The biz of Biz Ops — making it count with OKRs

It is that time of the year (or quarter) — no, it is not Christmas just yet — reviewing how the business is doing and planning for the next period. An exciting, yet anxious time! Maybe, it is like Christmas…

We know why we do OKRs but it is worth reminding ourselves prior to starting the process. The reason why a company would set company level OKRs is three fold:

• clarity — determine the single-minded objective for the business

• alignment — co-create with key leaders, everyone gets buy in

• measurement — translate the company strategy into something measurable (timeframes, targets, etc)

Lots has been written on OKRs, about how to write the objective (qualitatively) and how to determine the key result (quantitatively). Further, monday.com have a fabulous blog post about example OKRs from across various departments (engineering, sales, marketing, cx..). OKRs don’t exist in a vacuum, however. They are a part of a continuous company performance measurement method.

Strategy/Biz Ops is in a unique position to drive this process effectively by bringing the ingredients, driving the discussion, and formalizing the finalized OKRs.

I. The Prerequisites

Before senior leaders sit down to brainstorm what OKRs would propel the company forward, Biz Ops needs to go away and gather the Prerequisites for OKRs:

• company vision

• company strategy

• quantified reports on the performance of the business

This is essential so that the people in the room work from the same starting point, and within the same guardrails. Or one of my founders put it:

If the company needs to focus on its core for next year, probably investing in novel features that don’t correspond to the needs of the ICP has no place in our OKRs. I can say that to the VP of Engineering much more diplomatically if I have some proof, or at least a reminder.

The reports on company performance shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. Indeed, over the course of weekly / monthly business review, issues in the business should be clear to everyone. Like pieces of Legos each issue should build up brick by brick and by the time leadership needs to brainstorm OKRs they already have an idea of where to take it.

II. The Workshop(s)

Over the course of a couple of hours, over a couple of days, the cascade of OKRs takes place across the company:

• leadership get together to work through the company OKRs;

• then each functional leader works through the OKRs for their function;

• then each team does the same.

Throughout this process it is Biz Ops that leads the company-wide discussion. You need a good moderator for this and often it can be the VP of Biz Ops, and over time other members can take over (so they learn and contribute and grow!).

III. The Consolidation

At the end of the process Biz Ops reviews all OKRs. The goal of this review is to figure out if it makes sense. The idea is that all of the OKRs of each team and function need to build up coherently up to the company level OKRs. It needs to make business sense. Leaders then get back together and review function and company level OKRs together. Any inconsistencies with team OKRs should be left to those functional leaders to sort out.

This process works best when the people in the room trust, respect, and hold accountable each other. Debates should be open, and fun! (yes, I like a good argument)

And if I could do this with 30 people in a room, you could too!

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To continue the conversation, connect with me here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ignatova/