OKR Approach

OKR (Objectives and Key Results) is an approach to goal-setting that helps organisations align their efforts and focus on what truly matters.

Here's an overview of the OKR approach:

1.      Objectives: Objectives are specific and measurable goals that the organisation wants to achieve. They should be aligned with the organisation's mission and vision and be challenging but achievable.

2.      Key Results: Key Results are the specific metrics used to measure progress towards achieving the objectives. They should be quantitative and measurable and should indicate whether or not the objective has been achieved.

3.      Alignment: OKRs are cascaded throughout the organisation to ensure alignment and focus. Each department, team, and individual should have their own set of OKRs that are aligned with the overall organisational goals.

4.       Regular check-ins: Regular check-ins are conducted to monitor progress and make adjustments as necessary. This helps ensure that the organisation stays on track and can adapt to changes in the business environment.

5.      Continuous improvement: OKRs are not set in stone and should be reviewed and revised regularly. This allows the organisation to adapt to changes and continuously improve its performance.

The OKR approach is used by many successful organisations, including Google, Intel, and LinkedIn. By setting clear and measurable goals, aligning efforts, and regularly monitoring progress, organisations can focus their efforts and achieve their most important objectives.

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If we can help you, reach out for a no obligation chat to Jo Hands on 0459826221, or jo.hands@whiteark.com.au

Article by Jo Hands, Whiteark Founder

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Measure what matters

It seems simple and makes sense but many companies struggle to track and measure their financial and strategic performance.

At the beginning of the year, as you reset your priorities post covid-19, it is imperative that you understand the following:

•          Lead indicators of financial health

•          Key measures that are aligned to your strategic priorities

•          Targets for your key measures

•          Accountabilities for the key metrics

•          Investment required for each metric

•          How each metric feeds into the financials of the company

Having a weekly scorecard that measures your top 10-15 metrics is critical. When metrics are off target having clear accountability for someone to build a plan to address and reset expectations and understand impact on the financials.  

A very simple scorecard is a very useful tool to drive the right focus across the company. If you have too many metrics, you will lose your focus on the ones that are most critical.

Example metrics:

It is important to use a simple format that calls out variances to targets or prior comparative period. See below example.

A weekly / fortnight meeting to walk through metrics with actions and follow ups is critical to driving the right behaviour. Performance reviews and incentives should be aligned with these metrics to drive the desired strategic/financial results.

At the beginning of 2023 make sure you spend time getting this right. If you need help please reach out to us, we have a lot of experience with building metrics scorecards for companies and help drive accountability across the leadership team.

I believe driver trees are critical to determining your key metrics – please check out our recent article on driver trees here.

The 4 Rs - Reflections & considerations as the year closes out

It's been a tough year for many -- and people are limping to the finish line. It's time for a break and get yourself ready for 2021.

2021 is going to be another busy year so getting yourself refreshed and ready is critical and taking the time to relax, refresh reflect and reset is critical.

Christmas is generally crazy eating, parties and a lot of people to connect with. It's fun but can leave us feeling more tired.

Relax

What makes you relax? Everyone is different. For me going for a walk, writing in my journal and doing a jigsaw puzzle all are things that help me relax.

Refresh

Taking time for yourself. Sleep, exercise and eating healthy are a good start! What's does refreshing look like for you?

Reflect

In the craziness of the year it's hard to really reflect - what worked well this year, what are my priorities for next year and what do o need to change to make this a reality?

Reset

Be bold. Make sure you make the change to ensure you achieve your priorities. It's not easy - and it's normally outside your comfort zone so be accountable to drive through outcome.

Ensuring you take the time on the 4Rs is critical to ensure you are refreshed for 2021. These 4 Rs are critical for you personally but also for your business, especially the last two.

Reflect - On key lessons learnt for the year (2020) in your business and team. What worked well? What could be improved?

Reset - What are the priorities for 2021? What changes are required to deliver these? How do we measure success across the year?

For most businesses 2020 has been a challenging year, it's imperative that they start 2021 with the following:

• Alignment and clarity on what good looks like - reset priorities, measuring success and understanding the impact of changing consumer and customer trends

• Transitioning the team back to the office - it's an interesting challenge

• Assessing capability in the business - what is missing and focus on development and recruitment

Many organizations are organising planning sessions with leadership in new year to align. It’s an excellent idea to get this alignment underway early in the new year.

Over the Christmas break Whiteark will continue to give you podcasts, thought leadership and thought provoking polls to help you through your 4 Rs and get your head focused on returning back to the new year with a good reset.

Whiteark has extensive experience in resetting strategy, defining priorities and identifying and measuring key success metrics. If you need some help reach out to us.

Whiteark Aspirations For 2021

We are super excited about 2021.

The next year is going to be a very important year for companies:

1. To understand the new environment

2. To pivot strategy and business plans

3. To engage with their employees and transition back to the office with a new world of managing flexibility

At Whiteark our aspirations for 2021 are to:

1. Continue to provide support to our amazing clients to successfully navigate and maximise outcomes for 2021

2. To continue to build out our bench of experienced, passionate individuals to support our clients - we are always on the hunt for talent

3. Continue to provide relevant and insightful thought leadership to continue to challenge and make people think differently - we listen and respond through polls, surveys and through our podcast series

4. Launch a series of face to face events with boardroom conversations and key note speakers to support and challenge our customer and follower base to think differently in Melbourne and Sydney

5. Our podcast series will continue with a focus on hearing from experienced leaders on what makes them tick and key lessons they can share with us about their journey and provide you themes, lessons and easy to digest learnings and takeaways

6. For us it's always what is next - we always want to think ahead… stay tuned to hear about our partnership with Universities, focused on helping students get practical experience with companies and work towards securing a job during this competitive environment. Whiteark is well positioned to help students with this transition – more to come in the new year!

For us at Whiteark we always strive to do better for our clients, followers and our bench. We focus every day on how we can make a difference. We can't wait to continue to challenge, support and encourage businesses to make positive change in 2021 to set their businesses up for success.

While you're on the beach we will provide you articles, podcasts, quotes and thought-provoking polls to keep your brain ticking over -- summer holidays best time for thinking about how to reset your business for 2021 - no idea is a bad idea. We would love to help you so contact us for a no obligation conversation.

If you want to hear some insights from key leaders, listen to our podcast series The Chiefs Podcast | Leadership, Laughs and Learning — Whiteark

Psst. We share exciting content all the time, that’s useful, practical - and most of all - helpful. Sign Up Here to get yourself on the list and make sure you don’t miss a thing.

Strategy to Execution

According to Gartner’s research (Strategy Execution Change Model Survey in 2019), only 46% of Executives and Managers felt their efforts were aligned to strategy.

There are 4 key building blocks to guide the process of strategy to execution:

#1

Market & Industry Trends

#3

Build the Plan

#2

Company Strategy

#4

Manage Performance

STRATEGY BUILDING BLOCKS

The Key Initiatives UNPACKED

What & Why?

The first two building blocks are part of identifying the strategic plan – what and why?

1. Market and industry trends – this is where you begin to address the strategic questions; understand key trends for the market, industry, economy, people and workforce.

2. Company’s strategy – this is where you articulate your goals. Define your mission/purpose to explain the reason for your existence; your core values that your foundations are built upon; your vision of what you want to be; where you have a competitive advantage; your key areas of focus; long term objectives and financial outlook.

Who, Where, When & How?

The following two building blocks focus on implementing the strategy – who, where, when and how?

1. Build the plan – this is where you align the company’s ways of working to support the strategy. Identify your company goals; understand the required capability and how to build this within your organisation; determine the metrics that will measure your success; build a budget that supports your strategy; understand your regulatory obligations; identify any risks and build out your initiatives ensuring they complement your strategy.

2. Manage performance – in order to measure your success you need to undertake regular performance reviews; evaluate the performance of your key metrics and your initiative program of work so that you are able to respond/pivot if required in order to keep to your strategic objectives; monitor any risks, challenges, issues to ensure your execution plan remains on track.

Source: 2019 Gartner Strategy Execution Change Model Survey