Viva Goals Office Hours: Communications Planning for Your OKR Program AMA
Do you have questions about creating a strong and well-executed OKR communication strategy for team-level and leadership-level OKR planning meetings - including, creating a work back strategy for monthly reviews, quarterly closeouts, and annual financial planning? If the answer is yes - join us on this thread, on May 31st from 10:00 am - 10:30 am PST as Erin Donoso answers any questions you have about communications planning for your OKR program - post questions below in the thread and Erin will be here live on May 31st answering them! See you all then!Really, are OKRs just for senior leadership?
Hey folks! My name is Michael Davis, and I've been practicing OKRs for...quite some time. I founded Ally.io's strategic services practice, and lead a team of OKR coaches here at Microsoft. One of the most common questions I've gotten in side conversations with clients and members of their organizations is simply: why should I use OKRs? It seems like something that's really intended for senior leaders who just want more visibility into what's happening While OKRs certainly help to provide visibility for senior leadership, it does the same for employees throughout an organization. But wait: visibility is not enough, you still haven't answered the question: why should I use OKRs? Here are some reasons why, and why they're particularly valuable for teams A quick way to stay aligned on team goals, supporting initiatives A great way to stay in sync with your manager or direct reports without having to nag people constantly in 1-1 chats or e-mails You can leverage Dashboards to run team meetings and track notes / action items over time in ONE place Bonus: Businesses run with a focus on strategic priorities and metrics. Getting into the habit of thinking in these patterns can be extremely beneficial over one's career in the long run! But practically, how do I get started? Do I have to train everyone on my team on OKRs? The simple answer is No. OKRs are a skillset that gets nurtured over time, and many people need time to really build and hone this skillset. A great way to start with Viva Goals is simply to enter existing goals into the system, and start using it in your team meetings or bi-weekly / monthly reviews. Over time, you can use our plethora of resources to upskill your team(s) at a pace that makes sense for your business.Creating alignment from all levels
https://www.mcchrystalgroup.com/strategy_alignment/ has been the bread-and-butter of my company for at least a decade. When our President, Chris Fussell, talks about front-line leaders driving the pendulum forward, in some sense he's speaking to the ability of real-time information driving changes to the company's strategy at large. To that end, Viva Goals is not only a reporting tool for objectives, it's also a means for the organization to align to the environment. Leaders driving success with OKRs who fail to review the context of Key Result reporting are missing the evaluative value that Goals feedback provides. At the very least, this is a necessary component of the quarterly close-out, if not worthy of a more frequent review. Does your organization have any real, tangible and transparent mechanisms to inform your strategy, or do your senior leaders do all the talking? Is your strategy static until the year-end close, or does it live organically driven by the context in which its operating?
