Last week, I wrapped up an extended engagement with one of my favorite clients of all time. In addition to coaching several of their leaders, this client invited me to step outside my comfort zone. They asked me to help them build a culture that embraced the OKR (Objective & Key Results) framework.
Over the year, I supported their executive team as they shifted from crawling to walking to running with their quarterly OKRs. I beamed with pride in last week’s OKR review as the team crisply reviewed Q2 OKR results and their Q3 OKRs. They were well-crafted, driving business results and prompting healthy discussion amongst the team about risks and how to keep things on track. They had graduated.
Whether you are using a formal OKR framework or informally jotting down personal goals, we learned some key lessons along the way.
As Measured By
Before you read on, I invite you to pull up any active goals you have. Perhaps you set performance or developmental goals at the beginning of the year, or you have New Year’s Resolutions. Or maybe you have OKRs written for the current quarter. Find them.
If you found them, great. This is a surprisingly big step. One study found that people were 42% more likely to achieve their goals simply by writing them down.
Now, apply this simple test. I like to take any goal (or a key result if you are using OKRs) and append a simple phrase to the end of the statement – as measured by….
We have to know how we will measure success. At times, we may leave this out because success is intuitively obvious. However, in most instances, the lack of a measurement of success reveals a lack of clarity around the goal itself.
Here are a few examples:
- Grow brand awareness.
- Strengthen my executive presence.
- Improve software quality.
- Improve my health
In each of these cases, success is highly ambiguous. How will you know if you successfully grow your brand awareness? Does improving your health mean losing weight? Drinking more water? Eating more nutritious foods? Getting more sleep?
Now, look back at the goals you set. Add as measured by to the end of each one. Can you complete the sentence?
Quantifying the Qualitative
In some cases, this exercise is straightforward. You may reflect upon what improved health is for you and decide it is two things – losing weight and getting more sleep. This then becomes two separate goals (or key results):
- Achieve and maintain a sub-142 weight (as measured by weighing myself each morning when I wake up)
- Average at least 7.5 hours of sleep per night (as measured by my Oura ring)
Some goals are more challenging to measure. What if I want to improve my relationship with my daughter?
In this instance, one technique is to use a life account. I can self-assess the quality of my relationship with my daughter weekly. Yes, it’s subjective, but I have a quick and easy measure of how I believe our relationship is progressing. If the scores are low, I reflect on why and what actions to take in the coming week.
Another technique is to reframe the goal as an objective. Objectives often are not measurable in and of themselves. However, objectives have 3-5 key results that are measurable. If my objective was to improve my relationship with my daughter, I could then identify specific, measurable key results that would result in an improved relationship:
- Spend at least five hours of quality time with my daughter per week (as measured by total time spent with my daughter where she had my undivided attention)
- Be an assistant coach for my daughter’s soccer team (as measured by the percentage of practices and games I attended).
- Have at least five father-daughter outings (as measured by the number of entertaining trips we had together outside the home during the quarter)
Pro tip: Don’t survey your partner or children and ask them to assess how you are showing up as a partner or a parent. I tried this, and it was not well-received.
Avoid Contingencies
Often, when we plan, we include contingencies. We estimate a project will take 40 hours, but we recognize our ability to estimate may be off, so we bump the estimate to 50 hours, adding a 20% contingency. In software development, I often saw this process repeat itself through multiple layers of management, with each layer adding another contingency. I remember once being presented with an estimate to build a new module for our Advancement system. The leader was stunned and embarrassed when I pointed out that their estimate for this new module exceeded the entire effort to build the system in the first place.
OKRs, if used correctly, have contingency inherent to the system. You set an ambitious yet achievable goal and celebrate success at 80%. The celebration should be short-lived if you achieve 100% (or more) on all your OKRs. You probably didn’t set goals that pushed you out of your comfort zone.
The other place I see contingencies slip in is how we word the goal. Consider these goal statements:
- Attempt to grow brand awareness.
- Try to improve employee morale.
- Look for opportunities to enhance employee recognition.
The verbs themselves in these goal statements have an uninspiring contingency. We’re not committing – we’re just committing to try. Make sure your goals are specific and definitive. Remember what Yoda taught us. “No. Try not. Do… or do not. There is no try.”
The Teliodosis of Goals
I’ve written often about teliodosis – the integration of doing and being. Setting and achieving goals feels heavily weighted toward the doing aspect of teliodosis. We get clarity about the goals we want to achieve, and we set about with the doing of achieving those goals.
I believe there is a significant being aspect of goals as well. I believe we live in a responsive universe. When our goals are crystal clear, we set ourselves up for support from the universe.
At a personal level, that clarity helps to drive your actions in the moment. When faced with a decision, the clearer your goals are, the easier that decision becomes.
This also holds for the people around you. If your goals are articulated clearly and shared with your boss, peers, direct reports, partner, or friends, they can be more responsive and supportive. It’s clear to them what actions will support your goals. When you invite your daughter on a nature walk, she understands you are making an honest effort to spend quality time with her, and she is more likely to say yes or suggest an alternative activity.
And yes, I believe the universe itself is better equipped to support us and respond to us in seemingly mystical ways when we make our goals clear.
As I set my OKRs for Q3, I recognized I needed to fill in a significant revenue gap in my forecast. For my “Grow the business” objective, I wrote a key result to “Grow full-year forecast from $xxx to $yyy.”
Before I could execute any of my doing actions to influence that number, the universe responded, producing three new business opportunities. In the first week of the quarterly goal, I was already 43% complete. It was as if the universe understood my need and responded so I could focus on my life’s purpose and not worry about revenue. Thank you, Universe.
Putting It Into Practice
Review your professional and personal goals (or set some new ones for Q3). Make them as clear as possible.
- Review my OKR post for a refresher on Objectives & Key Results.
- Apply the as measured by test to ensure your goal is measurable.
- Consider life accounts to bring a quantitative measure to qualitative goals.
- Ensure your goal is worded confidently without inappropriate contingencies.
- Be open to responsiveness and support from the universe.
I am an executive coach and life coach with software executive roots in higher education and EdTech. I coach because I love to help others accelerate their growth as leaders and humans. I frequently write about #management, #leadership, #coaching, #neuroscience, and #arete.
If you would like to learn more, schedule time with me.
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