Hey, happy Monday, hope all is well!
I was reflecting on this. It seems that 2020 has been a very long winter. It caught us unprepared. We didn’t have time to react and adapted as best we could.
For some it did not go well. For others, however, this pandemic was the shock they had been waiting for.
We have entered a space-time wormhole (Wikipedia) That brought us into the future. Jobs, e-commerce, electronic payments, virtual events, distance education, and so many other areas that have seen their roadmaps contract.
Now, however, it is clear that nothing will return to the way it was before. And the new normal will not be what we are experiencing now. The new normal will be the knowledge that everything can change again, without warning, and we need to have our reflexes ready.
Every holy December…
… matures in each of us the need to change things, to stop doing what we have realized is not working, that it is necessary to give ourselves new goals.
But how do we make sure we reach them? Most importantly, given the timing, how do we ensure that we will be able to recalculate the route should we encounter a new obstacle on the way?
I don’t know how many times I’ve seen people give themselves as a goal to start dieting, do more sports, read more–these are the classic good resolutions that sag as soon as something unexpected happens. And I am among them. Of course, we are talking about something much more important here, and we cannot allow that to happen with our business.
When it comes to giving yourself goals in business there are two categories of people: those who make the New Year’s budget and those who look for an alternative solution.
The problem with the budget
It is simply the wrong tool for three reasons:
➀ Does not stimulate growth.
Each team tends to ask for more and more budget each cycle to promise to meet goals that they will negotiate downward.
➁ Slow down the work.
The bureaucracy required for drafting and approval is enormous and slows down collaboration between various levels of management and employees.
➂ It is expensive
In this document (p. 4) by Accenture in collaboration with the Cranfield School of Management estimates that $1.2 Billion is spent on budgeting for Ford each year. How much does yours cost?
The problem with alternatives
They are painful. Changing the way you work, without adequate preparation, is like open-heart surgery having seen only a couple of YouTube videos.
In note No. 40 (+ template) I talked about the superpowers of OKRs.
Inspired by personal experience, I decided to throw down in writing what are the benefits of adopting this management technique.
Today I would like to pick up the thread to respond to all the feedback I have received.
OKRs are not for everyone.
What makes organizations ready to adopt OKRs?
Based on my experience, I have identified 6 areas in which you need to take your temperature before venturing out.
1 Strategic maturity
It is difficult to lead something that you do not understand. The first gap to bridge is documenting and communicating the strategy. Many teams have only a vague idea of what needs to be done and what vital numbers to achieve.
Who is aware of the strategy?
Is there a shared document?
Is there a timeline in this document?
2 Alignment
Vision, Mission and Purpose are intangible and distant concepts. Could you offhand describe those of your company? Don’t worry, it’s not your fault. It’s the effect of what I call Management by Expectation: managers expect you to know … but there are no onboarding or active training processes, you learn by doing.
The effect of this lack is disconnected teams and employees who do not understand their own contribution to the cause.
Are the goals clear for each team?
Is the relationship between goals and strategy explicit?
3 Prioritization capabilities
As everything has high priority, nothing has priority. Tasks rain down from every direction and in every system. Often it is customer authority that decides what to do in the company today, sometimes account authority or deadlines in contracts.
How are activities prioritized?
Are you clear on how to prioritize your tasks?
4 Involvement
The cultural maturity of a group of people can also be measured by the number of difficult conversations they are able to have on particular topics, and this assumes that everyone should be clear about how their activities and goals are related to the strategy and how they can properly self-assess their progress.
Are you clear about what your activities contribute to?
Are you autonomous in decision-making?
Is there transparency in information?
5 Control over numbers
Organizations that have realized that data is like oxygen will not have to stick to the respirator of exports in CSV to understand what is happening in the company. It is not enough to induct meetings once every quarter and take note of the situation, find solutions in the next quarter and measure the effect in the one after that. Instead, it is important to understand what numbers constitute resets in priorities or goals in order to quickly realign activities.
Are there tools that provide access to important numbers in real time?
Are there triggers that make people reconsider the strategy?
6 Evolved leadership
When people grow in autonomy and impact, there is no longer a need for those who must control the work of others. Paradoxically, the measurement of good transformation project is the reduction of the need for new leaders.
OKRs are not just an Excel spreadsheet to be opened every week. Instead, they come with a set of techniques and best practices for managing meetings and giving quick feedback.
How effective do you consider the current way of conducting meetings to be?
How often do you receive or give feedback to your colleagues?
How many figures only control the work without intervening in the operational part?
What is your experience?
If you have already tried adopting OKRs you have probably recognized one or more obstacles in these areas I have just described.
If you are thinking that OKRs might be the ideal tool for becoming more agile and driving growth now you know how to take the steps.
In any case, I would love to hear your opinion. You can click on this link and help yourself with questions to describe where you started. It is not an easy journey, I know, but it transforms you by getting you far.
Be prepared to be ready for anything.
2020 is 93 percent.
Good work!
Make yourself heard.
