Understanding Objectives

and Key Results

Topics

• Why OKRs? • Sample OKRs

• OKR Framework Definition • OKR Rhythm of Business
• What are OKRs and How the Pieces • Microsoft Viva Goals: Making
Fit Together the OKR framework … work
• Benefits of OKRs • Personas and Training Paths
• Myths about OKRs • Frequently Asked Questions
• How to Write and Refine OKRs • Additional Resources
 Becoming more strategic with their
budget, resources, and time

Business leaders are Focusing on and communicating

looking for a better top priorities for the organization

way to drive purpose, Adapting to a new normal at work,

alignment, and results including the digital needs of a
hybrid or remote workforce

Aligning and connecting work groups

that are either siloed and disconnected,
or doing redundant work
What we all want to know:
Mission

"What is the most important thing Purpose

Values
to focus on today in order to move and culture

the business forward?" Strategic Priorities

Strategy
Objectives
The OKR framework is a goal setting and strategy
execution system that helps drive focus, purpose, Execution Key Results
and alignment.
Initiatives
OKRs sit at the intersection between purpose,
strategy, and execution, and help connect the
work you do to the mission of your organization.
 Objectives: What the team wants to accomplish
Clear, inspiring goals shared across teams and organizations.
To sharpen focus, limit to 3-5 objectives.

What are OKRs? Key Results: How the team will measure results
Measurable outcomes which contribute to the achievement
of an objective. They should be ambitious, but achievable, and
OKR stands for Objectives and Key quantifiable enough for objective grading. Set 3-5 key results.
Results and are the elements of the
framework that drive impact.

Initiatives: Activities that help the team achieve

measurable outcomes
Core set of activities and actions that will be taken to drive
the outcomes defined in your key results.
How the pieces fit together

We will Objective as measured by Key Results via Initiatives

OKR formula
OKRs bring Focus to your work

“If everything is important,

then nothing is.”
Patrick Lencioni
Benefits of organizational goal-setting with Viva Goals
Visibility
Line of sight into what teams are working on and what
progress is being made, surfacing dependencies /
roadblocks and reducing silos.
Focus
Defined prioritization of team’s goals with clear
ownership of those goals across the team, often 3 to 5
objectives or missions per team.
Alignment
Ensuring that leaders and teams are aligned to the right
purposes and workstreams, and communicating on
shared or connected goals.
Adaptability
Faster and better decision-making based on dynamic
real-time data and updates from integrated tools.
Growth
Striving for ambitious outcomes and stretch goals, with a
supportive culture and growth mind-set.
 OKRs are not:
Just for leadership
To get an entire organization focused and aligned on strategic
priorities, involving the whole organization in OKRs is key.

A project management system

Myths about OKRs An OKR solution like Microsoft Viva Goals is meant to integrate
with, not replace, your project management software in order to
streamline your existing workflow.

Meant to be a measure of individual

While OKRs have been in use for performance
many years, we've uncovered OKRs measure business success, not individual success. OKR output
could be one of many inputs into an assessment of an individual's
several myths people have performance, but not the only input. OKR output should generally not
be directly tied to an individual employee's compensation.
about the framework.
A way to manage business-as-usual tasks
OKRs are used to track aspirational goals that drive a business
forward, not day-to-day work.

Just for high tech companies

Thousands of leaders, from small to medium-sized businesses
to large enterprises, have adopted OKRs and seen successful results,
no matter their industry.
How to write OKRs…

Objective Key Results Initiatives

Questions to ask Questions to ask Questions to ask

• What is the most important area of our • How will we know if we’re successful? • What do we need to do in order to be
business that we need to focus on? • How can we measure the impact of our work? successful?
• Why does this objective matter to us? • What metric or outcome would let us • What can we get done in this period?
• How would we write our objective into a measure definitively if we were successful? • Who needs to be involved?
statement that inspires our team? • What is our best-case scenario for
achievement on that measure?

Formula Formula Formula

Verb + Verb + Verb +
what you’re going to do + what you’re going to track / count + what you’re going to do
so that / in order to from x to y

Example Example Example

Deliver a “must-have” product in order to Increase our NPS score from 40 to 50 Build a dashboard to track UX performance
delight customers and grow our user base
How to refine & finalize OKRs…

Reviewing drafted OKRs Finalizing OKRs

Does each Objective still hold true to the drafted Key Are all these Key Results necessary to achieve our
Results? Objective (eg if we fall short on any of these KRs, is
there a chance we will still feel we accomplished our
Will we be able to see progress on each of our Key Objective)?
Results in this time frame?
Will accomplishing these Key Results be sufficient to
Do we have the right owners, delegates, and check-in achieve our Objective (eg if we achieve all our KRs, can
owners identified who will feel accountability for we assert we accomplished our Objective)?
driving progress?

Can our team directly impact these Key Results or are

we reliant on stakeholders? If the latter, can we make
this a shared OKR?

Are there any projects, outcomes, or priorities our team

is accountable for that aren’t reflected here?
Sample OKRs
Product Department

Objective
Deliver category-leading value from our product in
order to delight to our customers

Key Results
• Increase new user signups from 11,000 to 20,000
• Maintain current 90% user retention rate
• Increase CSAT score from 71% to 80%

Example of an OKR Platform Team Infrastructure Team

alignment between teams Objective

Deliver delightful group play
Objective
Provide unparalleled high speed
experience in order to increase gaming experience to users to
engagement reduce in-game frustration

Key Results Key Results

• Improve group engagement score • Reduce latency from 72ms to 40ms
from 61 to 80 • Reduce memory allocation by 15%
• Increase avg session length by 10% • Decrease mentions of platform
• Drive 25% increase in player referrals speed as main driver of CSAT from
50% to 25%
Initiatives
• Build a new user research team Initiatives
• Deliver ability for peer-to-peer • Benchmark competitor latency
connections management approaches
See the resources page for our OKR cheatsheet • Launch enhanced "compete with • Deliver new high speed gaming
and more examples friends" referral program backbone network
Sample OKRs
Objective:
Deliver a “must have” product in order to delight customers
and grow our user base.

Key Result 1:
Increase our NPS score from 40 to 50.

Key Result 2:
Increase daily active users (DAUs) from 1,200 to 1,500.
Individual Team Examples:
Product and Engineering Key Result 3:
Achieve 1,000 downloads in the app store.

Initiative 1:
Launch mobile version of product.

Initiative 2:
Develop bug tracker for mobile complaints.

See the resources page for our OKR cheatsheet

and more examples
Sample OKRs
Objective:
Increase employee retention in order to do our best work.

Key Result 1:
Reduce voluntary attrition from 30% to 10%.

Key Result 2:
Increase ratio of open positions filled internally vs
externally from 30% to 50%.
Individual Team Examples:
Human Resource Managers Key Result 3:
100% of our employees have a standardized career plan
approved by HR.

Initiative 1:
Revamp our exit interview to better capture reasons for
leaving.

Initiative 2:
Offer 5 new courses for internal career development.
See the resources page for our OKR cheatsheet
and more examples
OKR Rhythm of Business

OKRs follow a rhythm of business over a certain time period, generally

recommended to be quarterly, with the following 4 steps:

1. Team members collaborate 2. OKRs are planned, written, and

with each other to align added into the system. Collaboration
on strategy, develop shared continues among team members to
OKRs, and understand how finalize OKRs.
overall objectives from senior Collaborate Create
leadership cascade to the team
level.

4. At the end of the period, 3. Throughout the quarter,

users reflect on progress, close users make check-ins to track
and score their OKRs, share key their progress. This can be
learnings, and prepare for the
Close Check-in done manually or automatically
upcoming time period. through data integrations.
Viva Goals: Making the OKR framework … work

Collaborate
Viva Goals is a goal and OKR management
solution designed to help leaders and teams
create, manage, and track organizational
goals. Use alignment view to understand
how overall objectives from senior
leadership cascade to the team level.

Create
Add team objectives and key results in the
Viva Goals OKR list view to stay aligned and
focused at scale and drive measurable
business results.
Viva Goals: Making the OKR framework … work

Check-in
Bring goals into the flow of everyday work by
integrating OKRs with the tools you're already
using, such as Microsoft Teams.

Automate updates from critical work systems,

such as Azure DevOps, so goals are always
top-of-mind.

Close
Reflect on progress, close and score OKRs,
and share key learnings via dashboards to
prepare for the next time period.
 Viva Goals: Personas and Training Paths

Business Leader Champion Planning Manager Goal Owner Stakeholder Tech Admin

Leader who drives company, Central expert and axis Individuals and team Users who own goals Users who engage User who does the technical
group, or team strategy, creates that keeps programs on managers who drive and are accountable to with updates on progress setup & responsible for
and approves team track and connected. Drive planning & tracking process drive and report of goals. managing the software and
/ organizational goals, overall program and rhythm on a given team. They progress on goals. ensures licenses are assigned
and reviews progress. of business across the ensure check-ins, reporting, and security/compliance
entire organization and meetings follow needs are met.
(or multiple teams). prescribed rhythm of
business.

Recommended Training: Recommended Training: Recommended Training: Recommended Training: Recommended Training: Recommended Training:
Viva Goals Quick Start OKR Leadership Program OKR Leadership Program Viva Goals Quick Start Viva Goals Quick Start Intro to Viva Goals (Admin)

Typical titles: C-suite, Vice Typical titles: Chief of Staff, Typical titles: Team Manager, Typical titles: Anything from Typical titles: Anything from Typical titles: IT Admin,
President, General Manager Planning Lead, Strategy & Business Manager, Chief of Individual Contributor to Vice Individual Contributor to Vice Technical Operations
Operations Staff, Data Analytics Manager President or beyond President or beyond
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some of the top questions new users want to know.

Q: I already have so much on my plate. Will OKRs Q: My department is already tracking data
add more work? elsewhere. Do I still need OKRs?
A: Don't worry, you don't need to be an OKR expert to get started. A: One benefit of OKRs is that leadership and employees alike can
Many people share that feeling of overwhelm at work, but OKRs get a single, holistic view that reflects progress and opportunities
actually save time by keeping you focused on just 3-5 goals so across the organization. This is difficult if data is siloed in each
you can give more attention to what matters most. department. The good news is, you won’t need to duplicate your
efforts as native integrations will pull from existing data and
Q: My company already has strategic goals. Do I seamlessly connect your efforts to updates.
need to convert them all to the OKR formula?
Q: Will OKRs distract me with frequent check-ins?
A: If you're just getting started and already have strategic goals
for your company, it’s far more important to make initial progress, A: Checking in on OKRs takes just a few minutes and can catch
enter them into Viva Goals, and build on them, rather than get issues or roadblocks in real-time instead of waiting for an end of
hung up trying to craft the perfect metric. quarter review to notice something’s gone awry.

We strongly urge focusing on progress over perfection, so it's ok Organizations generally check in weekly or bi-weekly, and
to keep things simple at first. Over time, you may find the they'll quickly become a simple part of your workflow, letting you
suggested structure of the OKR framework will allow you to craft continuously fine-tune and improve to deliver impact to your
more aspirational Objectives and measurable Key Results. business.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some of the top questions new users want to know.

Q: How do Key Results differ from KPIs? Q: How do I know if my OKRs are any good?
A: OKRs don’t replace KPIs, they complement and utilize them. A: The practice of OKRs emphasizes progress over perfection.
KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) correspond to the detailed Getting started, even with "less than perfect" OKRs, is the most
metrics within an organization that facilitates the delivery of a important thing. Here are ways to get better:
project. Meanwhile, Key Results are tied to Objectives and  Use monthly reviews and end of quarter reflection periods
represent the business goals to be achieved. to review your OKRs and look for areas of improvement
 Ask co-workers to review your OKRs to make sure they are
Example: clear, concise, and measurable from an outsider's
 Objective: Elevate our brand presence in order to attract perspective, or lean on your OKR Champion for advice
new prospects and create a fiercely loyal customer following.  Follow the OKR writing formula in this presentation, as well
 Key Result: Increase website traffic from 300,000 to 500,000 as the OKR cheatsheet in the resources to structure your
page views. OKRs properly
 KPI: 99.5% website uptime.  Draw inspiration from Sample OKRs broken out by
department within the product and in the resources.
Note: The KPI is important – you can't increase brand visibility if
 To emphasize once more, your OKR quality will improve
the website is down – but the true goal, the Key Result outcome, is
to increase traffic. each time you write them, so getting started with imperfect
OKRs is better than not getting started at all
 Guide to OKRs
Our Solutions area has information about goal setting,
OKR formulas, improving your OKR writing, and more.

OKR Leadership Program

Online training for OKR Champions to become familiar

Additional Resources
with the role of the OKR Champion, as well as OKR
writing, ensuring program success, and an introduction
to Viva Goals.
Ready to learn more about OKRs? Check
Microsoft Viva Goals Help and Support
out these resources.
Help and support documentation.

OKR Writing Cheatsheet

How to write effective OKRs that inspire action and
deliver results.
Thank you