How OKR Accomplishes Business Objectives in the Times of Crisis
Bastin, who holds decades of experience, has a proven track record of converting initiatives into market leading products.
In our lifetime we have seen organizations; markets face downturns, 2008 being the most recent. When companies came out of recession, the role of technology intensified supporting globalization. We saw innovation across the board -- from space travel to taxi services getting disrupted. And then the world gets impacted by a global pandemic, the scale of which is not experienced by most of us in the world today. The impact across the business world is beyond anyone’s expectation. The new normal will never be close to the pre-COVID days.
With increased globalization, the world has been experiencing remote working, however for now and for the imminent future working from home will be the new normal and we have the technology to support this workplace without borders. Organizations big and small are huddling up to discuss business continuity. At this time organisations need to safeguard the safety and welfare of employees while achieving the business outcomes that are needed to sustain and grow the business.
At this time, more than ever it is critical to embrace a management methodology that is focused on results. Businesses cannot afford wasting time and money on wrong decisions by executives, inaccurate directions by managers, missed commitments by workers, and unclear communications between the different layers of an organization. A cultural shift has to occur in the workplace where every employee, at every level of the organization is accountable for the results they are responsible for, not just the hours they put in.
At this time more than ever it is critical to embrace a management methodology that is focused on results
Objectives and Key Results (OKR) is a great methodology to embrace for the following reasons:
1.The methodology has been around for 50 years
2.It is proven to work and produce great results at several companies. In fact, if you can find a common thread between several of the greatest businesses on earth, it would be OKRs
3.Has a great consulting ecosystem that acts as a support system to get started
4.Good software tools are available to help you manage your OKR program
In these times where you need flexibility in working environments, OKRs are the way to go to ensure that your business continues to be agile. So, how does OKRs help a business with? OKRs will pay you off many times over in the following areas, called in short as FACTS.
●Focus: At a time when we all are feeling overwhelmed, trying to make sense of the new normal, OKRs help us to keep ourselves focused on the business priorities that matter.
●Alignment: OKRs help you align business priorities at various levels of the organization with those above and hence ensuring both:
○You do what needs to be done
○And more importantly, you avoid doing what is not necessary
●Commitment:Transparency promoted by OKRs along with bottom up planning allows employees to recognize and appreciate their contribution to achieve organizational objectives, which in turn increases their commitment levels.
●Tracking:In the new normal, tracking the outcomes of your business functions and activities, and how they are being influenced by your employees is super critical. OKRs help you do just that. You establish a weekly or sometimes even shorter cadence on the key results that matter to your business and let your employees march to that drum beat.
●Stretching:In these tough times, for every business to get through, it's not just enough to reduce waste. It is very important to get every employee to buy into the habit of stretching and not just be satisfied with business as usual, because it is not. When your employees go the extra mile, collectively your business moves forward that much more and thus giving you the much needed edge over your competition.
OKRs are the way to go and you will see how this methodology will help you in this new world by improving all the metrics that are key to you, and of course the profit metric for sure.
