Does your company have a great corporate strategy? And has it been languishing in some management drawer since it was drawn up? Or is the corporate strategy the guideline your employees use to orientate themselves in their daily work?
We often see companies jumping straight from strategy to implementation without defining their short and medium-term goals and priorities. Or that they mix operational activities and strategy work, which usually leads to micromanagement and frustration for everyone involved. And then there is the group of people who, so proud of their supposedly great strategy paper, overlook the fact that, on honest inspection, it is anything but concrete, comprehensible and realisable anyway.
The result is overflowing to-do lists, frequently changing priorities, a lot of confusion and many unnecessary extra miles. And if no link can be established between strategy and implementation, one of the most important questions our employees ask remains unanswered: ‘Why the hell should I do this?’.
OKR has the potential to solve one of the greatest entrepreneurial challenges of all: the connection between strategy and operational implementation. In other words: OKR builds the bridge between your vision and the daily tasks of your employees.
With OKR as a connecting bridge, you can build an effective model for sustainable strategy work. The sequence is as simple as it is logical:
OKR can create a shared understanding of vision and strategy, ensure disciplined implementation and support ongoing evaluation and adjustment. However, a strong why, an inspiring vision and a good strategy are indispensable prerequisites for this.
Therefore, put your company's vision to the test:
It is irrelevant how inspiring the company management finds it. The only thing that counts is how strongly your employees identify with it. Define not only what you want to change, but also exactly what winning means to you.
Your strategy must also be simple and easy to understand:
Reduced to a few crucial topics that build on your vision and clearly differentiate your company from others. This means: no diffuse strategy houses, no evergreen statements, no dashboards with run-of-the-mill goals, as implemented by every competitor. Instead, clearly described measures to solve your company's biggest challenges.
Because don't forget: a strategy is only as good as your ability to implement it.