OKRs: How to set them up?

19 of February, 2025

OKRs, basically, are one of the most utilized methodologies by large companies to define measurable goals. These ensure that all involved work in favor of the company’s objectives.

It is very different from any other kind of schemes like SMART, which only cover the end and not the determinant actions. Setting goals and quantifying them is the only way that companies can look to the future. It also allows them to stop making subjective estimates of what could happen and start thinking about what is going to be achieved.

Definition of OKRs

An OKR is a methodology of internal work management, focused on the establishment of objectives and key results. It is based on collecting the objectives by organizing work in a company, thus contributing to the business development strategy. We must mention that, OKR stands for ‘Objectives and Key Results’.

This popular methodology was created by Andrew Grove, who was CEO of Intel in 1972. And it was created in order to focus work on the main objectives of the company. The popularity of this model is a masterpiece of Google, who began implementing OKRs since 1999. Currently, we can all notice the tremendous results that said company has obtained thanks to it.

Differences between OKR and KPI

Perhaps the biggest difference between OKRs and KPIs, is that while KPIs focus on measuring the most relevant aspects of a company at present, the OKR methodology focuses on the future. In other words, on the objectives that you must achieve to reach the goal of your organization.

We will mention an example to try to make all this clearer. Imagine you want to lose weight; KPIs act as a scale that measures your weight. On the other hand, OKRs are that application which does not only keep track of your weight, but also tells you how many calories you should burn daily to achieve your goal. In conclusion, OKRs have a plan of action towards the future, not just a picture of the current state of your company.

Benefits of OKR

• Knowing what is happening inside the company at the very moment. You can easily understand the processes that have been carried out and the needs of your general team to act quickly.
• Focus on a collective mission. When all members of a team perfectly understand the situation of a company and what needs to be achieved, actions become clearer. Unnecessary processes within various departments can be avoided.
• Creates commitment and inspires. If the company has a clear mission, it can attract people who share those same values. In this way, it achieves a prepared workforce ready to take on the challenges that this requires, motivating them to achieve expected results.
• Make decisions without any uncertainty. By quantifying the goals, you get a specific overview of the progress that has been made. Thanks to this, essential actions can be reconsidered with precise decisions that do not derive from more subjective estimates.

Tips for writing and developing good OKRs

• You must have a very specific understanding of the company’s mission. This, because the first step is to define a general objective that should answer the following question: Where do I want to reach this year?
• Detail and specify 3 to 4 quarterly goals. These should be key steps to fulfill the general goal previously named. With them, the ideal is to motivate not to establish or define metrics.
• Indicate for each quarterly goal a key result. Here you include the metrics and the time in which the desired results must be achieved.
• Establish and define key actions for each result obtained. This means that, based on the results, you ask yourself: What should I do to achieve this? These answers will be the specific activities that you can assign to your workers.

In short, by working together to define goals and objectives, participants can be part of the creative process. Thus they will commit themselves to the planning of the proposed actions, in addition to sharing aspirations with other group member employees. When using OKRs, a human resources software like Sesame can assist you to more easily define the methodology. This way, you can start to implement it in an easier and faster manner, achieving better results.

Cristina Martin

People and Talent Director | LinkedIn | | Web | +post

Professional with over 20 years of extensive experience in various areas of Human Resources (Recruitment, Training, Occupational Risk Prevention, and Personnel Management). Experience in the Management Department: Broad understanding of the company and HR.

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