The Great Google OKR Conspiracy?

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“OKRs were created by Google to distract competitors from their real priorities.”

Since the market tightened over the past couple of years, there’s been much more focus on building a ‘performance culture’.

The best companies and leaders embrace flexibility and all its benefits but understand that you need clarity on why people turn up to work every day (whether at home, in the office, or some other place).

• “What’s our vision?”
• “How can you help us achieve this?”

But the shift is shining a light on the big problem with performance management. Namely, that most people don’t think it actually works.

Here are the most common complaints I hear:

• “It’s a box-ticking exercise.”
• “By the time we review goals again, it’s difficult to remember how we’ve ended up here..”
• “We may have agreed on goals, but the reality is that we focus our time on other things.”

Like many workplace initiatives, goal-setting and managing performance sound like good ideas in principle but are difficult to implement.

Which explains the quote at the top of this article.

I was chatting with a CEO I’d just met at a conference when he dropped his conspiracy theory on me. Could Google really have created and evangelised the OKR system/cult to destroy competitors from within, setting them up for failure by sewing the seeds of an impossible-to-achieve dream?

Nah, probably not, but I get his point.

There are three main problems with goal-setting within most organisations:

1. Leaders get so preoccupied with the ‘right’ way of doing it that they lose sight of why– setting a direction of travel and an accountable way of getting there.
2. Goal-setting remains a top-down diktat without involving the people expected to actually deliver on them - the team. After all, we’re much more likely to buy into a plan we’ve contributed to creating.
3. Even if individual contributors play a role in setting the goals, reviews are invariably too sporadic, and it’s unclear how their day-to-day work aligns with the success of the business.

Gallup ’s annual state of the market report was released last week, and, as usual, the picture isn’t pretty. Long story short, most people don’t like their work. Goals and career growth play a significant part.

• Gallup found that only 20% of employees strongly agree that their performance is managed in a way that motivates them.

• Engaged employees are likelier to feel their goals are important and aligned with the company's mission.

• Regular check-ins and progress reviews can turn goal-setting from a mundane task into a powerful tool for driving performance.

So, what to do? This is a big topic, but here are some key principles:

1. Keep it simple: Focus on a few critical objectives and key results to avoid complexity, ensuring that goals are meaningful and aligned with the company's broader mission.
2. Combine technology with face-to-face time: Regular check-ins have a huge impact on engagement and motivation. Schedule regular 1-2-1s and focus on recognising achievements in real-time throughout the week.
3. Create an easy system for capturing key moments. Don’t wait until check-ins or performance reviews to track progress. Link these moments to personal and team goals to maintain clarity and focus.

If you’re interested in discussing goals, OKRs, or conspiracy theories, get in touch.

Have a great week,

Ollie

I interviewed Culture Amp ’s VP & GM of EMEA, Nick Matthews (He/Him) , on this week’s pod. Amongst other things, we discussed the current state of performance management - check it out via the link in the comments below.