Coming up with good Objectives is not as easy as it may seem. We've put together some tips that could help you through the process via video or text below.
Need inspiration? Check out our OKR Example Library.
Let's have a closer look at Objectives. An Objective sets a clear destination for your organization or team.
There are five criteria that can help you set a good Objective.
First, an Objective needs to be directional, of course. It needs to clearly indicate to everyone working on it where they need to go. It's the Key Results that will tell them whether they are getting there or not.
Your Objective also needs to add value to your organization. An Objective clearly adds value to your organization if it gets you closer, for instance, to your mission and vision.
It also adds value if it fixes existing business problems. For that you can have a look at your KPI dashboard for instance to see which problems currently need to be fixed.
A great way to test if your Objective adds value to your company is to align your Objective. Ideally, you want all the Objectives in your organization to support each other and ultimately get you closer to your mission and vision.
You then need to make sure that your Objective is inspiring. Not everybody is inspired by numbers, nor is everybody able to put these numbers into perspective. You leave these numbers for the Key Results.
You make an Objective inspiring by adding context and you can add context for instance by adding adjective and adverbs to your Objective.
An example of a bad Objective would be to "Grow revenue to 1 million this quarter." Not everybody will be able to interpret that 1 million number or be inspired by it. However, everybody understands what that grow revenue means.
A much better Objective would be to "Have the steepest revenue growth in the company's history." Ultimately you want Objectives to be so inspiring that everyone working on it will want to put it on their resumes.
Lastly, your Objectives need to be memorable.
Don't forget that these Objectives drive your daily work and influence the decisions that you make every day. To make your Objectives memorable, make sure to use a language of the organization so people can easily identify with them.
Keep your Objectives as short as possible. Make them simple and straightforward.
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