVO)
Moving forward with a “Who cares?” attitude is a common pitfall among organizations. Low-value objectives go unnoticed even after the successful completion of the key results.
4️⃣OKRs should be framed to gain tangible benefit
OKRs are a tool for organizations to work for big goals in the long run by breaking them into small chunks that can be achieved within a shorter cycle.
5️⃣A committed OKR must deliver a 1.0
It makes the framework stiff and doesn’t leave scope for improvement.
6️⃣Too many OKRs
How many aspirational OKRs you should set for one cycle will depend on your company’s resources. But never aim for too many Objectives and key results. As it can easily divert your focus altogether.
Best Practices for Implementing OKRs
Implementing OKRs requires a structured approach to ensure success. Here are some best practices to consider:
Align OKRs with company goals: Ensure that OKRs align with the organization’s overall goals and priorities.
Make OKRs specific and measurable: Ensure that OKRs are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART).
Set ambitious yet achievable goals: Set goals that are challenging yet achievable, and provide a clear direction for the team.
Establish clear key results: Establish clear key results that indicate progress towards achieving the objective.
Track progress regularly: Track progress regularly and provide feedback to teams and individuals.
Foster a culture of transparency and accountability: Foster a culture of transparency and accountability, where teams and individuals are held accountable for their progress.
Provide training and support: Provide training and support to teams and individuals to ensure they understand the OKR framework and how to use it effectively.
Review and adjust OKRs regularly: Review and adjust OKRs regularly to ensure they remain relevant and aligned with the organization’s goals.
By following these best practices, organizations can implement OKRs effectively and achieve their goals. Regularly reviewing and adjusting OKRs ensures that they stay aligned with the evolving needs of the organization, helping teams to maintain focus and drive continuous improvement.
Conclusion
Now that you know the difference between committed and aspirational OKRs and how they can impact your organization’s success, it’s the decision time. Choose the one that will best suit your purpose.
And don’t forget it’s a trial and error method. Have regular OKR check-ins and reviews. Collect feedback during and after each cycle. And use your learnings to avoid further mistakes in the next OKR cycle.
Pooja Pooja
Quarterly OKRs: 5 Tips for Successful Wrap-Up
Imagine a scene! the quarter is about to end and it’s time to review and wrap up quarterly OKRs.
The clock’s ticking. Everyone is in a rush. And you are busy evaluating which goals are yet to be achieved. And what has already been done. It’s also time to think about your priorities for the next quarter.
There are so many checklists and questions going in your head.
Have my teams found ways of closing out quarterly OKRs? Will my teams beat the clock and tick all the boxes? Have they reflected on their OKR progress? How will I deal with this end-of-quarter OKRs rush?
Feeling overwhelmed!!
Here is a step by step guide to help you prepare best to wrap up your quarterly OKRs–
Before you start to review and wrap up quarterly OKRs- remember that wrapping up quarterly OKRs is teamwork. And to see the best results every team irrespective of their department have to come together.
Track your team’s OKR progress and gather the key results scores. You can score your OKRs on a scale of 1 to 10 on the basis of how far the objectives have been achieved.
This will help you evaluate your progress in a truly data-driven manner.
If the scores are low this might suggest that your OKRs were unrealistic. On the other hand, if the score is too high it may suggest that your OKRs were not ambitious enough.
Whatever learning you made from this process. It will help you to form the basis for designing your next set of quarterly OKRs.
Make sure everyone is up to date
It is important to ensure that your teams have clarity about their OKR status. At the same time, they have visibility into what other teams have been doing. It can be achieved through regular check-ins with your teams. Check this ebook on OKR handbook.
This step will help you check if your teams are aligned or not. When everyone in your team is on the same page taking decisions based on priorities becomes easy. As you have the data in hand to rely on instead of guessing.
Organize OKR check-ins
The importance of check-ins for OKR success cannot be emphasized enough. OKR check-ins provide you an opportunity to have 1 on 1 discussion in all OKR matters.
With OKR check-ins you can discuss with your leaders and team members about – what went well, what didn’t work for them, what needs to be dealt with immediately, what problems they are facing etc. at an individual as well as team level.
OKR check-ins will help you understand what’s holding teams back. You will further get the chance to push priorities that might have shifted midway.
Dig into opportunities
Organize Quarterly OKRs review meetings to dig into opportunities. During these meetings, go through each key result with your teams. Find out what went well and what needs to be done better.
Let the OKR leaders from each team present their learnings and achievements before everyone. Here teams can give a small presentation highlighting the most important lessons with context.
So that other teams can benefit from their learnings and experiences. And use them in designing their OKRs for the next quarter.
If you are a large-scale company working with multiple departments. The OKR review meetings can be held at the departmental level.
Plan the future
Now that you have gathered the data and matrix you need through OKR check-ins and OKR review meetings. It’s high time to plan for the next quarter.
OKRs have the power to build the future of your organization. But OKR failures can cost you a fortune.
Hence it’s important to find out the core reasons behind your OKR success or failure for the present quarter. And use it as context while designing OKRs for the next quarter.
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Do you need to plan new OKRs every quarter?
“Should OKRs change every quarter?” is a question often left unanswered.
Even after an OKR is achieved, you can roll it forward for the next quarter if necessary.
For example, if your OKR was to increase customer satisfaction by 20% in the present quarter. This could be relevant even for the next few quarters.
In case, of missed OKRs, you need to take a call. And decide whether you want to carry it forward or set new OKRs based on the data gathered.
When should you review and wrap up Quarterly OKRs
You should preferably wrap up the quarterly OKRs at least a week prior to the beginning of the next quarter.
But the preparation and discussions for the next quarter should be initiated almost a month before the new quarter begins. This is because designing OKRs takes dedication, time, and effort.
Bonus Tips:
Maintain Transparency from day one. Keep data transparent so that everyone knows how it’s going.
Create a culture of critical feedback. Be honest when it comes to feedback. At the same time be open to getting feedback from your teams as well.
Celebrate wins– even the smallest ones. Recognize your teams for their achievements more often.
Over-communicate. Communication is the key when it comes to wrapping up quarterly OKRs.
Take a moment
Wrapping up end-of-quarter OKRs will allow you to pause and take a moment to think. It provides you time to reflect on your wins, failures, and setbacks. It’s a stitch in time to make sure that your OKR framework is a success.
Follow the steps given to close out quarterly OKRs and make the most out of the process.
