What are OKRs?

OKR stands for Objectives and Key Results.

OKRs provide a collaborative goal-setting framework helping business leaders clarify their strategy and cascade what’s most important throughout the wider business. All employees know exactly what they should be working on to achieve the desired business results. OKRs provide an effective way to measure performance and achievements in line with the strategic direction and vision of the business. We recommend having no more than 3 Objectives that focus specifically on the ‘what’ you want to achieve. These should be significant, action-orientated and inspirational to encourage motivation. The more tightly focused they are, the better.

Key Results are stepping stones or milestones set to help you achieve each of the Objectives, against which you can clearly monitor performance to signal whether you are on target or not. We recommend having no more than 5 Key Results per Objective to maintain a tight focus and avoid overwhelm. Key Results should be measurable, specific, time-bound and whilst they need to be realistic, it’s essential they include a suitable amount of stretch to really move things forward.

Visit the Reclaro blog to view a range of informative articles focusing specifically on OKRs.

What is the Reclaro 1-3-5 performance system?

1-3-5® is a simple principle that helps businesses sharpen their focus and clarify what’s most important to drive results. This system could be applied to achieve business results, health and fitness results or any other life results. The Reclaro software combines the 1-3-5® methodology with the OKR framework (Objectives and Key Results) to provide a simple yet highly effective way to cascade key business priorities, align teams and produce outstanding business results.

The 1-3-5® performance system consists of

  • 1 Clear Vision
  • 3 Objectives
  • 5 Goals, per objective

Having a 1-3-5® helps improve communication and ultimately achieve results faster, as objectives cascade throughout the business and teams become more aligned and engaged, thus becoming more effective and productive. The foundation of Reclaro is 1-3-5® which was created as a highly effective business planning methodology by our Founder and CEO, Pete Wilkinson, many years ago. Hundreds of businesses around the world use 1-3-5® to turbocharge their results.

The 1-3-5® performance system is usually applied to top-level management initially and then rolled out amongst wider teams. Most 1-3-5® plans apply to a period of 12 to 18 months for which you clarify 1 Vision, set 3 Objectives to achieve that Vision, and break down each objective into 5 Goals.

To find out more, please visit our how it works page.

What sort of businesses benefit most from OKRs and the 1-3-5®?

Many hugely successful businesses such as Google, Facebook, Airbnb, Spotify, Intel, LinkedIn, Amazon, Dropbox, Eventbrite, Microsoft, Netflix, Salesforce, Slack, Twitter, Uber and Yahoo all launched OKRs in their early days to accelerate growth. Each of these has grown immensely over the past decade. However, they all started somewhere and were much smaller than they are now.

We find that those who benefit the most from using the 1-3-5® planning methodology are businesses that want to accelerate growth, achieve their desired results faster and wish to maintain effective communication as they grow at such a significant pace. Overall, we’ve noticed they have the following common characteristics:

  1. They have a Leadership/Management Team of 15 people or more.
  2. They have at least 50 people in the business overall.
  3. They have an annual turnover of approximately £10 million or more.
  4. They are very ambitious and want to build a profitable business that adds value to their customers and clients.
  5. They highly value their people and realise that having a more effective team would deliver improved business results.

What benefits can you expect to see if you decide to implement 1-3-5®?

Feedback has been very positive from those using 1-3-5® in their business.

  1. Develop a results-orientated culture of setting goals, taking action and achieving remarkable results.
  2. Individuals will feel more included in the strategic direction of the business and proactively own their 1-3-5® plans, improving performance and overall team engagement.
  3. The entire business becomes more focused and aligned towards strategic goals and key business priorities.
  4. As the pace of business increases, you’ll reach your goals faster. One particular customer reported they won more contracts in the 6 months after implementing Reclaro than the previous 3 years.
  5. As a CEO or MD, all teams within the business will be aligned towards a consistent goal-setting framework, making it easier for you to assess overall team performance.

Get started with Reclaro®

Want to dramatically improve business performance, align your teams and focus on what matters most to achieve results? Our award-winning 1-3-5® OKR software and expertise can help.

Book a demo now