As the business leader, OKRs, objectives and key results may be initially set by you and cascaded down amongst all your teams. However, this doesn’t mean it falls on your to-do list to ensure effective OKR implementation in the broader business. Like all significant business change, there should be at least one person assigned to manage this process correctly. This is where the OKR Champion comes in! But what exactly would they do? This article shares some of the attributes and responsibilities.

What is an OKR Champion?

The main objective for an OKR Champion is to get everyone in the business on board with OKRs and ensure smooth implementation across all teams. However, such change to routine procedures can be challenging for many, and some resistance can occur.

A suitable person to appoint as your OKR champion will be ideally experienced with organisational change, performance management, goal setting, and able to communicate effectively at all levels of the business, from the CEO right out to frontline workers. Influencing skills will also be vital as it’s their job to encourage a speedy OKR adoption.

An OKR champion will manage the rollout of OKRs from the CEO level throughout all teams within the business, ensuring the strategic focus is not lost or diluted in any way and that everyone in the company understands how OKRs work, as well as what is expected of them.

A key aspect of their role will be to ensure smooth implementation, effective monitoring of OKR progress and optimisation for future OKR cycles.

Essential tasks carried out by the OKR Champion

We’ve listed below the top 14 tasks that an OKR Champion would be responsible for to give you an idea of how this key role would take shape within a business:

1. Work with the CEO or business leader to ensure a thorough understanding of the business vision and purpose, carrying this knowledge forward as the top-level OKRs cascade throughout all levels of the business.
2. Facilitate OKR training for all teams in the business.
3. Communicate what OKRs are and why the business has chosen to use them.
4. Work with leaders and managers to provide support as people create their own OKR plans ensuring they are set up for success in their roles.
5. Ensure everyone understands the OKRs being set at the top, how these can filter down to their level, and how they can significantly impact overall business performance.
6. Proactively address challenges and provide solutions.
7. Manage the transparency and visibility that OKRs provide in a positive manner.
8. Leverage technology for ease of monitoring OKRs and provide necessary training in that technology.
9. Organise regular OKR workshops for ongoing training and support.
10. Liaise with the C-Suite to report on the rate of OKR adoption and implementation.
11. Ensure effective communication loops, open and honest feedback, and culture of asking for help when needed and not sitting in silence.
12. Record feedback regarding the OKR process and optimise for continued improvement.
13. Celebrate success regularly through internal recognition rewards or similar.
14. Stay updated on all new OKR practices.
15. Ensure OKRs are not set and then forgotten during busy periods.

A demanding role

Hopefully, this gives you some idea of how important it is to appoint an OKR champion within your business to manage the effective rollout and achieve success with OKRs. The true breadth of this role depends on the size of your organisation. If you have over 500 employees, you may require more than one person to take on these responsibilities.

If you would like further information on this, please email us at hello@reclaro.com, and we will be happy to provide all the help and guidance you need need.