Startups are the unsung heroes of the economy. They are nestled in a corner somewhere but running as strongly as possible. They create innovative products and services that benefit everyone, while innovating the way those services and products are conceived/made.
One of the biggest ironies of startups is that their very progress can hamper them. That roadblock is, of course, scaling. Scaling puts a strain on a startup’s every aspect, stretching out their every resource to the limit. They need to put measures in place to endure such drastic changes to their very core.
Startup OKR examples can serve as a lifeline against potential existential threats. They can help set the company’s and its employees’ goals and change the company’s culture. They only need to be conceived and implemented meticulously to show their capabilities.
What Goes In Startup OKRs?
Only effective startup OKR examples will lead to the intended growth potential realization. This reason is why utmost attention must be paid to every influential factor while creating them. Administrators can enlist some guides to help them take the best path and improvise along the way.
Self-Assessment
Running a startup can be very exciting for entrepreneurs. This excitement can drive them to accomplish great results. It can also lead them to make mistakes. One of the most common errors startups make is to take a road without knowing its actual destination. Such an approach can lead to a dead end.
Administrators can avoid this mistake if they are aware of their status. Conducting a self-audit will reveal what the company has and what it can do with it. It will also help to figure out how to expand those boundaries.
Once this information is present, startups can move ahead with OKRs. This awareness substantially reduces the chances of inappropriate or insufficient information misleading them. It also helps to tailor the OKRs according to the startup’s unique requirements. When OKRs fit the startup like a glove, significant reductions will occur in its functional friction.
Tracking Results Quantitatively
It’s easy to write the key results using appropriate words. If they are not measurable, however, they will remain just words. They will become effective once they are quantifiable.
Leaving key results subjective makes them open to interpretation according to a reader’s perspective. Any misunderstanding in interpretation will create chaos within and between teams.
Expressing key results in numbers will make achievements relatable and trackable. Elimination of misinterpretation-induced workflow obstacles can happen right at the source. Cross-functional collaborations will become ambiguity-free and streamlined.
Making Them Appealing
Numbers can certainly offer clarity, but they don’t make the key results appealing. If employees start associating the numerous OKRs with tedious number crunching, their attitudes towards the tool will not be friendly. They could consider going through the OKRs a chore worth avoiding.
Circumventing this mental block will require some effort on the administration’s part. They’ll have to figure out ways to make the OKRs appealing to the employees. A more positive perspective about the tool in their minds can do wonders.
The OKRs can be associated with employees’ desire to achieve goals, for example. Gamification is another approach, where the figures can be treated as a score that employees work towards achieving.
OKRs can become platforms that foster better communication. Such a social interpretation will draw people towards them as people come together. They can become a poignant source of daily conversation. Healthy competition between employees could also occur based on the numbers. The competition will draw them to OKRs even more.
They Must Be Stretchable
Growth is always the primary goal of a startup. Everything within and outside the company is related to that growth. That growth must be quick and bountiful. Achieving such growth rates means employees can’t be stagnating on accomplishments. Pushing them constantly beyond their limits with ever-increasing target difficulty is a must.
Setting the bar higher leads to some unexpected things. Innovation begins to take root as not just a one-off thing to solve a problem but a culture. Employee morale will see an uptick as they will start to derive greater satisfaction from overcoming tough challenges. Conversations will move towards discussing beating the odds instead of idle talk.
Not only must OKRs goals be slightly out of reach, but they must also incessantly charge ahead. They must be reviewed at regular intervals and changed according to the need of the hour. Such goalpost moving will keep the metrics appealing and the growth happening.
Startups must face challenging times at every step of their journey. Startup OKR examples will act as the milestones on that journey that the startups can rely upon to know their standing.
