The Evolutionary OKRs Playbook Chapter One: How did we get here?

08/15/23 • 17 min

After years of writing alone and then sharing my work on the Evolutionary OKRs Playbook with (wonderful, patient) beta readers, with this rewrite I’m doing something different.

It’s time to write (and read) in public.

Certain chapters of the book are being shared via our email newsletter first; then after a week or two, some will be shared via the Red Currant Collective Blog, via Medium, and here, as Thinkydoers podcast episodes.

As terrifying as this is for me personally, it’s time. The final rewrite is buzzing along, I’ve got a target date for the v1 eBook release if I keep up at this writing and editing pace, and it’s necessary to get this thing out so it can help the people who need it.

So here in this episode, I’m sharing the first full chapter, Chapter One: Objectives and Key Results: How did we get here?

And if you don't want to wait for the public release of each chapter, you can get the early peek by joining our newsletter at http://findrc.co/newsletter.

Show notes are available at thinkydoers.com and you can read the first chapter via the Evolutionary OKRs Blog on redcurrantco.com.

Key Points From This Episode:

• My excitement to bring you chapter one of Sara’s Evolutionary OKRs Playbook.

• The resources that we’re planning on offering for the rest of the year and in 2024.

• How many of us stumble into OKRs

• Why I'm an emphatic OKR activist.

• A sneak peek for next week: why should you adopt a glossary of OKR terms at the very beginning of implementation.

Quotes:

“Incoherence is my kryptonite.” — @saralobkovich [08:22]

“The transparency with which I'll share my approaches, tools, and tactics, as well as the why behind them in this book may just put my consulting business out of business.” — @saralobkovich [10:16]

“I hope that at some point you take a step back from the day-to-day labor of your work and think a bit about what changed world you'd like to see someday. What difference would you like to make? How would you like to leave your community, career, or self better than you find it now?” — @saralobkovich [10:37]

Mentioned in this episode:

Limited Time Offer: Strategy During Chaos

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chaos_strategy

After years of writing alone and then sharing my work on the Evolutionary OKRs Playbook with (wonderful, patient) beta readers, with this rewrite I’m doing something different.

It’s time to write (and read) in public.

So here in this episode, I’m sharing the first full chapter, Chapter One: Objectives and Key Results: How did we get here?

And if you don't want to wait for the public release of each chapter, you can get the early peek by joining our newsletter at http://findrc.co/newsletter.

Show notes are available at thinkydoers.com and you can read the first chapter via the Evolutionary OKRs Blog on redcurrantco.com.

Key Points From This Episode:

• My excitement to bring you chapter one of Sara’s Evolutionary OKRs Playbook.

• The resources that we’re planning on offering for the rest of the year and in 2024.

• How many of us stumble into OKRs

• Why I'm an emphatic OKR activist.

• A sneak peek for next week: why should you adopt a glossary of OKR terms at the very beginning of implementation.

Quotes:

“Incoherence is my kryptonite.” — @saralobkovich [08:22]

Mentioned in this episode:

Limited Time Offer: Strategy During Chaos

chaos_strategy

Previous Episode

When "OKRs Don't Work"

Fun fact: While I am an OKR activist, I'm not an OKR dogmatist.

If OKRs "aren't working" in your organization, I'll be the first to support your decision to change course to an approach that works better for your organization.

Frequently, though, I see organizations reach a stage where they're frustrated with their OKR implementation -- and the time of year I see the "OKRs aren't working" phase kick in is at mid-year, when we're looking at our annual company strategic plans or OKRs that may have been set six or seven months ago and questioning: "What's the value of OKRs, if they've become this off course?"

I'm having these conversations with a number of clients right now, so if you're a client and you think this episode is about you, what you're experiencing may be part of what inspired this episode, but this episode is not about you -- it's about a lot of you. 😂

Many teams reach this stage and then overfocus on what's not working in our OKR operations: with tracking, reporting, and our OKR software or systems. What's most valuable when your organization reaches this stage is to take advantage of having six months worth of data for us to assess our progress thanks to our Objectives and Key Results, AND, examine and apply our half-year of learnings during our mid-year reset, to improve our Objectives and Key Results, our OKR behaviors, AND our OKR operations instead of abandoning them.

If the job we've hired OKRs to do is to increase our clarity and objectivity about what shared progress and success mean -- which is the highest and best use of OKRs -- then when organizations reach the "OKRs aren't working" phase, we have a chance to take a good hard look at our OKRs themselves, and, our behaviors. One of the most common issues I see in this phase is that teams are not yet letting OKRs do that job they were hired to do: they may still be stuck in task & activity quicksand, and have not yet taken the step into aligning on actual objective measures of progress and success. If that's the case, it's not that your OKRs aren't working: it's that you're not yet using OKRs!

This episode is timely: many of us are navigating our mid-year resets and struggling with frustration; here, I share a few areas of focus you can consider to infuse your OKR reset with new energy and optimism, to help you refresh your Objectives and Key Results to help your organization finish the year strong!

Full show notes and links are available at http://thinkydoers.com and http://redcurrantco.com.

Does this spark questions or thoughts? I'd love to hear from you. Contact me via http://thinkydoers.com !

Mentioned in this episode:

Limited Time Offer: Strategy During Chaos

chaos_strategy

Next Episode

Playbook Chapter Two - What are Objectives and Key Results OKRs

We're excited to share Chapter Two of our work-in-progress Evolutionary OKRs Playbook with you. This chapter re-introduces Objectives and Key Results for people who may be less familiar with traditional approaches, and then shifts into the unique elements of the Evolutionary OKR model (which we've developed specifically to aid innovative and transformative organizations and teams in setting and achieving bigger, bolder goals).

I also share a bit more about what we mean when we talk about the Evolutionary Organization.

I share the actual definition that I use for the terms "Objective" and "Key Result," and I cut to the chase and provide the most essential question each of those terms answers in our businesses, and the building-block-formulas I use to help make sure we're creating useful, usable Objectives AND Key Results every time.

If you'd like to receive each chapter before it goes live on the podcast, join our email list: http://redcurrantco.com/newsletter

Key Points from this Episode:

Objectives and Key Results are introduced as a method for collaborative goal setting and alignment.
OKRs bridge the gap between high-level strategy and tactical implementation, ensuring alignment with important outcomes.
OKRs were popularized by John Doerr's book "Measure What Matters" and were influenced by Peter Drucker's "Management by Objectives."
Over 127 different OKR management software platforms have caused some confusion in OKR methodology.
Sara introduces the Evolutionary OKR model, which is her approach to OKRs, especially suited for high-change, innovation-oriented organizations.
Evolutionary OKRs are about achieving growth, transformation, and innovation by aligning with important measures of success.
Evolutionary organizations align on their theory of success and progress before planning activities, fostering continuous learning.
Objectives are directional, purpose statements describing what to pursue and why; they provide focus on essential improvement directions.
Key Results are objectively measurable targets describing essential measures of progress and success towards an objective.
Key Results should not describe activities but outcomes; they need to be creatively measurable and focused.
Evolutionary OKRs encourage outcome-based goals as key results, recognizing the importance of influence and aspiration.
Key Results are experiments in quantifying improvement, focusing on the most important measures of progress and success.