24 Sep
Tools and techniques in Performance Management (PM) undergo constant upgrades. Therefore, the Human Resources team needs to constantly learn and unlearn to initiate best practices in the workplace. OKRs and CFRs are two such processes that are current trends but ones with long legacy of success. To know about them in detail, read on.
What is OKR, and what is its purpose?
Objectives and Key Results (OKR) is a framework for goal setting in the workplace that helps teams and the management to set measurable goals and regularly keep track of the progress made. This concept was popularized by Andrew Grove when he was working at Intel. He coined the term OKR in his book titled ‘High Output Management’ in the early 80s.
There are three factors that make an effective OKR framework.
1. Defining priorities and engagement
Employees need to know what their priorities are at the workplace. Working without understanding priorities is going to be ineffective in the long run. A good OKR framework helps identify and fix such priorities and align them with organizational objectives.
2. Setting agile goals and initiatives
Setting goals is not enough in an OKR framework. You need to set agile goals. These goals are constantly tweaked and adjusted to match the overall objectives of the organization, and such goals are designed for holistic employee development in line with the evolving business dynamics.
3. Creating an environment for continuous feedback
Creating an environment of continuous feedback is absolutely necessary for an OKR framework to succeed. People are no longer interested in yearly reviews that don’t give the space or time for improvement and correction. An OKR framework creates space for regular feedback, communication, course correction strategies, and frequent check-in and review sessions. This helps teams grow consistently and get results that actually matter.
What is CFR, and how does CFR help your team reach its goals?
According to experts, Conversation, Feedback, and Recognition (CFR) are fuels for a healthy OKR framework! They make planning and executing Objectives and Key Results so much more effective, holistic, and quantifiable.
Conversations – Conversations need to be meaningful, preferably 1:1 or as small groups, and regular and natural.
Feedback – Feedback needs to flow up and down and across teams in an organization, to be effective. According to experts, complacency is a common problem that brings down efficiency and growth. Regular feedback helps prevent this from happening at all levels.
Recognition – Recognition involves the acknowledgment of the effort, skills, and talent of the employee. Recognizing small wins, giving regular pats on the back, creating an environment where peers can recognize and praise other team members on an everyday basis, can all improve employee satisfaction and encourage high performance.
According to John Doerr, “Together, OKRs and CFRs capture the full richness and power of Grove’s innovative methodology. They give OKRs their human voice.”
Doerr is the author of the very popular book – “Measure What Matters”.
So, OKRs and CFRS need to work together to improve performance measures for real.
Achieving Quick Wins : The road to success
Quick Wins are new and visible contributions to the team or the company that lead to success or achieve substantial results. According to experts, many high-performing leaders have had quick wins early on in their careers and this has given them a much-needed push in the right direction.
OKRs and CFRs can help employees achieve quick wins that are advantageous to them and the business as well. OKRs can help employees identify quick wins and tweak their goals to match these. CFRs end up motivating and offering feedback regularly to achieve these wins in the stipulated time. There can be so many kinds of these wins you can target. Few popular ones include:
- Identifying bugs or problems that can affect performance
- Identifying new market areas
- Reengineering a business process
- Automating processes
- Creating an environment for learning and development
- Sealing the deal with a large client
How to Make an effective OKR Template?
An OKR template is nothing but a effective set of Objectives and corresponding Key Results. You can create an OKR template with these few basic steps.
Step 1: Start by defining the owner of the template. It can be the organization, a team, or even a team member.
Step 2: Mention the timeframe in which these objectives need to be achieved.
Step 3: Start writing each objective clearly. It is recommended that you have up to 3 objectives at one time to not overdo things.
Step 4: Have multiple sub-key result points under each objective. The idea is to fill up these key results regularly as and when they are achieved. By when they were achieved needs to be mentioned here too.
You can create this as a cloud sheet and share it with the stakeholders. If you want to do this with live updates, real-time tracking data, and measurable success matrix though, a professional OKR framework tool like PossibleWorks will be a great help.
How to Run a CFR Sprint?
A CFR sprint can be designed in multiple ways depending on the industry, the number of employees, and what the management wants from this framework. Here are some of the features that are included in any CFR sprint.
- 360-degree feedback – This is an inevitable part of CFR. Create an environment where it is natural for people to have feedback conversations and reviews regularly instead of only during appraisal periods.
- Tools and platforms for recognition – Invest in tools and platforms to make it easy to praise, appreciate, and recognize efforts and talents on an everyday basis. A culmination of all these recognition modes can be used during the actual appraisal process.
- Communication tools – How easy is it to reach out to a manager or a peer at the workplace? This defines how communicative and responsive people are. Pick up tools and software that encourage people to connect with one another easily.
Identify your team’s Objectives and Key Results first. CFR is going to be a part of OKR and will help drive people to achieve these objectives on time. Use tools to bring people together and analyze real time-data that will help keep the CFR process agile and relevant.
How to Become a Modern Workplace?
If you want to create positive changes at the workplace and help your employees align their individual goals with business goals, then investing in the right performance management practices and tools is essential. OKRs and CFRs are used by most of the successful companies globally, across industries. These frameworks are flexible, adaptable, and can be designed to exactly match the needs of your team and your strategies.
Modern-day tools and software play a key role in optimizing OKRs and CFRs and helping people adapt to these processes easily. It is always a challenge identifying, implementing, and getting used to these tools but that’s where PossibleWorks can help.
Get in touch with us to see how we can help you become a modern workplace and create a high-performance environment.
