It’s that time of year again when business leaders start the annual planning process. This year, OKR Advisors wanted to give you a roadmap to jumpstart your planning process and share best practices from OKR experts.
Together, Michael Davis, Head of Strategic Services at Ally.io, and Laszlo Kismarton, CEO and Co-founder of OKR Advisors, provide you with everything you need to know for planning with OKRs so you can hit the ground running in 2021.
What You Will Learn
This 60-minute webinar provides valuable insight that starts with defining exactly what annual planning is, why it’s essential, and how that definition needs to take into account several key factors that contribute to annual planning success.
OKR Pitfalls
It’s all about the “why” in strategic planning, yet there are several pitfalls that can impede that success.
As Davis points out, “One of the common pitfalls of doing strategic planning is just viewing it as this very rigid plan — What are we going to do next quarter? Let’s just go through what targets we need to hit… But there’s so much more to it than that. Again, why do we come to work? Why are we doing what we’re doing? And to what end? Because ultimately your goals, where you’re going, should be energizing to you and your team.”
Defining OKRs
Along with a clear definition of what exactly OKRs entail, you will learn how they are derived from company strategic priorities. That involves charting your objectives and key results over multiyear, yearly, and quarterly views.
Critically, the power in this is taking the time throughout each quarter to say, “Are we still doing the right things? How effective are the things we implemented?” If you’re not on track, you need a roadmap for overcoming those pitfalls and making adjustments to better meet your goals.
Executing OKRs
Next you will learn when and how to execute an effective planning process, breaking it down to include who needs to be involved and what role they play in the annual planning process, including running planning meetings with OKRs.
The webinar wraps up with other considerations for success and what you need for an effective OKR program — and possible challenges that you might face in connecting your company’s most important goals with teams and individuals.
The Bottom Line on Annual Planning
The most critical piece in setting your company up for success for the year is annual planning. When you have a concrete plan in place, you have a clear idea of where your organization is headed, ways you can define success, and a better understanding of how to execute your organization’s mission and vision successfully.
That’s the power of OKRs — they are essentially a roadmap that you can follow to pursue your most ambitious goals and KPIs. When you run into unexpected roadblocks, your company can better adjust and adapt more efficiently since everyone involved is aware of their role in what needs to be done to continue moving forward.
Annual planning is more than just one leadership meeting — it takes time to properly map out just where you want to go as an organization. But the time spent planning will pay off in the end by preparing your teams for the next year ahead.
Want to learn more?
Watch the full webinar to start on the road to success with OKRs.
About The Author
In his 20 years of service as a digital business transformation consultant, senior leadership executive, and OKR coach, Laszlo Kismarton has helped a wide range of organizations (from start-ups, to Fortune 500 enterprises) unlock the value of strategy execution methodologies like OKRs to achieve superior results.