Let’s Talk More About Objectives and Key Results for DSM
Published March 23, 2023
Before we begin discussing about Design Source Media’s timeline and the process for Objectives and Key Results. Our agenda for this article will be a brief example of a football team’s Objective and Key Results, the timeline of events, and how to set and score the system. However, if all this sounds confusing to you with the terminology and basics, I would advise you to switch over to our latest article posted – Why it is Essential for your Company to have Objectives and Key Results to Achieve Maximum Growth – because this will give you a better understanding of what we will be talking about in the content below.
Let’s do this!
Touchdown for the Company
In my opinion, learning through examples is much easier than just being told something. Therefore, I will be sharing the football example with you guys. To start, a professional football team has a general manager that looks over the whole team. They have their own ambitions and an objective they forseek is to make money for the owners. That goal is very uncomfortable because there is always more of a chance to lose money even with the effort put it. That said, the general manager’s key results for the objective to directly affect it are to win the Superbowl and fill stands to 88%. These two key results are obviously measurable because they have a quantitative end result. Moving forward, under the general manager there is the head coach and public relations manager. For the head coach, their objective would be to win the Superbowl. Again, another uncomfortable goal since only 1 team can accomplish this. However, their key results allow them to break it down and make it simpler. Which are to have #3 defense and avg. 25-yard punt return. As we can see these are quantitative and will directly affect the objective. Lastly, we have the public relations manager who has the objective of filling the stand to 88%. You see the pattern now? The organization’s OKRs should all connect and intertwine with each other to give it that feel of everyone putting in the same effort and not half-hearting it.
When do we do this!
The Mainstream Timeline for Implementation
Look outside and imagine it is a couple days after Christmas where your company is about to begin a new year starting January. Near the end of Q4 is where you will get your team together and brainstorm objectives and key results for the upcoming year and quarters. Then you will have another meeting before the start of the next quarter to share each individual objectives and key results. By the start of the new quarter, everything should be written down and everybody’s objectives and key results should be seen by the whole company. Now for the next three months, those goals are a top priority and focused on. During the middle of the three months should be a checkup either 1 or 2 times that will witness how everything is going. Finally, near the end of the quarter comes the grading part.
Don’t know how to grade them? You can learn here.
Setting Objectives and Key Results for Design Source Media
- Company Objectives
- We need to ask ourselves – “What are the most important impacts we need to make this coming quarter”
- Group similar ideas together
- 3-5 Objectives
- Company Key Results
- What action things need to be done in order to achieve the objective
- Scoring
- Done on a platform where everybody can see
- Recommend Atlassian
- The end score doesn’t really matter it is the discussion
Our company is implementing this system early in the growth stages because it will be easier in the long run to get everybody on board. Objectives and key results will help in streamlining out top goals and allow us to focus on them without getting too sidetracked. It is ok to say no in a circumstance that won’t help what you are currently working on. Always stay organized and keep the OKR transparent for everyone to see.
Both of OKR articles are summed up in a google slide if you want to check that out.
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1DU_xXe2-8dkczJoGoreImKW5BO094dHlmG3eVg_VfQQ/edit?usp=sharing
And by the way, a recent change in the business world – yes, I am talking about GDPR – can be a very challenging objective. We have some resources that could help your business out. Check out these two articles for more information.
Sources:
https://rework.withgoogle.com/guides/set-goals-with-okrs/steps/introduction/
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