Top five OKR traps; in my opinion — and how to escape them.

As an organization or as an individual, we all work towards a certain goal. In this quest, one of the biggest challenges we may face is the common traps we may fall in reaching these goals.

Today, as part of the Certified Professional OKR Practitioner certification, I dwell down a bit further on this topic. Specifically, the top five OKR traps; in my opinion.

Not knowing your objectives; in other words, not having a vision to set objectives.

Simply put, objectives are what is to be achieved. But, if you do not know what is to be achieved, you cannot define proper objectives. In my opinion, this is the first trap many people fall into. If this step is skipped or ignored, we start setting objectives that have no purpose in our lives and in turn lack the passion to drive execution which eventually leads us to give up on the objectives we have set.

Escaping the trap — Even though we may have a general sense of where we want to be in a couple of years, we must have a long-term vision in mind. And this can only be achieved with a long thought process and contemplation on assessing your skills and most importantly your passion.

Setting too many objectives and/or key results

Always remember, less is more. Select a few well-chosen objectives and key results that meet your vision and that are a priority at this moment. The golden number ranges from 3 to 5 objectives with 2 to 4 key results.

Anything more than this, we will struggle to achieve the set objectives and key results. I too am guilty of setting too many objectives enthusiastically at the beginning of my OKR journey.

Escaping the trap — To prevent setting too many goals, time box your objectives at least on quarterly cycles and complete the highest priority objectives first. These objectives need to tie up to your long term vision thus allowing you to set the priority accordingly in an incremental manner.

Not conducting regular reviews

The OKR framework is driven using its regular cadences. When objectives and key results are set and forgotten without regular review, key results cannot be measured thus resulting in the whole framework being deemed pointless. Furthermore, regular reviews serve as a reminder of the objectives and key results and provide room for any changes.

Escaping the trap — To prevent this from happening, objectives should be reviewed at least on a quarterly basis and in line with changing environment and priorities can be adjusted. Likewise, key results should also be reviewed on a regular basis.

Setting objectives that are too hard or too easy.

Personally, growth is a key factor in OKRs. Setting objectives that are stretched ensures we step out of our comfort zone thus contributing to growth. However, setting objectives that are too hard, would result in burnout and the lack of passion to drive execution which eventually leads us to give up on the objectives. Conversely, objectives that are too easy would not contribute to growth. Sure, you would be meeting objectives one hundred per cent on a regular basis. But that’s about it. There is no growth as you are not stepping out of your comfort zone. If you are constantly meeting one hundred per cent of your OKRs, it can be considered that the OKRs are not challenging enough.

Escaping the trap — OKRs need to be set to hit the sweet spot between 60% to 70% of objectives being met. This will ensure you step out of your comfort zone without difficulty to meet objectives. Again, regular reviews play a key role in helping you constantly adjust OKRs to meet the above sweet spot.

Lastly, lack of patience.

OKRs take time and patience. At the inception, they need to be reviewed, adjusted and nurtured into a goal-setting framework that will do wonders. As with any goal, intent and the discipline and mindset are key. For us to reach our goals, mindset is paramount. Without the proper mindset and the hunger to achieve your goals, goals are merely just statements. The mindset is important so that day in day out, you have these goals etched on you and you work towards achieving these goals patiently, step by step, improving daily. And for this mindset change, it takes time.

Escaping the trap — Be sure to set OKRs, review and nail them slowly but surely!

In summary, it is very easy for any organization or individual to fall into these common traps in OKR However, having a proper vision to set the correct objectives, and thereon setting the correct number of objectives and key results is crucial to escape these traps. It is also important that the objectives that are being set not be too hard or easy. Regular reviews with some time and patience would enable us to reap the maximum benefits of this amazing goal-setting framework.