On the Second Order of OKRs Questions, Part 1

Wouldn’t be great to know more than how OKRs work or how you can get started? And instead, focus on how they’re continually changing with time to work best for your company?

In this episode, Jenny speaks with, Ben Lamorte, the founder of OKRs.com, he has more OKR coaching experience than anyone on the planet. In part one of this interview, Jenny asks Ben about his background, latest book, current trends, OKR deployment parameters, and experience working with huge companies.

Listen in to learn a few new developments with organizations adopting OKRs like setting 2-3 objectives per cycle, moving the OKR cycle from quarterly to 4 months, and not focusing on individual OKRs now as much as before. You will also learn why you should have a legitimate answer as to why you should do OKRs, plus how OKRs can improve communication for a common goal language and drive learning. 

“The skills that you need at the reflect and reset at the end of a cycle, it takes a little bit of time to get there.” — Ben [37:21]

Show notes

• [2:13] Ben shares his career journey from the beginning and how he fell in love with OKRs and eventually started OKRs.com. 
• [10:44] The 3 OKRs trends; set 2/3 objectives at any given time, move the OKR cycle from quarterly to 4 months, and don’t focus much on individual OKRs. 
• [26:45] The bad, the good, and the best answer on why your organization should do OKRs. 
• [33:24] Reflect and reset – the formula of crossing out or tweaking OKRs to help you handle changes at the end of a cycle. 

Relevant links

• Measure What Matters by John Doerr
• Radical Focus by Christina Wodtke
• Objectives and Key Results: Driving Focus, Alignment, and Engagement with OKRs by Paul Niven & Ben Lamorte
• The OKRs Field Book: A Step-by-Step Guide for Objectives and Key Results Coaches by Ben Lamorte
• The ROI of OKRs: Sears Study Quantifies the Impact of OKRs
• Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink