How to connect OKR with Performance Management?

Do's and Don'ts?when connecting OKR with Performance Management

The main reason for OKR in most organisation is to create focus and alignment between strategy and the day-to-day work in complex environments, where the solutions are not known but need to emerge, while we validate our assumptions and hypotheses to find out what works well, what not. So it is very likely that some of the solutions won’t work right away. In other words, not achieved OKRs are a very natural part of the process. And it doesn’t mean that people weren’t engaged or haven’t tried what they could.

Imagine a team that left their comfort zone and tried new ideas to achieve an outcome. They haven't achieved the OKR but gained so many valuable insights, so that the whole company will benefit from it. Would you now punish them for not achieving their OKR by giving them a bas score or not paying their bonuses? I bet your answer is no.

If people get evaluated based on (not) achieved OKRs, then they won’t try at all, but rather go with things that are safe and achievable. It’s called "sandbagging". This will block the way of new ideas and innovation.

On the other hand people will do anything to reach their goals which means, hacking the system, prioritising own goals, creating (new) silos, becoming toxic in their relations with their peers.

The best you can do is to get rid of bonuses and rigid performance score cards based on top down defined individual goals, that are almost never achievable individually, but rather in teams and collaboration with others.

There are studies showing that the productivity decreases. Watch?Daniel Pink’s Ted talk “Puzzle of Motivation”?and read his book Drive.?

In 21st century it’s time to rethink the whole system. Instead of forcing new approaches into old ones, reform the whole system.

But what to do instead?

You might ask, how will we know if the team members really tried everything? Well... establishing a continuous conversation is the key here.

Organisations working and/or starting with OKR have a great opportunity here, by integrating the workshops and meetings around the OKR process to establish a continuous conversation and feedback culture.

"Tell me how you measure me and I’ll tell you how I will behave." Eliyahu M. Goldratt

Basically, you need to (let) engage, maintain a continuous conversation and feedback around expected outcomes and recognise the behaviours you want to see more of.

Engage

OKR Definition workshops and OKR Alignment Events are the perfect places for leadership to engage with the teams on a strategical and tactical level and let teams engage with each other to create synergies, to identify dependencies and create networks.

Conversation

OKR check-ins and Strategy check-ins are great events to establish a continuous conversation with teams, about their efforts, honest conversation about what works and what not, encouraging them to try different ideas, removing organisational impediments, enabling them with tools, resources, whatever they need.

Feedback

Use the weekly 1:1 meetings to develop and discuss a clear personal growth path with the team members. Discuss if and how the individual can contribute to her/his team’s OKR. If you're looking for ways to structure the 1:1s, have a look at Christina Wodtke's GROW model.?

When structured well, the 1:1 meetings can become a crucial part of the OKR process, making the interactions between leaders and team members very effective.

Recognition

Company events, Town Halls, Get Togethers, Retreats, and OKR Alignment events offer a great space to encourage the behaviours you want to see more of, by giving it a proper recognition.?

For example, if you want to see more innovation, then reward the most valuable experiment for the valuable learnings, not for its achievement score. Or if you want to encourage collaborative culture let peers choose the most helpful colleagues of the week/month/quarter/year.

After all, this continuous conversation and feedback can be used as input for the career and personal development reviews, so that the outcome of the semiannual or annual performance reviews are no surprise for anyone.

One size does NOT fit all

It doesn’t come easy. You need to invest time and energy to find the right ways to enable such a feedback culture in your organization.

You can engage me as consultant and coach to guide you or book an in-house training to find out how to use OKR as input for performance management and how to use OKR to develop a new way of feedback culture.

https://cansel-soergens.com/okr-workshops-and-trainings/

What are your experiences with OKR and performance management? Share your insights and the best practices that work for you.

Cansel S?rgens guides organisations of all sizes from different industries as Strategy and OKR Expert. She shares her 15+ years experience in Product Management and Organisation Development as speaker, co-author, and founder of international events such as OKR Lean Coffee, OKR Open Space, and Reshaping the future of OKRs.

#OKR #OKRs #CFR #PerformanceManagment #fixmyokr