OKR examples in the construction industry

OKRs, objectives and key results are a popular goal-setting framework used to speed up the pace of strategy execution in growth-focused businesses. They help clarify the strategy and communicate it amongst all teams so everyone knows where they should focus their efforts. It gives employees a sense of purpose and dramatically drives focus and accountability.

Having well-structured OKRs in place creates a sense of ownership as employees can engage with the vision and see where they are making an impact.

In the book The Practice of Management, Peter Drucker tells the story of the three stonecutters, which goes as follows:

One day a man came across three stonecutters working dedicatedly, and he got curious and asked them what they were doing.

Man 1 said – “This is what I do for my living; I cut stones.”

Man 2 said – “This is my job, and I am the best at it.”

Man 3 said – “I am very excited that I am building a cathedral.”

The story clearly shows how sharing the vision is important to empower employees and take pride in their work. OKRs provide a structured way to do precisely that.

OKR examples in construction

Construction is a complex business. OKRs can be extremely useful to help keep various diverse stakeholders, and subcontractors aligned with the vision and focused on their key deliverables. Below we look at some OKR examples for a housebuilder using Reclaro’s 1-3-5® OKR process.

Vision: To be recognised as the market leader for mid-scale residential construction projects in Southeast England in terms of quality and affordability.

Objective One: Improve construction time to completion from breaking ground to handover by 5%

Key Results:

1. Improve time to hire by 5% with a streamlined hiring process
2. Improve equipment downtime by 15%
3. Minimise labour downtime to at least 10%
4. Increase installation defect rate by 25% with a more rigorous training process
5. Increase rework time by 10% by improving the quality management process

Objective Two: Reduce construction cost per residential dwelling by 5% while maintaining quality standards

Key Results:

1. Improve supplier quality by 20% using a more rigorous approvals process
2. Increase average inspection score at project completion by 5%
3. Increase the average inspection pass rate by 5%
4. Increase average customer satisfaction score by 10%
5. Review the budget and reduce variance by 10%

Objective Three: Reduce the number of health and safety violations recorded across all sites by 50%

Key Results:

1. Ensure all on-site employees complete mandatory health and safety training before starting work
2. Ensure 100% attendance at regular on-site safety meetings
3. Ensure all internal health and safety audits are carried out on time
4. Ensure all scheduled equipment maintenance and external H&S assessments are passed
5. Reduce personal incident rate per project by 10%

OKRs and project management

OKRs can dramatically help improve a project team’s productivity, efficiency and effectiveness, helping overcome significant challenges in the project management process.

If this sounds beneficial for your business, download our free OKR Builder™ today. It includes a step-by-step guide on creating your OKRs that will cascade effectively through different levels of your organisation.