Radical Focus

How to Hold a Meeting to Set OKRs for the Quarter

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Once you have picked the goal you want your team to focus on, you have to reiterate it daily. But it’s not enough to talk about it, you must weave reminders into every aspect of the company life. Progress toward the goal must be marked in status meetings and weekly status emails.

Hanna was ready for this. “Google started with OKRs when they were a year old, and it worked for them. Many small companies become big companies because of OKRs. And guys, we may not have made our OKRs, but we should be grateful they showed us we’ve got a problem with focus.”

Why is this? If it is important, then why doesn’t it happen? I believe there are five reasons. One: We haven’t prioritized our goals.

“Yes, yes, yes. What’s in the last slot?” Hanna asked, pointing at the lower left. She felt renewed and inspired. “I call that ‘heads up.’ It’s the pipeline of important things you expect to happen in the next month. That way Marketing, Engineering, Sales and all don’t get caught flat footed when something has to be supported.”

Each Monday, the team should meet to check in on progress against OKRs, and commit to the tasks that will help the company meet its Objective. I recommend a format with four key quadrants: Intention for the week: What are the 3-4 most important things you must get done this week toward the Objective? Discuss if these priorities will get you closer

Now I know you may change markets, or add a business model as you go along, but try to make a mission that can hold you for at least five years. In many ways, a mission and an Objective in the OKR model have a lot in common; they are aspirational and memorable. The key difference is time scale. An Objective takes you through a year or a quarter. A

This is the downfall of many an MBA. You love numbers. You love money. Doesn’t everyone? The OKR unifies multidisciplinary teams, and that means the dreamy designers, the idealist engineers and the caring customer service. The Objective needs to be inspirational, a call-to-action that gets folks to leap out of bed, ready for a new day and a new cha

Five: We give up instead of iterate.