The Core Business Mindset That’s Killing Your OKRs, According To A Leading Strategy Expert
Be prepared to get out of your comfort zone
Great managers stuck in the task-list mindset
I could never figure out why the smartest, most experienced, and capable managers I’ve coached over multiple quarterly business review cycles have had the hardest time setting effective, achievement-oriented Objectives and Key Results.
Currently deep in the OKR creation process for the coming quarter, I’ve continually worked to emphasize the benefits of setting strategic, qualitative Objectives, and associated outcome-focused Key Results. Yet for some reason I couldn’t understand, these professionals continually seemed to revert to laying out their goals as a series of tasks and to-do lists.
A clue to an answer with great potential
I believe I’ve finally unlocked the answer why this is happening through one of the biggest mindset shifts I’ve personally ever encountered, courtesy of Professor Roger Martin, in a recent Medium article titled “Why Planning Over Strategy?” as well as his related Harvard Business Review YouTube video, “A Plan Is Not a Strategy.”
