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Bill Gelbaugh

Managing Effectively with OKRs


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After going through the process of creating OKRs, it’s essential not to fall into the trap of “setting and forgetting.” Creating OKRs without regularly sharing and reviewing results is like hoping to win the lottery without buying a ticket. The modern business environment offers countless distractions, each vying for your attention. However, to execute successfully and elevate your performance, regular and disciplined reviews of OKR results must become part of your operating rhythm—a cadence embedded in your corporate culture.

Weekly Meetings

Let’s start with the basics: Weekly Meetings. The purpose of these sessions is threefold: assess progress, identify potential issues before they escalate, and, especially as you begin using OKRs, ensure your team stays focused on what truly matters. Here are some key topics to cover in your weekly meetings:

  • Logistics: Begin by determining who should attend the meeting, what time works best for everyone, and where the meeting will be held.
  • Priorities: What are the key priorities—the tasks that must be accomplished this week to move closer to achieving your OKRs? It’s easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of urgent issues, but it’s crucial to ensure the priorities discussed are directly tied to the achievement of your OKRs.
  • Status: During the meeting, gauge the team’s current level of confidence. Has it increased or decreased? More importantly, why? If progress is on track, implement mechanisms to maintain momentum. If confidence is waning, it’s time to discuss how to shift resources strategically to get back on course.
  • Engagement: OKRs should challenge and motivate people to engage in the breakthrough thinking necessary to reach new heights. Use the weekly session to assess the team’s mood. Are they still actively engaged, or are they simply going through the motions without genuine commitment?
  • The Big Picture: Earlier, we defined a health metric as something the company monitors frequently because it represents successful strategy execution. Well-designed OKRs should ultimately drive the success of your overall health metrics, so ensure you’re keeping an eye on the bigger picture.

Weekly Quadrant Focus

One way of managing your OKRs effectively is to break down your weekly focus using a quadrant approach. This method ensures that your team stays aligned with the goals that matter most, while also keeping an eye on the broader picture.

Upper Right | Setting Bold Objectives and Quantitative Results

At the start of each quarter, we set a bold, qualitative Objective along with three quantitative Key Results. The Objective serves as the inspiration for the quarter, guiding our efforts and providing a clear direction. The Key Results are the measurable outcomes we expect if we focus on the right activities.

Each week, we revisit these Key Results and ask ourselves: Are we getting closer to achieving them, or are we falling behind? At the beginning of the quarter, we start with a 50% confidence level—a 50/50 (0.5) chance of hitting the target. As the weeks progress, this confidence level may fluctuate. If it drops from, say, 80% (0.8) to 20% (0.2), it’s a signal that something has changed. The critical question then becomes: What happened, and how can we address and improve this Key Result?

Lower Right | Monitoring Health Metrics

While we aim high with our Objectives, we can’t afford to ignore the fundamentals—our “health metrics.” This lower-right quadrant is where we track these vital signs of our business, ensuring that while we reach for ambitious goals, we don’t lose sight of what’s already working well.

For example, if our Objective is radical revenue growth, it’s easy to get caught up in the pursuit of new clients. However, we must also protect our relationships with current clients. In this quadrant, we might monitor Customer Satisfaction, rating it green, yellow, or red. This helps us ensure that our drive for growth doesn’t come at the expense of the clients who have already invested in us.

Upper Left | Weekly Initiatives to Advance OKRs

In the upper-left quadrant, we focus on the specific initiatives we need to tackle this week to advance our OKRs. These are the three to five critical actions that will move the needle.

We don’t list every task here—just the ones that must happen for us to achieve our Objectives. Life always throws plenty of distractions our way, but the secret to success lies in focusing on what truly matters. By sharing these initiatives, we can challenge ourselves to ensure we’re investing our time in activities that directly contribute to our Key Results.

Lower Left | Heads Up for the Month Ahead

Finally, the lower-left quadrant is our “heads up” space—a pipeline of important activities expected in the coming month. This area is crucial for keeping the entire team, including Marketing, Sales, Operations, and Admin, prepared and aligned.

By anticipating what’s coming down the road, we avoid being caught off guard. This forward-looking approach ensures that everyone is ready to support key initiatives when the time comes.

A house with graph showing value over time
Image Courtesy of Adobe Stock: AdobeStock_668453216

End of Quarter Reviews

At the end of each quarter, it’s time to move beyond subjective assessments and grade your performance. The two primary components of the quarterly review meeting are the “what” and the “how.”

  • The “What”: This involves assigning grades (scores) to each of your key results based on performance throughout the quarter. Each team (or individual, if your OKRs are connected that far into the organization) will determine their final score and provide the rationale to peers, colleagues, and superiors. This transparency offers a valuable opportunity for teams to learn from each other’s objectives, key results, triumphs, and challenges—showing what’s possible when the entire organization is aligned.
  • The “How”: While the grades are important, the real value lies in the discussions that follow. These conversations should challenge conventional views, uncover assumptions, and test hypotheses. In our experience, many organizations struggle with these meetings, where honesty and candor should take center stage. Some companies are able to engage in passionate, no-holds-barred discussions, while others are hampered by an overly polite culture that stifles genuine debate. Recent research into effective teams highlights the importance of psychological safety as a critical enabler of group success. To make the most of your OKR data, you need to carefully structure your meetings to maximize learning and drive meaningful change.

Updating OKRs at the End of a Quarter

The mechanics of OKR creation are straightforward. At the beginning of each year, the company establishes its highest-level set of OKRs, which may include both strategic annual OKRs and more tactical quarterly OKRs. These “corporate” OKRs provide the context for the connecting process, where business units, teams, and possibly even individuals create their own OKRs to demonstrate their contribution to the overall strategy.

At the end of each quarter, OKRs are graded, and new OKRs are developed throughout the organization. Some OKRs may remain the same for several quarters, especially those that are critical given current strategic or operational challenges. You may also carry forward OKRs that weren’t fully achieved but remain strategically important. Any OKRs that were successfully completed will likely be replaced with new ones that once again stretch the team to deliver their best.

Scoring the Results

Here’s a quick guide to interpreting OKR scores:

  • 1.0 Score: This represents an extremely ambitious outcome—one that may have seemed nearly impossible at the outset. All key results should be written as a 1.0 to foster breakthrough thinking. It might feel like a “moonshot” if the company has never approached that level of performance before.
  • 0.6 – 0.7 Score: This level signifies difficult but attainable progress, and it’s what you hope to achieve at a minimum. It’s a lofty target—challenging but achievable based on past results.
  • 0.3 Score: This is the “business as usual” target, representing performance that can be achieved with standard effort and little or no assistance from other teams. It’s considered mediocre—precisely what OKRs are designed to eliminate. If a team only reaches a 0.3 on a key result, it’s crucial to understand why.

In our experience, those new to OKRs often encounter one of two outcomes: either they score all ones, or they find themselves scratching their heads because despite their best efforts, their reports are filled with zeros.

After a few quarters, your key result scores should average around 0.6 to 0.7. If your scores are consistently higher, it may indicate that your targets aren’t aggressive enough, and you’re not fully leveraging the talent and potential of your teams.

By following these practices, you can ensure that your OKRs aren’t just another set of goals but a powerful tool for driving strategic execution and achieving your company’s most ambitious objectives.

And with that, we conclude our five-part series on OKRs. We hope these insights help you harness the full potential of OKRs in your organization. Here’s to your success!

CONTACT INFO NEEDED

Bill Gelbaugh

Bill Gelbaugh is one of our Senior Partners here at Outhouse and champions our OKR efforts.

Summarized by Bill Gelbaugh from: Objectives and Key Results by Paul R. Niven and Ben Lamorte

With additional material from Measure What Matters, Lattice OKR 101 and Perdoo

Driving OKR Alignment to Create Employee Engagement


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OKR target with bullseye arrow
Image Courtesy of Adobe Stock: AdobeStock_1012677617

Now that we’ve crafted our OKRs, it’s time to focus on how teams within your company can work together to accomplish these goals. While OKRs empower teams with a significant amount of autonomy, the key to overall corporate success lies in connection and alignment. As you communicate your corporate OKRs, it’s crucial that everyone in the organization not only understands them but also recognizes their importance and how they contribute to the company’s success. A well-executed alignment process creates a direct line of sight from every individual employee back to the corporate OKRs.

Connecting OKRs from top to bottom within your organization helps illuminate the relationship between what employees do and how those actions lead to overall strategy execution. This connection fosters learning in two directions. First, as business units, departments, and individuals develop their OKRs, they showcase their unique roles in creating value for the company. To do this effectively, they must understand the business’s strategy, which deepens their grasp of the organization’s purpose. Second, as leaders analyze OKR scores across the company, they gain valuable insights into how different parts of the business are contributing to the overall strategy.

How Deep to Connect

Ultimately, your goal should be to extend the use of OKRs throughout the entire company. But how quickly should this be done? Should you rush to connect all levels within the first year, or take a more measured approach over several years?

OKRs have the potential to be a transformative tool for your business, sparking new thinking that leads to previously unimagined levels of success. To realize this potential, the framework must be embraced and utilized at all levels of the company, helping you foster fluency in a new corporate language: strategy execution. The faster you connect, the faster your employees will master this new approach, and the sooner you’ll see results.

We believe in the power of momentum and recommend moving aggressively but thoughtfully when connecting OKRs. Aggressively means connecting quickly and deeply across all levels of the company. Thoughtfully means ensuring you can answer these critical questions affirmatively before proceeding:

  • Do we have executive support for OKRs?
  • Do we have a clearly documented strategy reflected in our top-level corporate OKRs?
  • Are we committed to using OKRs to manage the business, regardless of the initial results?

If you can overcome these hurdles, a rapid rollout may be appropriate.

Preparing Your Groups for Connecting

Young people putting their fists together as symbol of unity and achievement, top view. Group of people fist bump assemble together over workplace. Teamwork concept, copy space in middle
Image Courtesy of Adobe Stock: AdobeStock_909279080

In a previous post, we discussed the importance of a mission statement, which conveys your core purpose as an organization. Every business group that will create connected OKRs should develop a mission statement that clearly outlines why they exist and how they add value to the organization.

Armed with their mission statements, each group must then answer a fundamental question: “How do we support the organization’s mission and strategy?” This question primes groups for the task of connecting by having them enumerate in advance how they are going to support the company’s overall strategic goals.

The Key to Connecting Is Influence

The purpose of the connecting exercise is to allow all groups—even individuals—to show how they influence the overall corporate OKRs. This process begins with the top-level set of OKRs. These are the critical levers of your success, and everyone in the company must deeply understand them before you begin connecting. Let’s assume you’re starting from the corporate level. The first real connection occurs when business units study the corporate OKRs and ask, “Which of these OKRs can we influence the most, and how?”

The goal of a well-executed connection process is to provide a direct line of sight from every individual employee all the way back to the corporate OKRs.

Creating Alignment

Ensuring your people are aligned around a common purpose is the number one job for any successful corporation. Connecting OKRs provides an outstanding opportunity to drive that alignment through every job and function in your firm. There are two types of alignment you’ll be fostering during the alignment process: vertical and horizontal.

Vertical Alignment

This is the type of alignment most people think of when considering connecting goals across an enterprise. Vertical alignment creates OKRs that flow downward, eventually reaching the individual employee level. However, as we’ve previously noted, this does not mean the executive team dictates a number of obligatory goals that are forced upon lower-level groups regardless of fit or necessity. Instead, vertical alignment is facilitated when teams, departments, or individuals look to the OKRs of the group to whom they report and ask: “How can we influence those OKRs? What can we do and measure at our level to drive both our success and theirs?”

Here’s an example of driving vertical alignment: The CEO of a mid-sized company declared that customer retention was the top priority. Traditionally, customer retention had been the sole domain of the customer success team, which managed ongoing client interactions and renewals. After the CEO’s announcement, everyone assumed that the customer success team would simply work harder to drive retention while other departments would continue focusing on their current priorities. However, with OKRs in place, the company could create a culture of alignment across all teams.

The product team, for instance, had typically focused on features that would attract new customers or differentiate the company from the competition. With the new focus on customer retention, they began asking, “How does this product improvement drive customer retention?” The marketing team also shifted its outlook, taking time at their user conference to interview customers and gather valuable survey data on retention. Even the sales team adjusted its approach, now taking time to call on their installed base to ask how they could add more value and emphasize long-term relationships.

Each of these teams did something different—something relevant to their specific function—but the common denominator was identifying actions that supported the corporate strategy of increasing customer retention. That’s vertical alignment in action.

Horizontal Alignment

While most companies are familiar with the concept of vertical alignment, horizontal alignment is equally important but often overlooked. In the modern enterprise, much of the work involves disparate teams coming together to solve customer issues or create new value. When one unit can’t depend on another, damaging consequences such as duplication of effort, missed opportunities, and escalating conflicts can occur. OKRs can help fill this gap.

Creating horizontal alignment isn’t complicated. It simply requires having the discipline to hold detailed conversations with other units throughout the company to discover mutual dependencies. Both teams then create OKRs that reflect these dependencies. The resulting OKRs may be unique to each unit, or in some cases, they may decide to use “shared OKRs.” Shared OKRs are particularly useful when multiple teams work closely together to achieve a result, ensuring that everyone is aligned and contributing to the overarching goal.

Dividing line down road painted as an arrow in Autumn scene.
Image Courtesy of Adobe Stock: AdobeStock_894649161

Confirming Alignment of Connected OKRs

Creating a set of corporate OKRs that improves focus on what really matters is one thing. However, the value of an OKR implementation increases exponentially when you connect, allowing all participants to announce their contribution to the bigger picture. Connecting may be the most essential part of your OKR process, so it’s critical to ensure it’s done well. Once you begin rolling out the program and having lower-level groups develop their OKRs, you can’t assume that those OKRs are aligned. You must check each set to ensure they draw a clear line of sight back to your strategic goals.

Next up… Managing Effectively with OKRs.

Bill Gelbaugh

Bill Gelbaugh is one of our Senior Partners here at Outhouse and champions our OKR efforts.

Crafting Great OKRs Part Two


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Stock Image of happy group of people using sticky notes on glass board for planning OKRs.
Photo Courtesy of Adobe Stock: OKR3-1-AdobeStock_275135207

In our previous post, we discussed the characteristics and tips for creating effective OKRs. Now, it’s time to dive into the actual process of crafting OKRs that can drive your business forward. This post will guide you through each step, from creating and refining OKRs to aligning them across your organization and finalizing them for action.

The Process to Create Great OKRs

Create

The first step in crafting OKRs is to start small. Rather than using a large brainstorming group, which can lead to chaos and diluted focus, we recommend forming a very small team—just two or three people. This small group can dedicate the deep, time-consuming concentration needed to draft a set of OKRs that truly address your business challenges.

These small teams are tasked with tackling specific business problems and discovering creative solutions. They need the bandwidth to immerse themselves in the details—analyzing your competitive environment, scrutinizing your strategy, and identifying your core capabilities. These elements are the raw materials that lead to effective OKRs, and they must be carefully considered.

Whether you’re working at the corporate level or within a team, your small group should aim to document two to three objectives, each with one to three key results. These should be set at a stretch level—the 1.0 scoring level—to inspire high performance. (To be explained in detail later.)

Refine

Once your small team has drafted the initial set of OKRs, it’s time to bring them to a wider audience for review. Before your first full team meeting or workshop, share the draft OKRs with the relevant leadership group. If you’re working on corporate-level OKRs, this will involve the senior leadership team. For team-level OKRs, the team’s leadership group will need to be involved.

The purpose of this session is to critically examine the draft OKRs. The small team should explain their choices, and there should be vigorous debate to ensure that the OKRs are aligned with the broader goals of the organization. The objective is to reach a consensus on the OKRs that will guide your efforts for the upcoming quarter.

Align

In today’s business environment, much of the work is cross-functional, with teams collaborating to solve problems and create new ways of working. When crafting OKRs at the team level, it’s crucial to keep this context in mind.

After you have refined the OKRs, it’s time to take them on a “road trip” around the organization. This involves discussing your draft OKRs with other team leads, especially those on whom you depend or who depend on you. This step is all about ensuring alignment across teams, so everyone is working towards the same goals.

For instance, if one of your key results is highly dependent on another team’s assistance, you’ll want to ensure they acknowledge this dependency and pledge their support. Similarly, you’ll want to understand how your team can support other teams in achieving their OKRs.

Finalize

Once the alignment process is complete, it’s time to finalize your OKRs. If you’re working at the team level, the team lead and partners should meet with their superior—likely a member of the senior executive team—to get final approval for the OKRs.

Transmit

The final step in the crafting process involves two key tasks. First, you need to load your OKRs into a software system or a tracking tool such as Google Sheets or Excel. This is a simple but vital process. OKRs must be rigorously and formally cataloged to maintain the integrity of the entire OKR process.

Second, you need to communicate the OKRs to your team and beyond. We strongly recommend sharing them widely using a variety of media. An in-person meeting, such as an all-hands or town hall style gathering, is particularly effective. This provides an opportunity for employees who weren’t directly involved in the OKR creation process to ask questions and gain a deeper understanding of the decisions made.

The OKR Crafting Process

OKR Football Example

How Many OKRs Should We Have?

The late screenwriter Nora Ephron, famous for writing classics like When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, and Silkwood, had a remarkable talent for capturing the essence of a story. But before she became a Hollywood legend, Ephron was a journalist. She often credited her high school Journalism 101 teacher, Charlie Simms, with teaching her the most valuable lesson she ever learned about storytelling.

On the first day of class at Beverly Hills High School, Simms introduced his students to the concept of a “lead”—the opening sentence that captures the most critical elements of a news story. He explained that a good lead answers the who, what, when, and where. To drive the point home, he gave the class their first assignment: write the lead to a story based on the following facts:

Kenneth L. Peters, the principal of Beverly Hills High School, announced today that the entire high school faculty will travel to Sacramento next Thursday for a colloquium on new school methods. Among the speakers will be anthropologist Margaret Mead, college president Dr. Robert Maynard Hutchins, and California Governor Edmund “Pat” Brown.

The students furiously hammered away on their typewriters, each trying to craft a concise lead that summarized the who, what, when, and where. Their leads were variations of: “Margaret Mead, Maynard Hutchins, and Governor Brown will address the faculty on…” or “Next Thursday, the high school faculty will…”

When they finished, Simms reviewed their leads and set them aside. Then he told them they were all wrong. “The lead,” he said, “is ‘There will be no school Thursday!'”

In that moment, Ephron realized that journalism—and storytelling in general—wasn’t just about regurgitating facts. It was about figuring out what really mattered, cutting through the noise to find the point that resonated most.

Ephron would later say that this lesson worked as well in life as it did in journalism. And, as it turns out, it works great for OKRs too.

When you gather with your team to decide on your OKRs, you’re faced with a universe of possibilities. Customer concerns, shareholder interests, employee needs, competitive pressures—the list is endless. These are the organizational equivalent of the “who, what, when, and where.” Your challenge is to cut through the clutter and identify what is most important, what will have the most impact right now—essentially, the “lead” of your business story.

Woman giving thumbs up, holding a sign that says "Less is More."
Courtesy of Adobe Stock (edited in Canva Pro): OKR3-2-AdobeStock_295108345

So, how many OKRs should you have? We recommend following the principle of “less is more.” There is a significant opportunity cost to increasing your inventory of OKRs—namely, a lack of clarity and focus around what the company’s true priorities are. When you begin your OKR process, we suggest generating a small number—a handful at most—of objectives that are crucial to executing your strategy for the year. Then, as the year progresses, adjust your tactical objectives each quarter to keep moving those strategic objectives forward.

Next up… Driving OKR Alignment.

Bill Gelbaugh

Bill Gelbaugh is one of our Senior Partners here at Outhouse and champions our OKR efforts.

Let’s Get Moving! Election Results, the Dow is up, and What’s Next for Production Homebuilding?


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Introduction

Hello! I’m Bill Gelbaugh, one of the Partners here at Outhouse, LLC. This morning, as I wrapped up our Sales and Finance meetings, one message came through loud and clear: It’s time to move forward! The election is behind us, the Dow is up, and there’s a sense of renewed energy in the air. Now that we have more political clarity, the focus is shifting toward what’s next—and that’s especially important for us in the production homebuilding market.

With the recent boost in market optimism, now is a great time to look at how the industry can leverage this momentum. In this post, I’ll dive into what we can expect for the production homebuilding sector in the coming months, how post-election shifts might impact our industry, and why we believe now is the time to act decisively. So, let’s dig in and see where the opportunities lie.

A symbolic growth graph against a breathtaking sunset, representing economic success and growth in a beautiful natural setting.
Image Courtesy of Adobe Stock

Post-Election Economic Climate and Market Optimism

Historically, election outcomes tend to influence market sentiment—and the initial post-election reactions often set the tone for the months ahead. With the recent election behind us, we’re already seeing an upward tick in the Dow and other major indices. This surge reflects a sense of renewed investor confidence, as markets generally react favorably to political stability and clarity. For those of us in homebuilding, this optimism in the financial markets is a promising indicator that demand and capital may flow more steadily in our direction.

Beyond market indices, the now decided political environment can bring some welcomed consistency to economic policies impacting homebuilding, from mortgage rates to tax incentives for residential construction. With clear policy paths, businesses are more likely to invest and make bold moves, something that could directly benefit production homebuilders and our clients. This is a window of opportunity to embrace a proactive approach and align ourselves with the positive momentum shaping the market.

New Homes Under Construction
Image Courtesy of Adobe Stock

Implications for the Production Homebuilding Market

With the election wrapped up and market signals leaning positive, the production homebuilding market has an opportunity to gain ground. Here are a few key areas where the recent changes and optimism may impact our sector directly:

  1. Interest Rates and Financing
    A critical factor for both builders and buyers is access to financing, and with the market’s optimism, there may be greater stability in interest rates moving forward. If the Federal Reserve maintains a balanced approach, mortgage rates could stay at manageable levels, encouraging prospective buyers to make their move. For builders, favorable interest rates can mean better loan conditions and a greater willingness among lenders to fund new projects—particularly in areas experiencing housing shortages.
  2. Housing Demand and Policy Initiatives
    The election outcome could influence policies that either directly or indirectly affect the homebuilding industry. For instance, any new measures to support affordable housing initiatives or incentives for new construction could stimulate demand and support the overall growth of the sector. With policy stability, builders can better anticipate regulatory requirements and plan their projects accordingly, which is key to keeping up with buyer demand.
  3. Investor Confidence and Capital Availability
    As the Dow rallies, investors tend to gain confidence in placing their funds in high-demand sectors, and housing continues to be one of them. Real estate often sees capital flow when the market trends upward, meaning developers might find more opportunities to attract investors or partners. With growing interest from both individual and institutional investors, the production homebuilding sector is positioned to secure the capital needed to meet demand and scale up production.
  4. Consumer Confidence Through Enhanced Buyer Experiences
    In today’s market, homebuyers seek a visually immersive, engaging buying experience. Outhouse, LLC meets this need by offering Brilliance Award-winning, cutting-edge interactive floor plans and advanced product visualization tools that allow buyers to envision their future homes in vivid detail. With customizable interactive floor plans, buyers can explore design options, experiment with layouts, and personalize features, fostering a hands-on, immersive experience that builds excitement and confidence in their investment.
    Beyond digital solutions, professional printing and display services ensure impactful, high-quality visual materials for model homes, sales centers, and signage, enhancing every stage of the buying journey. By integrating Outhouse’s innovative visualization and display solutions, builders can elevate brand presence, attract discerning buyers, and deliver a seamless, tech-forward experience from first look to final sale.
  5. Integrating Technology in Construction for Faster, Cost-Effective Builds
    As the housing market gains momentum, now is an ideal time for builders to invest in innovative construction technologies. Advanced methods like modular construction and 3D-printed components can help address labor shortages, accelerate project timelines, and manage costs—all key factors for meeting today’s growing housing demand. To scale efficiently, builders need to integrate cutting-edge technology into their processes, making tech-driven project marketing and sales essential.
    Outhouse, LLC supports builders with high-quality drafting, rendering, and visualization services that offer precise, visually compelling representations of projects. These detailed renderings enable builders to present homes in the best light, capturing buyer interest and building trust.
    Overall, the production homebuilding industry is positioned to thrive in this period of optimism and opportunity. With clearer policy direction and market momentum post-election, builders can confidently move forward to meet strong housing demands nationwide.
Close-up of a clock face with 'NOW OR NEVER' slogan emphasizing urgency and the importance of timely action in a high-stakes moment
Image Courtesy of Adobe Stock

Conclusion: Let’s Get Moving—The Time is Now!

With the election behind us and positive market signals on the rise, there’s no better time for production homebuilders to take decisive steps forward. The stability we’re seeing now creates a window of opportunity to expand, innovate, and meet the growing demand in residential construction. By capitalizing on market optimism and embracing the right tools, builders can stay competitive and create lasting value for clients.

At Outhouse, LLC, we’re here to support this vision. Our industry-leading drafting and rendering services, award-winning interactive floor plans, product visualizations, and top-notch printing and displays make it easy for builders to deliver a polished, immersive buyer experience. With our solutions, you can showcase projects in their best light, connect with clients effectively, and set a high standard for quality and professionalism.

So, let’s get moving! The time is ripe to elevate your home building projects, and we’re ready to partner with you every step of the way. Reach out to us today to see how our technology and services can help you maximize this moment—and build a brighter future for your business.

Bill Gelbaugh

Bill Gelbaugh is one of our Senior Partners here at Outhouse and champions our OKR efforts.

Crafting Great OKRs Part One


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Part 3 of our Unlocking Outhouse’s Potential with OKRs series

In our journey so far, we’ve explored why OKRs are valuable and how to prepare your organization for this powerful framework. Now, it’s time to roll up our sleeves and dive into the art of crafting OKRs that truly drive results. In this post, we’ll focus on what makes for an effective Objective and Key Result, ensuring they align with your company’s broader goals.

Characteristics of Effective Objectives

An Objective is a concise statement that outlines a broad, qualitative goal designed to propel your organization forward. For those new to OKRs, the challenge often lies in understanding what makes a good Objective. Let’s break it down:

Inspirational

A well-crafted Objective is more than just a collection of words describing a business goal. It should compel your team to strive for a higher standard of performance. The power of an Objective lies in its ability to challenge your team to think differently. For example, instead of aiming for a modest 10% improvement, an Objective that pushes for a 50% increase will force your team to solve tough problems and rethink their approach. That’s the essence of what OKRs are meant to achieve.

Qualitative

Objectives should represent what you hope to accomplish, expressed in words rather than numbers. While numbers are crucial, they belong in your Key Results. The Objective is about setting the direction and the ambition, not the metrics.

Attainable

Striking the right balance between inspiration and reality is crucial when crafting Objectives. While it’s important to push the limits of what your team believes is possible, you also need to be realistic. Encouraging your team to stretch their imaginations is key but remember that every Objective should still be within reach with the right effort.

Doable in a Quarter

Assuming you’re setting Objectives on a quarterly basis, they need to be achievable within that three-month period. If your team suspects that an Objective will take a year to accomplish, then it’s probably closer to a strategy or vision than a quarterly goal.

Controllable by the Team

Whoever drafts the Objective, whether it’s at the corporate, department, team, or individual level, must be able to control the outcome. If your Objective isn’t met by the end of the quarter, and your first thought is to blame external factors like “Sales didn’t deliver,” then you’re missing the spirit of OKRs. The Objective should be something your team can directly influence.

Provide Business Value

Your Objectives should be directly tied to your strategy and should create tangible value for the business if achieved. If there’s no clear business benefit at the end of the day, then it’s probably not worth the effort.

Tips for Creating Great Objectives

Avoid the Status Quo

When setting Objectives, aim to push the boundaries of what your team can achieve. Avoid Objectives that simply recite what you’re already doing, like “Maintain market share” or “Keep training employees.” If you can accomplish an Objective without changing how you work, it’s unlikely to drive significant progress.

Use Clarifying Questions

Sometimes, the best way to get to the heart of an Objective is by asking simple, clarifying questions. For example, if someone suggests that you should “Create value for our customers,” dig deeper. What do they mean by “value”? Are they referring to a specific segment of customers, or all customers? Escalating from abstractions to specifics will help you identify the true Objective that needs focus.

Frame Objectives in Positive Language

Your Objectives should be framed in a way that motivates and compels your team to take action. For instance, instead of saying “Reduce the amount of junk food I eat,” you might frame the Objective as “Eat more calories from healthy food.” The latter encourages proactive behavior and has a higher likelihood of success.

Start with a Verb

Every Objective should start with a strong action verb that drives the intended direction. Do you want to “maximize loyalty,” “build loyalty,” or “leverage loyalty”? The choice of verb shapes the actions that follow, so it’s essential to be deliberate in your wording.

Identify What’s Holding You Back

A powerful way to create meaningful Objectives is to identify the barriers that are preventing your team from executing your strategy effectively. What challenges are holding you back? Taking an unvarnished look at these obstacles can help you set Objectives that address critical issues and drive progress.

Use Plain Language

While it’s important to be precise, your Objectives should be written in plain language that everyone in the organization can understand. Avoid jargon and acronyms whenever possible, or if you must use them, ensure that everyone knows what they mean. Clear communication is key to ensuring everyone is aligned and understands the importance of the Objective.

Characteristics of Effective
Key Results

If Objectives set the direction, Key Results are the benchmarks that measure your progress along the way. They answer the question, “How will we know if we’ve met our Objective?” While it might seem straightforward, creating effective Key Results that accurately gauge progress can be challenging. Here’s what to keep in mind:

Challenging

Research has shown that setting high goals leads to better performance and greater satisfaction at work. When drafting Key Results, aim high. Challenge your team to push their limits and think differently. However, ensure that the goals are still within reach, so your team stays motivated to achieve them.

Measurable

Key Results should always be qualitative and measurable. Whether it’s a raw number, a dollar amount, or a percentage, your Key Results need to be tied to clear metrics. Progress should never be a matter of opinion—numbers provide the clarity needed to gauge success.

Specific

When writing Key Results, clarity is crucial. Ensure that everyone involved understands exactly what the Key Result means and what success looks like. This shared understanding prevents miscommunication and ensures that everyone is working towards the same goal.

Owned

Those responsible for delivering Key Results should be actively involved in their creation. When team members help shape the Key Results, they’re more likely to be committed to achieving them. Ownership drives accountability and engagement.

Progress-Based

According to Harvard Professor Teresa Amabile, the most important factor in boosting motivation and creativity is making progress in meaningful work. Your Key Results should reflect this principle, allowing your team to see and celebrate progress as they work towards the Objective.

Vertically and Horizontally Aligned

Your Key Results should align both vertically with your team’s broader goals and horizontally with the objectives of other teams. Regularly reviewing and sharing Key Results ensures alignment across the organization, fostering collaboration and coherence.

Drive the Right Behavior

The saying “You get what you measure” holds true. Once you focus on a specific metric, you’re naturally drawn to improving it. Think carefully about the behaviors each Key Result might encourage and ensure they align with your broader objectives.

Tips for Creating Key Results

Focus on the Key, Not All Results

This exercise isn’t about listing every possible outcome—it’s about identifying the most critical results that will drive progress on your Objective. Focus on what truly matters and avoid the temptation to track every potential action.

Describe Results, Not Tasks

Key Results should focus on outcomes, not activities. For example, “Add twenty-five qualified opportunities to the pipeline” is a Key Result, while “Email a prospect” is a task. The former measures progress, while the latter is just one step along the way. Focus on the results that signify true progress.

Use Positive Language

Just as with Objectives, framing your Key Results positively can have a powerful impact. For example, instead of “Lower error rate to 10%,” try “Increase accuracy to 90%.” The positive framing can boost motivation and commitment.

Keep Them Simple and Clear

While Key Results should be robust, they should also be easy to understand. Complexity can lead to confusion and misalignment, so keep your Key Results straightforward.

Assign an Owner

Key Results need a clear owner—someone who is accountable for their achievement. Without an owner, responsibility can become diffused, leading to inaction. Make sure someone is clearly responsible for driving each Key Result to completion.

By following these principles and tips, you’ll be well on your way to crafting OKRs that not only inspire your team but also drive meaningful progress. Remember, the power of OKRs lies in their ability to align your organization’s efforts, ensuring that everyone is working towards the same ambitious goals.

Next up… Crafting Great OKRs – Part 2.

Bill Gelbaugh

Bill Gelbaugh is one of our Senior Partners here at Outhouse and champions our OKR efforts.