This was the P7S1 OKR Day
Exchange, inform and learn from each other: In July, the P7S1 OKR Day brought together interested colleagues from the entire ProSiebenSat.1 cosmos on the campus in Unterföhring. It was organised by the OKR Community consisting of colleagues who already work with this method and share thoughts and learnings on a regular basis. 🙌
Jule (Manager at Seven.One AdFactory) and Tobias (Senior Scrum Master at ProSiebenSat.1 Tech Solutions), who helped organise the event, give exciting insights into why OKRs are a great opportunity, how OKRs have already been integrated into their teams and what the P7S1 OKR community is all about.
What does “OKR” stand for?
Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) are an integrated, agile method for managing goals and performance at all organisational levels of a company.
The objective is an ambitious goal, usually of qualitative character. Key results provide quantitative, measurable results that clearly indicate whether a goal has been achieved.
To put it in more detail: An Objective is typically set for a specific time period, usually a quarter (for example, for companies reporting quarterly). The Key Results indicate whether the Objective has been achieved at the end of this period.
Learning from each other — from theory to practice
To kick off the day, Felix Geelhaar from Synk started with an exciting keynote about his experiences when first introducing OKRs at Sixt and at the start-up Synk. In the open space sessions that followed afterwards was room for questions and further best practice exchange. The participants put into focus OKR learnings and had the opportunity to discuss the integration of the different methods, such as Scrum or OKR.
We spoke to Jule (Manager Seven.One AdFactory) and Tobias (Senior Scrum Master at ProSiebenSat.1 Tech Solutions), who were part of the OKR Day organisation team, about how they use OKRs in their departments, what insights came out of the day and what advice they have for OKR newcomers.
How and where are OKRs used at P7S1?
Tobias: We already work with OKRs in different departments of the P7S1 cosmos — for example at ProSiebenSat.1 Tech Solutions (PTS), in the marketing units of Seven.One Media (SOM)and the AdFactory. Some units have had OKRs in place for some time, while others are just starting. For about three years, we at PTS have been working intensively with OKRs, while we have only been working out OKRs together with SOM for about one and a half years. As an OKR community, we would like to connect colleagues from the different departments to advance the topic together, to learn from each other and to create synergies between the departments.
Jule: In the marketing of SOM and AdFactory, we use OKRs to manage our big future topics in particular, such as AdvancedTV and Joyn. This way we manage to ensure that everyone within our cross-divisional teams is aligned, working on common goals and thus driving the transformation.
How and for what purpose do you use OKRs in your team?
Tobias: Throughout PTS, we use OKRs to plan our strategic goals in iterative steps and align them across all levels — from management to individual teams. The goal is to identify the most relevant issues and move towards our strategy’s larger, medium-term goals quarter by quarter. At the same time, OKRs allow us to adjust the course regularly.
You told us that the idea of an OKR Day came up only a few weeks ago at lunch …
Jule: Exactly. Our goal was to bring OKR enthusiasts from the entire P7S1 together and to get colleagues excited about OKRs. We looked for allies in the community and made the decision: ‘Let’s just do it now!‘. It’s nice to be able to kick things off at P7S1 when you’re passionate about an idea and take the initiative. Spoiler: We are already planning the next event!
What were your three key takeaways from the OKR Day?
Jule: Having the right people in the right place brings a great energy to a room, sharing and having fun with colleagues leads to a better and more productive working environment and teamwork makes the dream work, right, Tobi?
Tobias: That’s right, ‘if you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go as a team’! My key take-away from the topic of OKRs is again that it needs people who are committed and energetic to stay on the game. Because OKRs may sound simple in theory, but at the same time they need a certain mindset in practice.
What advice would you give to all those who are just starting to deal with OKRs?
Tobias: At the beginning, take a deeper look at the following questions: Why do you want to use OKRs and what effect do you hope to achieve? OKRs should not be implemented because others are using it or because they are fancy. It is essential to have a clear and transparent strategy as it is the basis for OKRs.
Jule: Very important: get buy-in from relevant stakeholders. Also, be patient with the implementation.And look for allies — you do not have to and cannot implement OKRs alone. We as the OKR community are also happy to be your partners for all questions about this method, challenges and support with the implementation.
Do you have to meet certain requirements to become a member of the OKR community?
Jule: Everyone is welcome in the community, it doesn’t matter if you are in the process or just starting your OKR journey. Our goal is to build a large network across the company where we can learn from and support each other.
Many thanks to Jule, Tobias and the whole team for organising the event and sharing their inspiring insights! 👏
