Posted by I recently learned about a powerful strategy for settings goals. What is that strategy? It is creating and setting OKRs.
OKR stands for objectives and key results. The idea is that you identify the key objectives for your business, or for yourself, and then you define the key results for each objective so that you can measure when you have achieved each of your objectives.
I think using OKRs is a great idea. I also think you can combine the setting of OKRs with another powerful goal setting technique: setting SMART goals.
SMART is an acronym that stands for:
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Time-bound
Specific
When a goal is vague, unclear, or not properly defined, you may not know how to achieve it or you may not know when you have completed it. Instead, if you make your goal specific, you will be better positioned to achieve that goal.
For example, suppose you want to grow the membership for your community club. You could set a goal of recruiting new members. This is a good goal, but it is not specific. A better goal would be to recruit one new member each month. Now you know exactly what you want to accomplish, and you can even measure your progress by tracking if you have achieved that goal each month.
Measurable
If you cannot measure your progress, how will you know when you have achieved your goal?
Suppose you want to save more money. Are you done as soon as you set aside $100 in savings, or are you striving to save $1000 or more?
Be specific and set a target amount of money that you want to save. Do more than just say you want to save some money. Set an amount for your goal so that you can measure your progress, such as a goal to save $1000.
Attainable
When you set goals, you can let your imagination run wild and set whatever goals you choose to strive for. However, when setting goals, you should strive to set goals that are realistic and attainable.
For example, if you want to save money, would a goal to save $100,00 by the end of 2023 be attainable? Based on your current salary, maybe not.
It is ok to dream big and set goals for yourself, but make sure you keep those goals attainable and realistic. If you don’t, you may end of setting a goal that is ultimately unachievable, and this can lead to discouragement and lack of motivation when you fail to achieve that goal.
Relevant
Another aspect of SMART goals is that they need to be relevant. For a business, this means setting goals that are in line with your company’s vision and mission. It should be a goal in line with the direction your business wants to move in.
For example, imagine you are a software development company that sells software and hardware to the cement industry. You could set a goal to develop video games to leverage the skills of your software developers, but would that be relevant to your company’s mission and vision?
A better goal for this company would be to launch new software to break into a similar market where the existing products offered by the company could be leveraged to support a similar industry to the cement industry.
As another example, suppose your major purpose in life is to be project manager. Setting a goal to complete a course on project management would be relevant, because that is line with your desire to become a project manager. However, taking a course on photography would not get you closer to being a project manager, so that goal would not be relevant to the overall direction you are heading in life.
Time-bound
Lastly, SMART goals should be time-bound. This can mean defining a timeline and a deadline for your goal.
Having a deadline gives you a window in which to work on your goal. An approaching deadline can motivate you to take action. Without a deadline, you are more likely to procrastinate, and you may never achieve your goal. With a deadline, there is pressure to perform as that deadline gets closer. With a deadline, you have also made a commitment to yourself to complete your goal by a certain date.
SMART OKRS
Now you know what SMART goals are and you know what OKRS are. Why not combine the two concepts by creating OKRs (objectives and key results) with objectives that have SMART goals as the key results for your OKRs?
Let’s go back to the example of recruiting new members for your community club. Your objective could be to recruit 12 members for your club in 2024. This is a specific and measurable goal, but what are the key results for this goal?
Key results for this goal could include:
- Having at least 4 guests each month.
- 1 guest converted into a member each month.
- Having 12 new members by the end of December 31, 2024.
These are 3 key results you can measure during the year. If you track the numbers, you can see how many guests you have each month. You can also track how many guests make the commitment and become new members. This can also give you data on the percentage of guests that transition into members, and this can help you when making future plans for membership recruitment.
What about a business? What would a SMART objective with SMART key results look like?
Suppose you want to increase sales. You could set an objective to increase sales in the first quarter of 2024. And your key results could be:
- 50% increase in visits to your company’s website in the first quarter of 2024.
- Doubling the number of posts your company makes on social media pages each month.
- 5% increase in sales in the first quarter of 2024.
Conclusion
Creating SMART goals and OKRs and combing the two techniques to make SMART objectives that have SMART key results, is a great way to take your goal setting and planning to the next level. I am still learning how best to use both of these techniques, and I hope this article has inspired to you to start creating your own OKRs and SMART goals.
I think having effective goals can be a very motivating tool in your life, especially when you start to achieve those goals. I encourage you to take action and to start setting both SMART goals and OKRs to help you achieve what you want most in life.