Patrick Lobacher gave a presentation on Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) as a framework for agile goal management and modern employee leadership. He discussed how traditional management processes are outdated and how OKRs provide an agile alternative for setting strategy and aligning employees. OKRs involve setting qualitative objectives and quantitative key results at the company, team, and individual level to focus efforts on priorities. Examples were provided of how OKRs have been implemented successfully at various companies.
Agile Goal Management and Modern Employee Leadership with OKRs
1. Objectives & Key Results
Agiles Zielmanagement und
moderne Mitarbeiterführung mit OKR
Patrick Lobacher
28.06.2017
1
Agile Leadership and Goal Management
with Objectives & Key Results (OKRs)
29.08.2017 | ALE2017
Patrick Lobacher
consulting
2. Let me introduce myself
Patrick Lobacher
“living“ agile since 15 years
CEO of pluswerk.consulting
Consultant, Trainer, Author, Coach
2
3. Website: pluswerk.consulting / okr-beratung.de
3
Innovations
Design Thinking
Lean Startup
Lego Serious Play
Business Model Canvas
Lean Canvas
Value Proposition Design
Google Sprint
Open Innovation
Objectives & Key Results
4DX
Working Out Loud
New Work
Management 3.0
(Agile) Team-Development
Future/Agile Leadership
Leadership-Coaching
(Agile) Strategy Development
Organisational Development
Process-Management / -
Consultancy
Change Management
Culture Development
Agile Maturity Level (AML)
(Big Groups) Moderation
Agile / Lean Consulting
Persons Organisations
Coaching / Training / Consultancy / Education/ Sparring / Mediation / Train-the-Trainer / Conception/ Audit
Passionate Consultancy for Agility and Innovations
7. 7
The problem...
Your company has 21st-century technology,
mid-20th-century management processes,
all built atop 19th-century management
principles.
(Gary Hamel)
9. 9
Another example...
Peter Ferdinand Drucker
„Management by
Objectives“ (1954)
• Review organisational goal
• Set worker objective
• Monitor progress
• Evaluation
• Give reward
14. 14
“We basically unplug anything
which is anual. The notion is that,
in the digital age, sitting down
once a year to do anything is
weird, it’s just bizarre.”
Jeff Immelt, CEO GE, 2015
What’s wrong with MbO?
15. 15
“Allthough we are using agile
tactically, we are using waterfall
for strategy and goal setting”
Felipe Castro, 2016
16. 16
Strategy (Goals)
1%
“Doing the right things”
Execution
99%
“Doing things right”
30% fail when trying to coordinate
their units
40% fail with the alignment
Why Strategy Execution Unravels, HBR - 2015 - https://hbr.org/2015/03/why-strategy-execution-unravelsand-what-to-do-about-it
The problem is in the execution!
20. 20
„OKR is a critical thinking framework and
ongoing discipline that seeks to ensure
employees work together, focusing their
efforts to make measurable contributions
that drive the company forward.“
(Ben Lamorte)
(One) Definition of OKR
24. 24
Experte
Coach
Facilitator
• The OKR Master is the expert
for the OKR process in the
company. He/She takes care of
the implementation and the
daily use of OKR within the
organization. The OKR Master
is also the contact person for
every question regarding OKR
and takes care of removing any
impediments.
• The OKR Master covers the
following five roles:
Watchdog
Change Agent
Servant Leader
The roles of the OKR Master
26. 26
Advantages of OKR
• develops to a result- and value-oriented culture
• gives autonomy to the teams in terms of the goal
management
• strengthens self-organizing teams
• helps to keep focus and focuses on priorities
• increases productivity and satisfaction
• enables and supports the “Agile Transformation” and
the “Digitale Transformation”
28. 28
The company
Foodscore AG
• Online price comparison portal for foods
• 2 locations
• 250 FTE employees
• Organizational chart:
CEO
Finance Marketing Sales Development HR
29. 29
Cascading of the OKR-System
Mission statement
Mid-Term Goals
Comapny OKR
Finance-
Team
OKR
Marketing-
Team
OKR
Sales-Team
OKR
Development-
Team
OKR
HR-Team
OKR
3-10
years
Team OKR
1
year
3
months
In this example, there
is no third level of
departmental OKR,
but the company's
OKR derive directly
from Team OKR. In
the real case there
would be clearly more
OKR teams.
30. 30
The Mission Statement of the
Foodscore AG
Vision Mission
„Cheap food for
everyone“
"Foodscore
enables everyone
to find every food
at the best price
and act
independently and
transparently"Note: The Vision +
Mission is quite "simple".
This can be further
expanded in the real
case.
31. 31
Cascading of the OKR-System
Mission Statement
Mid-Term Goals
Company OKR
Finance-
Team
OKR
Marketing-
Team
OKR
Sales-Team
OKR
Development-
Team
OKR
HR-Team
OKR
3-10
years
Team OKR
1
year
3
months
32. 32
Mid-Term Goals (MOALS)
What are the medium-term milestones that must be achieved
next year to pursue the mission statement further?
Moal 1
Foodscore should be accessible from any device
Moal 2
The popularity of Foodscore is expected to increase drastically this
year
Moal 3
Funding for business development is to be procured
Comparison
with mission:
accessibility
for everyone
Comparison
with mission:
preserve
independence
33. 33
Cascading of the OKR-System
Mission Statement
Mid-Term Goals
Company OKR
Development-
Team
OKR
Marketing-
Team
OKR
Sales-Team
OKR
Finance-
Team
OKR
HR-Team
OKR
3-10
years
Team OKR
1
year
3
months
35. 35
Company OKR (Objectives)
Qualitative and
higher-level
Objective 1
We want to understand the customer better
Objective 2
We want to reach more consumers with our offers
Objective 3
We want to work more productively
Universally doable in
one cycle
Balance of inspiring
and achievable
Aligned to vision
Comparison
with mission:
accessibility
for everyone
37. 37
Company OKR (Key Results)
Specific AcceptedMeasurable Realistic
Ambitious
but doable
Aligned
Time-
bound
Objective 1
We want to
understand the
customer better
Objective 2
We want to reach
more consumers
with our offers
Objective 3
We want to work
more
productively
KR 1 Analyze the 5
biggest customer
groups
Use 5 new marketing
channels
Learn & experience 5
agile methods
KR 2 Get 100 qualified
feedbacks from
customers
Generate 50 content
chunks in all
marketing channels
Digitalize 5
processes
KR 3 Analyze 20 cloud
competitors
38. 38
Cascading of the OKR-System
Mission Statement
Mid-Term Goals
Company OKR
Development-
Team
OKR
Marketing-
Team
OKR
Sales-Team
OKR
Finance-
Team
OKR
HR-Team
OKR
3-10
years
Team OKR
1
year
3
months
39. 39
Development Team OKR
Objective 1
Address mobile
devices
Objective 2
Increase code
quality
Objective 3
Simplify of user
interface
KR 1 At least 50% of all
views should be
responsive
Introduce unit tests for
at leat 50% of all
functions
Structured interviews
with 100 user
KR 2 Make plattform
accessible on 10 of
the most used
mobile devices
Introduce at least 20
frontend tests
Repair the 10 most
common defects in
the interface
KR 3 Analyze 20 cloud
competitors
Specific AcceptedMeasurable Realistic
Ambitious
but doable
Aligned
Time-
bound
40. 40
HR-Team-OKR
Objective 1
Complete Sales
Team
Objective 2
Introduce Agile
Working Methods
Objective 3
Introduce OKR
KR 1 Create job
description
- Match demand profile
with sales (50%)
- Publication on 5
relevant job portals
(50%)
Identify 5 agile
methods and do a
company fit
Indentify 3 OKR
Consultancies
KR 2 Start pilot with 3
new agile
workshops
Build up a OKR-
Committee (5
persons + C-
Level)
Specific AcceptedMeasurable Realistic
Ambitious
but doable
Aligned
Time-
bound
41. A few numbers...
Low RetentionHigh Retention No Retention
15% 70% 15%
(Emotionale) Employee Retention
• Gallup Organization (since 2001 Engagement Index in Germany)
• 15 Percent of the german employees were satisfied with their jobs in 2016
• 70 Percent mare doing „Call of duty“
• 15 Percent have mentally resigned
• Damage for „mentally resignation“ with 500 employees: 1,3 Million EUR per year
• Fluctuation costs with 500 employees: 675.000 EUR per year
• Ben Lamorte (Study with 20.000 employees)
• 3% increase in performance level with minimal (but consistent & qualitative) use of OKR
• 11.5% increase in performance level with maximum use of OKR
• 8.5% increase in sales per employee with consistent use of OKR
41
42. Full Stack OKR (@scale)
ComplexityofOKR setup
Agile maturity of company
Vertical
Alignment
Effective
Retrospectives
Horizontal
Alignment
(High) Self-
Organisation
Full
Transparency
Extended
Cadences
Simple Goal
Management
Enterprise
OKR
Monetary
Decoupling
Instant
Feedback
Lead / Lag
Measures
Health
Measures
Valuable
Goals
360°
Alignment
Goal
Grading
Agile Goal
Management
Gamification
Personal
OKR
Ambitious
Goals
Agile
Strategy
42
OKR-Master
Integration in
all Processes
Stretch Goals
OKR
Software
OKRs of OKRs
Simple
Tracking
46. Objectives & Key Results
Agiles Zielmanagement und
moderne Mitarbeiterführung mit OKR
Patrick Lobacher
28.06.2017
46
Thank you very much! Questions?
www.okr-beratung.de
consulting