What I would like to share with you today is how a courageous approach to goal setting can actually develop your organization towards business agility. For those of you just embarking on your OKR journey, you may find some ideas on how to get started. For those already in the midst of your journey, there might be a few twists and tweaks here to improve even further.
The Idea Behind OKRs
The idea behind OKRs, as many of you know, is quite simple. It is no wonder that many companies today use OKRs as a building block in their agile transformation, hoping to achieve even faster and greater success. That was also the situation Peter found himself in as a CTO of an IT service unit I met a couple of years ago. He was responsible for a service unit managing 500 employees, and their goal was to transform into a fully agile product organization. At the time I met them, they had just started their transformation and were highly motivated to continue. Little did he know of the bumpy journey ahead when he decided that OKRs should be a key part of their transformation.
Peter started by sharing his enthusiasm for OKRs and their ability to bridge the gap between long-term goals and daily execution. He explained how OKRs provide an inspiring vision through objectives and combine them with measurable key results, looking at progress from different perspectives. These key results measure changes in relative or absolute values to indicate whether the organization is on track. Once OKRs are defined, teams embark on an iterative journey, similar to other agile frameworks, with regular OKR check-ins to track progress and reflections at the end of each cycle to learn and adjust.
The Challenges of OKR Implementation
So far, so good. The decision was made to use OKRs, pilot teams were selected, and the journey began. However, two iterations into the cycle, Peter received unexpected feedback—people didn’t see the benefit of OKRs. They complained that the process took too much time and that nothing had really changed in the organization. Perhaps some of you have heard similar feedback in your own transformations.
Peter began questioning whether OKRs were overrated in business transformation or if something else was missing. He embarked on a quest to find answers, and today, I want to share some of the common pitfalls he encountered, the courageous decisions he made, and the good practices he established along the way. Ultimately, he discovered that OKRs were not overrated, but rather underestimated in both their complexity and potential to drive business agility.
Defining the "Why" of OKRs
As Peter spoke with pilot teams, experts, and former colleagues, one thing became clear: nobody really knew why they had started using OKRs. For Peter, the reason was obvious—OKRs were the missing puzzle piece to bring alignment and focus to their transformation. However, for the people in the teams, this connection was unclear.
To address this, Peter and his leadership team held a workshop to clearly define the "why" behind OKRs in their organization. They linked it directly to their larger transformation effort. If you are using OKRs, ask yourself: Can you clearly articulate why you started using them? Can you identify the problem they were meant to solve? Did you establish a measurable target to track the success of your OKR implementation?
In Peter’s case, the goal was to achieve alignment throughout new product teams and enable faster learning cycles to better adapt to market changes.
Avoiding Old Methods in New OKR Implementations
Another key issue was that the organization was using old methods to implement OKRs—a common pitfall. It is no surprise that teams felt nothing had changed. To avoid this, it was important for Peter's team to apply the agile principles of OKRs right from the start. This included defining OKRs for the OKR implementation itself—something most companies fail to do.
They set an objective for their OKR adoption, defined key results to measure progress, and iterated on a three-month basis. They also adjusted their OKR system after each cycle, recognizing that there is no one-size-fits-all OKR approach. Each iteration provided new insights into what worked best for their leadership style and business objectives.
Integrating OKRs into Daily Work
Another common complaint was that OKRs took too much time. Peter found that teams were treating OKRs as a separate task—an additional process rather than something integrated into daily work. To address this, they focused on embedding OKRs into their regular operations.
For example, instead of separate OKR meetings, teams connected OKRs to existing planning meetings. They also linked OKRs directly to initiatives that contributed to those goals. One IT team experimented with categorizing user stories in Jira based on their connection to OKRs, ensuring alignment between execution and strategy. By designing OKRs as part of their workflow, they minimized extra effort and maximized impact.
OKRs as a Catalyst for Transformation
Some might ask, why go through all this effort just for a goal-setting tool? Peter found that when OKRs are treated as just another tool, they fail to deliver their full impact. While the concept is simple, full-scale adoption requires alignment across the entire organization—vertically and horizontally—introducing a new level of complexity.
OKRs do not exist in a vacuum. They are closely connected to leadership styles, company culture, collaboration processes, compensation models, and learning and development initiatives. Each of these organizational elements influences and is influenced by OKRs. When changes occur in one area, they impact others as well.
By seeing OKRs as an essential part of the organizational system rather than a standalone tool, Peter's team used them as a catalyst for broader change. OKRs acted as a mirror, highlighting underlying issues that needed attention—whether they were outdated structures, unclear responsibilities, or lack of communication.
Addressing Underlying Issues
Identifying underlying challenges is only the first step; acting on them is what truly drives transformation. In Peter’s case, they implemented the Responsibility Process by Christopher Avery to create a shared language around accountability. This framework helped teams take ownership of their objectives and navigate challenges together.
Key Success Factors
Over time, Peter's organization made great strides in alignment and learning cycles. Three key drivers contributed to their success:
- Defining transformation goals as OKRs: Using OKRs not only for business objectives but also for transformation initiatives.
- Using OKRs to pilot agile ways of working: By embedding OKRs across the company, they naturally introduced iterative approaches to work.
- Leveraging OKRs to surface and address systemic issues: Treating OKRs as a tool to expose bottlenecks and challenges, then actively resolving them.
Today, Peter's team continues to use OKRs as a catalyst for transformation. If you want to learn more about companies like his and their OKR journeys, check out the OKRs at the Center book or join our meetups, book clubs, or training sessions.
Final Thoughts
While the idea behind OKRs is simple, mastering their implementation for business agility is not. However, if you see OKRs for what they truly are—an essential piece of your organizational system—then they can serve as a powerful catalyst for change. Define your "why," build connections, foster open communication, and address the systemic challenges they reveal. If you do that, OKRs will take you a long way on your transformation journey.
Thank you!
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