Forum Discussion
MicrosoftOKR Retrospectives
MicrosoftI would also like to share some key takeaways from the breakout room discussions during the March Office Hours highlighting best practices for retrospectives from different organisations:
1. Conducting weekly or bi-weekly check-ins, including reflections on what went well, lessons learned, opportunities, and next steps. This regular check-in commentary makes the retrospective process easier since the week-to-week reflection is already available in the tool. The reflections can be aggregated with overall themes for conducting comprehensive retrospectives.
2. OKR owners or DRIs should not wait until the scheduled retrospective or end of quarter to highlight risks or changes in priorities. If a pivot is required, it should be brought up with relevant stakeholders as early as possible, and adjustments should be made to the OKRs without delay.
3. For organisations already following an agile methodology and conducting retrospectives for projects, it's important to ensure that projects are properly aligned with the key results. If they are, it might be beneficial to skip project-level retrospectives and instead focus on retrospectives for the objectives only. This can emphasise storytelling for both the team and upward cascading.
4. If the organisation's strategy direction and priorities are undergoing frequent changes, it's a good idea to review the OKRs being tracked. Avoid using operational KPIs as key results and instead focus on strategic metrics that align with the overall goals.
5. Organisations may prefer to conduct retrospectives, which primarily focus on identifying challenges in larger groups and come up with solutions in smaller groups for efficient decision-making, or vice versa, depending on the demographics and dynamics of the organisation.
Vivian_Ajetunmobi Can you also shed some light on best practices to take intentional steps towards creating psychologically safe environments for effective retrospectives?
- Vivian_Ajetunmobi
aarushiarora Great question!
Creating a psychologically safe environment is a process that should be practised on a regular basis, not just during OKR retrospectives.
Here are some best practises examples.
- It is important for organisations to have a common language when discussing goals. Reframing failures as learning opportunities helps in the development of a growth mindset.
- Provide different channels for employees to share feedback before, during and after the session. The use of anonymous feedback forms allows for candid feedback without fear.
- When responding to questions from the audience, meeting facilitators should be aware of their verbal and nonverbal cues. Listening with curiosity fosters open dialogue and collaboration
- Leaders should model the behaviour they want to see in their teams and be transparent about their learnings.
- When discussing learnings, keep the focus on the issue rather than the individual.
- Run effective meetings with a clear agenda, and where possible, provide a pre-read. For Viva Goals customers, ask employees to review the dashboards and come prepared to contribute to the retrospective session.
