STELLAFAI EXPERT SERIES

OKR Adoption: Ingredients for success 🍝

Sticking with the theme of OKRs, this week we’ve asked our experts what the key ingredients are for success with OKR adoption. Whether you’re new to OKRs, or an OKR Jedi, this article is a must-read if you’re looking to introduce OKRs into a new environment. Get ready for some valuable insights and tips for seamless implementation. 🎯

🤫 Psst — Short on time? Jump to the end of the article for a speedy summary of our expert's wisdom…

Claire Donald, VP of Technology & Product at Moo

1. Provide training and support during adoption so everyone in the company understand the philosophy

2. Have champions / change agents across the organisation to provide continued help and support

3. Get buy in for the approach right from the top — its easier if you start with Company OKRs

4. Accept that you wont get it right first time — iterate, iterate, iterate

5. Try find a place to trial and start to share success

Max Bicknell, Agile Coach & OKR Evangelist

1. Find the right way to do it in your context. Adapt best practice to suit your needs, and don’t be afraid to break some of the “rules”.

2. Training, training, training. Invest in teach people across the org about both the why and the how.

3. Keep evolving as you learn about what does and doesn’t work for your organisation.

4. Empower the people, and let teams and individuals who are more engaged drive more bottoms up goal creation.

5. Don’t use them for everything! OKR’s are great for providing constraints for the more complicated and complex problem spaces, giving teams room to explore. But they aren’t the right tool for more known and clear problems we face, or the day-to-day tasks our teams complete.

Carsten Ley, Founder of OKR Asia / OKR Expert

1. Top & Middle Management Buyin

2. OKR System and transparency

3. OKR Training that everybody understands how to set-up and manage OKRs

4. OKR Roadmap to roll-out OKRs on different levels

5. Internal OKR Champions to facilitate OKRs

Sue Lueder, Agile Thought Leader & OKR Evangelist

Training and continuous socialization of the main targets. Radical Focus has this principle, i.e. set a single lofty and ambitious singular goal that everyone focuses on

Hannes Albrecht, Founder at how-to-okr.com / OKR Expert

The management needs to support this change. They need to drive it and also practice what they preach. They are the key driver for continuous communication around vision, strategy, OKR goals, achievements, learnings…that way things get transparent and purpose understood. On top a strong internal OKR Expert as a processual guard is key. We often do longterm coachings with them, as you need to grow and learn as you go. And you need to have the courage to focus on just a few things which make a difference. This is hard, especially because saying NO to other things is part of it.

Bart Den Haak, Author of Moving the Needle with Lean OKRs

1. Have a (corporate) strategy

2. Strong (product) leadership skills

3. Growth Mindset amongst employees

4. Data literacy

5. Scientific Thinking / Lean / Agile competence

Richard Russell, OKR & Leadership coach

1. Clarity on the problem you are trying to solve.

2. More than just buy in, but full engagement and leadership from CEO.

3. Not overcomplicating it

4. Using other management tools (eg bau metrics reviews) as well

5. Focusing on the work not the okrs

Scott Ambler, Co-developed Disciplined Agile Delivery & Author

1. Education (about measurement and OKRs)

2. Time

3. Money

4. Willingness to experiment

5. Willingness to pivot

Brad Dunn, Product Management Leader & Coach

1. Start very simple.

2. Start with a clear overall agreement on a company strategy (playing to win)

3. Don’t do personal OKRs early on.

4. Report on them as often as you can.

5. Empower people to do something about the barriers.

Summary: So what are the best ingredients for success with OKR adoption?

✏️ Training and Support:

• Provide comprehensive training and support for employees to understand the OKR philosophy.
• Educate everyone about measurement and OKRs, emphasising both ‘why’ and ‘how’.

👥 Leadership Involvement:

• Obtain management buy-in; have champions for ongoing assistance.
• Drive change, practice transparent communication, and support a growth mindset.

🔁 Iterative and Adaptive Approach:

• Accept imperfection; iterate based on successes and failures.
• Empower teams for bottom-up goal creation; adapt best practices as needed.

🎯 Strategic Alignment and Focus:

• Align OKRs with the company strategy; avoid overcomplication.
• Start simple, saying NO to other things is part of the process.

💬 Communication and Empowerment:

• Implement a transparent OKR system with clear goals and a roadmap.
• Regularly report on OKRs and empower individuals to overcome obstacles.

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