Setting Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) is a powerful tool for driving organizational success. However, setting OKRs is just the beginning; it is crucial to keep them engaged with their OKR Software to ensure success.
Engaged teams are more productive, motivated, and committed to achieving their goals. You wouldn’t want to bring OKRs into your organization only to see your employees getting disengaged with it, isn’t it?
So, make sure to use the strategies mentioned here to ensure your teams remain engaged with their OKRs.
Organizations can fail to achieve their goals despite setting clear and ambitious goals. The reason for this failure is often the lack of engagement from teams. While setting OKRs is important, keeping teams engaged with their goals throughout the period is equally important.
Before moving to how you can keep your teams engaged with their OKRs, let us understand why you should try to do so.
Reasons to keep your teams engaged with their OKRs
Increased productivity: Engaged team members are more productive and committed to achieving their goals.
When team members are invested in their work and understand how it contributes to the company’s goals, they are more likely to work hard to achieve their OKRs.
Improved motivation: When team members feel that their work is meaningful and they are making a contribution, they are more motivated to achieve their goals.
Setting OKRs and keeping teams engaged with them can help team members understand how their work is connected to the company’s overall mission and vision, which can increase their motivation.
Greater accountability: When team members are engaged with their OKRs, they are more likely to hold themselves and each other accountable for achieving their goals.
This can help create a culture of accountability and improve the chances of success.
Better communication: Engaged teams are more likely to communicate effectively and collaborate with each other.
This can lead to improved problem-solving, better decision-making, and increased innovation.
Improved job satisfaction: When team members are engaged with their what they do and feel they are making a meaningful contribution, they are more likely to be satisfied with their jobs. This can lead to higher employee retention and lower turnover rates.
Now that you are clear on why you need to ensure that your teams remain engaged with their OKRs let us move to the strategies for doing so.
How to keep your teams engaged with their OKRs?
Start with a Clear and Compelling Vision:
Your team needs to understand why their work matters and how their roles fit into the bigger picture.
A clear and compelling vision gives your team a sense of purpose and helps them understand how their OKRs contribute to the company’s goals. Communicate the vision regularly, and make sure everyone on the team understands it.
Involve Your Team in Setting OKRs:
One of the best ways to keep your team engaged with their goals is to involve them in goal-setting.
When your team members have a say in setting their OKRs, they are more likely to be committed to achieving them. This also helps to ensure that these goals are achievable and relevant to the team’s work.
Make OKRs Visible and Accessible:
Displaying the team’s OKRs in a visible place and making them accessible to the team can help keep them engaged.
This can be done through a shared document or project management software that everyone can access. When team members can see their progress and how their work contributes to the team’s goals, they are more likely to stay motivated and engaged.
Celebrate Milestones and Achievements:
Celebrating milestones and achievements is a great way to motivate and engage your team. When team members see that their hard work is being recognized and appreciated, they are more likely to stay committed to achieving their OKRs. Celebrate small victories along the way, not just the final achievement.
Encourage Collaboration and Accountability:
Encouraging collaboration and accountability is crucial for keeping teams engaged with their OKRs.
This means creating a culture where team members are comfortable sharing ideas and feedback and holding themselves and each other accountable for achieving their goals. Encourage team members to work together to achieve their goals and provide support when needed.
Provide Ongoing Feedback and Coaching:
Regular feedback and coaching are essential for keeping your team engaged with their goals.
Provide ongoing feedback on how team members progress towards their OKRs, and offer coaching to help them improve. This can be done through regular one-on-one meetings.
Regularly review progress:
Scheduling regular check-ins to review progress is important to keep team members engaged with their goals. During these check-ins, team members should discuss their progress toward their goals, any roadblocks or challenges they face, and what steps they can take to overcome them.
Regular progress reviews can also help you identify areas where team members may need additional support or resources.
Keeps OKRs relevant:
Adjusting the Objectives and Key Results as needed helps ensure they remain relevant to the team’s and organization’s current priorities and needs.
This relevance helps keep team members engaged because they understand that their work is important and contributes to the organization’s success.
Lead by Example
As a leader, it’s essential to lead by example. Set your own OKRs, and make sure you are holding yourself accountable for achieving them.
When your team sees that you are committed to your goals, they are likelier to engage with theirs. On the contrary, if you yourself are not engaged with the OKR process of your own OKRs, you cannot expect them to remain engaged with theirs
To get more insights into this or to get an OKR platform for your teams, book a consultation call with the experts today!
Gaurav Sabharwal
CEO of JOP
Gaurav is the CEO of JOP (Joy of Performing), an OKR and high-performance enabling platform. With almost two decades of experience in building businesses, he knows what it takes to enable high performance within a team and engage them in the business. He supports organizations globally by becoming their growth partner and helping them build high-performing teams by tackling issues like lack of focus, unclear goals, unaligned teams, lack of funding, no continuous improvement framework, etc. He is a Certified OKR Coach and loves to share helpful resources and address common organizational challenges to help drive team performance. Read More