Strategic Planning

Connecting Strategy to Action - Anti-Patterns in OKRs

Discover the anti-patterns in OKRs and optimize your team's performance.

Andrew Blain, Paul Fitzmaurice

Nov 05, 2021 • 6 min read

Advanced

Read Article Review Share

Knowledge Sharing

Leadership Training

Organizational Alignment

Project Methodologies

Strategic Communication

Summary

Explore the common anti-patterns in the implementation of Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) within remote and hybrid teams. This analysis highlights the pitfalls of using OKRs with matrix management models, as control mechanisms, and in linear processes. Learn how to create collaborative spaces and align strategy and delivery cadences for effective OKR execution. This guide offers actionable insights for leaders to improve team alignment and performance.

Takeaways

Align strategy cadence with delivery cycles to ensure timely reflection and adjustment.
Avoid using OKRs as control mechanisms; focus on aspirational goals instead.
Back-briefing is crucial for aligning team plans with leadership intent and organizational goals.
Digital collaboration spaces are essential for effective OKR implementation in remote teams.
OKRs should be used in cross-functional, value-aligned teams, not in functional hierarchies.
A good OKR process recognizes complexity, such that if the complexity of the objectives changes, so must the decomposition process. Therefore, the OKR process is not as linear as mostly perceived.
OKRs are not meant to be a control mechanism for leaders to have traceability/visibility of all the work that is going on in an organization.
OKRs work really well in value-aligned operating models that are built around cross-functional teams who can deliver in a largely autonomous fashion.