Using OKR software to align your team

OKR stands for Objectives and Key Results, and it’s a beneficial goal-setting methodology that can be used to drive your teams towards achieving the business goals you have in mind. OKRs can be tracked using spreadsheets, word documents or note making apps; however, there are limitations with all of these methods. They are primarily stand-alone, and it can become complicated to keep track of different file formats and versions. OKR software allows you to define OKRs clearly, track them over time, and implement an effective feedback loop. This includes everyone on your team, as they know precisely how they can contribute to reaching these goals and objectives. If you’re considering using this type of software to align your team, several benefits are worth considering in more detail.

OKR software can provide your team with many benefits, including higher employee engagement and better alignment of goals, which leads to high performance. When your team isn’t aligned, it can lead to high turnover, low employee engagement, and unclear priorities.

OKRs in action

OKRs, objectives and key results are usually set at the top of an organisation by the CEO, MD or business leader. In an ideal world, they will have a clear corporate vision that can be used to inform what the objectives and key results should be for the business. Once these have been clarified at the top, they are cascaded or filtered down to the leadership team, creating their own OKRs off the back of the CEO level OKRs and choosing the parts most relevant to their area of specialism to focus on and break down further. This process is repeated as the leadership team OKRs filter down throughout the management teams and so on. This is how OKRs cascade throughout a business, and so you end up with those frontline employees having a clear plan of action which corresponds with what the strategic priorities are at the top.

Visibility

OKRs allow for increased visibility of performance data to stakeholders—such as managers, leaders, executive management and even shareholders — essential for larger organisations. If your team is on-board with using OKRs as a goal-setting tool that maps to your strategic initiatives, all stakeholders will be able to easily see how their progress and performance contribute toward achieving the company goals. OKR software facilitates the easy application of this visibility through real-time, accessible data shown from any location or device. Performance can be tracked daily and data manipulated for reporting purposes, providing essential updates to leaders.

Focus

When you have a clear idea of what you’re trying to achieve, it’s easier for your team to understand what they need to focus on each day. When goals are set in stone, people can have instant conversations about how they feel they’re performing against them. And if they don’t know where their focus should be or aren’t being challenged enough, getting an answer becomes incredibly simple—no one has any excuse.

Transparency

One of our favourite aspects of using objective-setting software is that it allows teams to measure their progress transparently. In other words, it makes performance measurable! A system like this can be beneficial when managing remote or distributed teams — you never have to worry about miscommunication and can easily see if you’re all on track at every stage of your goal. Transparency brings a level of accountability. It becomes clear who is responsible for what tasks and actions, so if they aren’t completed on time, you can follow it up and know who to hold accountable.

Real-time performance

Unlike more traditional methods of keeping everything up to date manually or waiting for extensive reports to run, OKR software tracks progress, performance and achievements in real-time across all teams, from any location and device. Once you have a fully cascaded OKR plan in place in your business and have embedded this into your everyday culture, as employees do their work and mark their key results as completed, their managers will automatically see their achievements without searching for this information elsewhere.

Engagement and inclusion

Sharing the business vision and goals across all teams helps employees understand the bigger picture of what the company is trying to achieve. Employees become aware of the purpose and engaged with the vision. When you hire someone new, having a structured OKR plan helps them quickly understand your company goals and why they matter to connect with them fully.

Alignment from anywhere

Remote teams are notoriously difficult to manage, but OKR software can help you stay aligned with your workers. You can achieve alignment and goals from anywhere in the world using cloud technology. This allows remote teams to become more productive and work together better through increased visibility and transparency. Without OKR software, remote teams may struggle to achieve results as efficiently as in-office teams. This is because remote teams often lack sufficient real-time collaboration and communication means.

OKR software to align your team

So, if you’re a top-level executive or part of the leadership team, you probably have more than enough on your plate without worrying about how to hold your team accountable to their goals and help them achieve those goals over time. By using OKR software, you can track the progress of each member of your team toward their goals and make sure that everyone is moving at the same pace toward success. There are many advantages to using this software, including increased transparency in your company, better accountability throughout your organisation, and more efficient use of company resources by avoiding unnecessary bottlenecks and delays from siloed communication and leadership styles.

To find out more about this, look at our 1-3-5® OKR software features page or contact us at hello@reclaro.com.