As operational leaders, and now management consultants, we look at OKRs as part of a larger system within an organization.
Here are three ways OKRs are part of that system.
First, it starts with individual and team leadership.
No system will operate well if it isn’t led well. That is a given. However, knowing how to lead an agile organization is no easy task and requires learning new skills.
Second, there’s a cultural transformation that is required to achieve accountability.
It also must allow for self-managed teams, remote work, and organizational agility. Top-down command and control systems aren’t enough to attract and retain the best and the brightest talent, nor to achieve exceptional results in an environment of constant change. There are new practices not taught in business schools that are necessary to execute and innovate within the same organization.
Third, the operating system itself is changing to be more agile.
We have written about some of the vestiges of clunky, slow, and time-consuming operating elements that are remnants of the past in our blog entitled, Agile Business Transformations: Breaking Down the Vestiges of Outdated Business Practices.
These range from rethinking strategy and execution, business planning and budgeting, organizational structures, performance reviews, customer success, innovation, and technology enablement, plus more. Agility is to the future what command and control systems and hierarchy were to the past.
Contact us to learn more about how we help leaders achieve exceptional results through agile strategy execution.
About The Author
Rick Maguire is a co-founder of OKR Advisors, a training and management consulting firm helping companies achieve the promise of business agility now. Prior to OKR Advisors, he has had a successful 25 plus year career as an executive leader at Microsoft, Hewlett Packard, and Varian Associates. Rick has led teams to incubate and launch new businesses, products, information services, and manufacturing systems. He has also advised Fortune 500 companies on business strategies and architectural approaches to leverage digital technology for competitive advantage, resulting in a patent in this area. Rick is a former naval officer, with decorated service on a Trident missile submarine. He earned a Masters in Engineering Management at Stanford.