Dear Andy,
My company has started using OKRs in the past 6 months. I manage a small team and am trying to wrap my head about how to best integrate team and individual OKRs.
This is an example of our team OKRs:
Objective: Deliver a service that surprises and delights customers.
KR1: Contact 100% of eligible customers to welcome them on board.
KR2: Contact 100% of eligible exited customers to collect info about their experience.
KR3: Identify 6 delighted customers to profile.
My question is: How do we create individual OKRs that contribute to the team OKR but are still unique and inspiring to the individual? Examples welcome!
With gratitude,
Alison & Team
Hi Alison & Team!
Thanks for writing in.
In general, we only recommend asking your team to write individual OKRs if it will be valuable to them. When you’re starting out, focus on your company OKRs, your department OKRs, and your team setting great OKRs first. Once your practice has matured, consider individual OKRs if it will help those people stay focused on and aligned with the company’s top priorities. Many find team and even company-wide OKRs to be more than sufficient to guide individual work – especially in small teams like yours.
When you’re ready for individual OKRs, start by asking team members to write laddering OKRs. Laddering is a bottom-up approach to goal setting, where team members are asked how they can best affect the company-wide or team-level OKRs. In your case, ask them what is the highest leverage thing they control that would surprise and delight customers? That’s usually a good starting point for crafting an OKR.
For an example, look to startup Superhuman, whose email app superimposes a faster, more productive interface for Gmail. Similar to your team, the crew at Superhuman gave all new customers 1:1 personal onboarding sessions. After performing these sessions, they found customers were more likely to stay on post-trial period and also share their positive experiences on social media. Those two metrics would work great for individual OKRs, as they’re directly impacted by individual work.
Also, the OKR you gave could use some fine-tuning. I know this wasn’t your question but hey, it’s my column :). As written, the OKR maps out how you’ll surprise and delight your customers, but I challenge you to take things a step further with your KRs. Let’s go from actions (contact customers) to defining the impact of that work.
Why are you welcoming 100% of eligible customers on board? Ideally you’re looking for happier customers. That could translate into a KR around an increase in customer satisfaction. What will you do with the profiled customers? I imagine you’ll share their experiences with other potential customers with the aim of generating more leads. There you go – another outcome KR! KRs that measure impact of the activities will take your team much further than KRs that look like a work plan.
Thanks for writing in, Alison, and best of luck to you and your team on your OKR journey.
Sincerely,
Billy from the What Matters Team
