The OKR (Objective / Key Result) method, which you can discover by clicking here if it is not familiar to you, is now popular with managers.
However, the secret when setting OKR goals is not to overshed!
Why do I need to set fewer OKR goals?
Working over too long a period of time is difficult for many employees.
Formalizing a roadmap on a Short, Medium and Long term horizon is much more reassuring and allows you to clarify priorities with your team.
There are 3 behaviours that hinder the achievement of the objectives:
- Set everything in bulk over a year
- Giving too many details to the risk of falling into micro-management
- Falling into the dilution syndrome
When too many OKR goals are given, after a few months, it can generate a feeling of frustration or even misunderstanding and the work becomes less satisfying for leaders, managers and their teams.
It is sometimes useful to focus more on the next quarter thanks to the FEST approach:
Focus: Focus on what you can achieve
Engaging: validated together
Simple: understood by all
Timé: bounded in time
Here are 3 tips for managers to set motivating and engaging OKR goals
1. Focus on what creates value (Set fewer OKR goals)
The fault of the manager is often to set too many goals.
At first it does not bother anyone but with the passing of time, having dozens of goals generates frustration or even disengagement. The employee is demotivated and the results are diluted.
2. Determine the cadence as a team.
Climbing Everest should not be judged meter by meter and conversely it should not be judged at the finish at the top either.
We must find the right pace, the one that takes your employees on board and allows everyone to judge concrete progress.
Each manager will be able to, according to the pace and cycles corresponding to his activity, position objectives over the right period, with a horizon neither too short nor too long.
As in an orchestra, it is the tempo that allows each musician to cling to the score.
Validate with your teammates the timing of each site and respect the time horizon.
Rather than determining an arbitrary measure, encourage your employees to work on a notion of "Milestone". A simple question to get there is to work on the "What".
Ex: in your opinion for this action, what success will we be able to measure in April? or "in your opinion to achieve this goal, what are the steps and results to achieve it?»
3. Stay focused on a fixed and agile period on a free period
Setting or proposing to an employee to set his OKR over a short period of time (Objectives and Key Results) allows him to know what he should focus his efforts on. Depending on the company and the specifics of the business, this period can be 3 months or less.
Too many goals and too many details generate distraction and dilution in engagement. To avoid falling into too much detail and too much diluted execution, it is useful to set up a shared visual management.
A simple whiteboard with in the rows, actions and columns the arrival dates makes teamwork transparent and gives information without having to run after.
Encourage your employees to focus on a limited number of goals but they will be able to achieve.
