Introduction

Many fast-growing businesses struggle to execute their strategy effectively and align their teams around a common vision. They often face challenges such as unclear goals, conflicting priorities, lack of accountability, and poor communication. How can they overcome these obstacles and turn their strategy into a delivery plan that drives results?

I’m diving deep into this subject next week with Tom Ricca-McCarthy in the February GrowCFO Best Practice Accelerator. You can register here

One possible solution that we will be discussing is to use the OKR methodology, a goal-setting framework that helps businesses define and measure their objectives and key results. OKRs are designed to help leaders and teams set ambitious, measurable, and aligned goals that support the overall strategy and vision of the business. By using OKRs, companies can bridge the strategy execution gap and create a culture of focus, alignment, and transparency.

What are OKRs?

OKR stands for Objectives and Key Results. An objective is a qualitative and inspirational statement of what you want to achieve. A key result is a quantitative and measurable indicator of how you will know if you have achieved your objective. For example, an objective could be “Increase customer satisfaction” and a key result could be “Reduce churn rate by 10%”. OKRs are usually set for a specific time period, such as a quarter or a year.

OKRs have several benefits for fast-growing businesses, such as:

• They help communicate the strategy and vision of the business to the entire organization and ensure that everyone is working towards the same goals.
• They help create alignment and collaboration across teams and departments by linking individual and team OKRs to the company OKRs.
• They help track progress and performance by using data and metrics to measure the impact of the actions and initiatives.
• They help foster a culture of feedback and learning by encouraging regular reviews and adjustments of the OKRs based on the results and feedback.

How to Turn Your Strategy into a Delivery Plan with OKRs

To turn your strategy into a delivery plan with OKRs, you need to follow a series of steps that will help you define, communicate, and execute your OKRs. Here are some of the main steps you need to take:

• Task 1 – Clearly identify your business objectives. What are the most important outcomes you want to achieve in the next 12 months? What are the key challenges or opportunities you want to address? What are the core values and vision of your business? Write down your business objectives in a clear and concise way.
• Task 2 – What results do you need to deliver? For each business objective, define the key results that will indicate if you have achieved it. What are the metrics or indicators that will measure your success? How will you collect and track the data? How ambitious and realistic are your key results? Write down your key results in a SMART way (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound).
• Task 3 – What are the main initiatives you need in the next 12 months? For each key result, identify the main initiatives or projects that will help you deliver it. What are the actions or activities that will drive the results? Who is responsible for each initiative? What are the resources and budget required? Write down your initiatives in a clear and actionable way.
• Task 4 – What needs to happen in the next 100 days? For each initiative, break down the tasks and milestones that need to be completed in the next 100 days. What are the deliverables and deadlines for each task? Who is accountable for each task? What are the dependencies and risks involved? Write down your tasks and milestones in a detailed and realistic way.
• Task 5 – Build a KPI dashboard. To monitor and track your progress and performance, you need to build a KPI dashboard that will display your OKRs and the data related to them.
• Task 6 – Communicate. To ensure that your OKRs are understood and supported by your organization, you need to communicate them effectively and regularly. You can use different channels and formats to communicate your OKRs, such as:Presenting your OKRs to your leadership team and board of directors.Sharing your OKRs with your employees and teams through email, intranet, or newsletters.Hosting OKR workshops and training sessions to explain the OKR methodology and how to use it.Organizing OKR review meetings and check-ins to discuss the progress and performance of the OKRs and the feedback and learnings.Celebrating and rewarding the achievements and successes of the OKRs and the teams and individuals involved.

Conclusion

Turning your strategy into a delivery plan for a fast growing business can be challenging, but using the OKR methodology can help you bridge the strategy execution gap and achieve your goals. By following the steps outlined in this article, you can create and implement your OKRs and monitor and track your results. OKRs can help you create a culture of focus, alignment, and transparency in your organization and drive growth and innovation.