OKR (Objectives and Key Results) is becoming the goto best practice to align company leadership and startup founders with their teams.   

We all knew remote working is possible.  The COVID pandemic has proved that full remote working for an extended period of time could be the new norm and in many cases improve productivity… if executed correctly.   

As employees decentralize and work in remote locations, company goals and objective alignment are even more paramount.  

Writing a clearly focused and benefits-drive objective using the OKR best practice will help teams clarify the purpose of the goals.   

 There are many aspects in creating a good objective.  In this article, we will talk about writing an objective that is crystal clear as to what the objective is intended to achieve.   

OKR Objective Formula 

The OKR Objective Formula is: 

[Verb to be] – to be at a future state + [Future State] – where you want to be + in order to/ so that + [business benefit] – the outcome you want to achieve 

 

Good Objectives 

Here are some good OKR Objectives examples: 

“To create the most convenient mortgage approval process, so that our bank will be first in customers’ mind when applying for a mortgage.” 

“To be the largest copper producer in east Asian region, in order to achieve supply chain dominance in local markets. 

 Bad Objectives 

To be the largest fast food chain in the world 

too generic and does not state business value  

To increase sales by 20%  – this is more like a key result 

 Per Objective writing best practice, do not mention any %, #, any measurable metrics.   This is a key result where there is starting value and a target value.  Key Result writing will be discussed in a separate article. 

 

In Conclusion 

 

In order to write a focused and impactful Objective statement, follow the format provided above.   

[Verb to be] + [Future state] in order to/ so that [Business Outcome] 

 State a future state and the measurable benefits intended to be achieved.   

 Caution, it is important not to have measurable metrics, e.g. %, #, $ in an objective.   

The metric to be achieved will be stated in the child Key Results (KR) of the parent Objective.   

 We will discuss how to write a measurable Key Result in a different video.  Happy objective writing and take your company to the next level.   

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