OKR(Objectives and Key Results) methodology has become the go-to goal setting and strategy execution methodology across industries for organizations of all sizes from startups to Fortune 100 organizations. OKR is a simple, easy to understand methodology that helps organizations set clear objectives, align goals with strategy, focussed execution on objectives that matters and also builds an organization culture of accountability and transparency.
It is very important to set OKR properly to get the best out of the OKR methodology, below are some of the best practices for creating OKRs
- Set Objectives collaborative with inputs from both top-down and button-up
- Align team OKRs with Company OKRs
- Each team or individual should have 3 to 5 OKRs
- Continuously track progress and
- Update OKRs regularly with previous learnings is essential (recommended quarterly)
- Qualitative
- Ambitious & inspirational
- Simple, clear and understandable
- Time-bound
- Controlled by the Owner
- Outcomes/results to achieve the Objectives, not tasks or activities
- Specific
- Measurable & verifiable
- 3 to 5 Key Results per Objective
Below are some sample OKRs for Consulting or Service Organization including Salesforce Consulting Partner organizations.
Increase Revenue to record levels
- Hire 50 new employees
- Increase revenue from new customers by 25%
- Increase upsell by 20% from existing customers
Improve Tier Level in Salesforce Partner program
- Complete 10 Projects with more than 4.2 CSAT
- Earn 25 more Salesforce Certifications
- Increase practice size with 20 new consultants
- Complete 500 volunteering hours for the quarter
Create a responsive & adaptive organization
- Deliver agile training to all management, sales and delivery organization
- Increase cadence between management and team leaders
- Implement new OKR tool to increase alignment and transparency
Delight customers
- Increase NPS by 5 points
- Increase CSAT by 8 points
- 80% project to be completed on-time
Grow into a global organization
- Establish Sales and Delivery organization in EMEA
- Run marketing campaigns focussed for EMEA
- Grow revenue from EMEA to 500K
Increase Sales Performance
- Increase Quarterly Sales Pipeline to 1M
- Increase close rate from 20% to 25%
- Grow average deal size from 20K to 25K
Increase qualified leads to improve Sales
- Hire partner manager to manage partner leads
- Train account managers to improve inside Sales leads
- Publish 5 new customer case studies
Retain and increase business from existing customers
- Assign Account Managers for all accounts above 100K
- Develop formal quarterly account review for strategic accounts
- Conduct post-engagement review for all contracts above 25K
- Achieve 110%
Improve Utilization Rate
- Increase overall utilization to 70%
- Reduce non-billable hours for allocated resources to 15%
- Weekly sync calls with delivery and consulting managers
Improve project delivery speed
- Utilize accelerator solution for at least 20% of the projects
- Run 80% of the projects with new project management methodology
Run Projects effectively
- Complete 80% projects within planned time
- Complete 90% projects within planned budget
Improve Project Monitoring
- Onboard all stakeholders to Project Management tool
- 90% of the projects to have monthly evaluation with program management office
- Identify and document project risks every week for 100% of projects
- Build automated progress and risk reports for all stakeholders
Improve Project Budget Management
- Reduce project variance between 10% for 80% of the projects
- Review project plan for all projects above 100K
- Train all project managers on project scope and budgeting
Accelerate talent acquisition
- Launch hiring campaigns in top 3 popular job platforms
- Improve employee referral program with internal marketing and better referral incentives
- Reduce the time to hire from 30 days to 25 days
Achieve industry best employee retention rate
- Re-evaluate current pay rates and adjust compensation where appropriate this quarter
- Launch employee this quarter survey to understand where our culture is performing and where we need to improve
- Launch a continuing education program to provide educational assistance to help retain our employees
Increase employee capabilities
- 100% of the team has personal development plans.
- 100% of employees have 360 reviews
- 100% of managers are conducting 1:1s at least every other week
- Develop targeted training plan to address capability gaps for 100% of employees
Implement best career progression program in the industry
- All department leader to create career progression map and define roles
- HR to review and update career progression strategy
- Train 100% managers in career progression
- Managers to have career progression discussion with 100% of the employees
Create a great training and development program
- Work with department heads and setup training programs for each department
- Achieve 70% attendance rate for each training and development program
- Achieve average satisfaction of 8 or above for 80% of the training programs
Create impact in employees health with wellness program
- Offer 5 employee wellbeing activities per quarter
- Onboard mental health partner and enroll 50% of staff
- Increase participation to 20% of employees
Keep employees up to date in Salesforce latest Technology
- Run monthly lunch and learn sessions on Salesforce product updates
- Encourage employees to submit 10 whitepapers
- Run monthly technical webinars for customers
Other than providing applications to adopt OKR methodology , we also provide free consulting and training for adopting OKR methodology in your organization. We have experience helping many customers including Salesforce partners successfully adopt OKR methodology. Please contact us at [email protected] for a free training and consulting on OKRs.
Watch our demo video to see how to set strategy, align goals, operationalize strategic execution, build a transparent culture , and measure what matters all in one solution right in your Salesforce CRM with OKRify
