Working with no goals is like having to shoot an arrow with no target. Every organization needs a sense of direction allowing its members to focus on shared goals rather than wander around aimlessly in several directions. Setting objectives can align an organization by connecting company, team and personal intentions to measurable results.
We at accilium understand the importance of setting not only company goals, but also individual ones to foster each member’s personal growth. Thus, we have chosen to use OKRs in order to align our individual development with our team and company efforts, and make sure that we are all heading towards the same target.
What are OKRs?
OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) is a management philosophy that connects the work of employees to the company’s overall strategic plan. The framework is split into two parts:
1. Objectives: represent what you want to achieve and should tell you where to go.
2. Key Results: show you how you’ll get there. They should be measurable, limited in number and should feel even a bit uncomfortable , in order to inspire you to challenge yourself. After all, people who set themselves ambitious goals achieve more. Each key result must be graded (0.1–1.0) to facilitate learning. However, the desired result is around 0.7-0.8, as having straight 1.0s only means that you have not been ambitious enough.
However, OKR cycles, meaning the frequency of grading and posting new OKRs is flexible. At accilium every acc’sie does it quarterly, because meaningful results can be achieved in a quarter and doing it 4 times a year accelerates every acc’sies growth.
Example for a personal OKR
The benefits of OKRs
By using OKRs in the process of our goal setting culture, we have identified the following benefits:
- OKRs discipline our thinking and focus everyone’s effort on the few things that matter most.
- They help us to connect to the company´s mission, enhance communication and collaboration.
- Continuous learning is facilitated as frequent progress check-ins drive better goal execution.
- OKRs create transparency and accountability as they are public, everyone can see what others are working on, leading to increased participation.
- The increased level of open communication, focus, and alignment throughout accilium improves results deliverability and overall performance.