How do you create an OKR strategy so that all your OKRs can align to the overall corporate strategy?   In this article we will explore creating an OKR strategy.  Not the OKR objectives or Key Results, but the strategy.   

From the Mission statement, we defined what the company does, who is your customer, what services are delivered and your philosophy in doing it.  With the mission statement defined, a company can go on to define the strategies.   

OKR strategy Format 

Here is the format of an OKR strategy: 

<Verb + action plan/ policy> 

Examples: 

“Grow and diversify revenue base” 

“Encourage the collaboration across functional departments.  Stop silo operations” 

“Achieve operational efficiency in procuring raw material and parts for manufacturing operation.” 

 

Types of OKR strategies 

An OKR strategy will be measured by the benefits and OKRs aligned to it.   

7 types of OKR strategies 

  1. Customer strategy – improve customer relationships, increase customer lifetime revenue 
  2. Finance strategy – improve revenue, reduce cost, improve growth margin etc.  
  3. Operational efficiency strategy – reduce red-tape, improve time to market etc.  
  4. Employee collaboration strategy – encourage business/ IT teams to align, cross-functional collaboration etc. 
  5. Compliance strategy – corp. governance, government regulation compliance, industry compliance etc 
  6. Grown & Market strategy  – grow new markets, handle disruptive technology coming into your space 
  7. Talent management – hiring and attracting the right talent pool 

  

The Process 

In the beginning of the fiscal year, gather your leadership team and define your strategy for the upcoming fiscal year.  Before you do that, review your company’s missions statement.  Be inspired by the mission statement or revise it if necessary.  These strategies could last as long your defined mission statement (could be revised every 1 -2 years) or as short as within the fiscal year.   

You could create a strategy as short as a sentence or as long as a strategy document.   

When creating a strategy, it is important to understand the audience.  Is the audience more receptive to a simple paragraph of the strategy, a 5-page PowerPoint deck or a detailed strategy document could work well. 

In the new OKR practice, simplicity works better.  Once the strategy is defined, it is up to the peer teams to define the OKRs, i.e. ownership and empowerment.  Direction over detail is preferred.  Leave it to your teams’ creativity to expand their minds and expand your strategy and benefits.   

No matter how detailed the strategy is, it is important to define the benefits to be achieved from executing the strategy.  Once strategies (the action plan) are defined, create the benefit statements, then create your OKRs tied to them.   

Your work flow would be as follows: 

Vision > Mission > Strategy > Benefits > OKRs > Tasks (or projects) 

  

In Conclusion 

  1. Drive a strategy from the enterprise mission statement 
  2. Create a strategy in the format:  <Verb + Action Plan> 
  3. Frame the strategies in the discussed 7 types of strategies 
  4. Create benefits that align to the strategy  
  5. Empower your teams to be creative and design their own OKRs that align to the benefits. 

Happy stargazing… 

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