OKRs and Trust

As we’re getting to the end of 2021 a lot of teams are thinking about Strategy for 2022 and their first set of OKRs for the coming year.

I’m a huge fan of working with OKRs as a goal setting mechanism with empowered teams. And I should add ONLY with empowered teams. It is a lot of fun to work with a truly empowered product team around finding those indicators that will tell you whether you are on the right track to hit your strategic goals. There are lots of great consultants out there who can help you with figuring out how to set OKRs, what kind of language works, what makes a good objective, what the difference is between an objective and an activity, why to pick leading indicators, etc… I loved working with Ben Hogan and his organization on that, I also think that Tim Herbig has some excellent content on this. However, I think what is often times neglected in figuring out how to get to good OKRs with teams, is the kind of trusting relationships you’ve got to have in your team in order to get to good goal language.

Making good OKRs requires a high level of trust and strategic thinking in every one of your team members. Thinking in abstract terms (rather than concrete projects) is something teams need to learn in order to come up with good objectives. And this rarely happens, when there are low levels of trust in the team. Trust opens the door for asking questions, asking for help, voicing risky ideas, voicing ideas that think outside the box, voicing concerns about ideas presented by somebody with positional power, etc… With good levels of trust, you can also openly discuss the right phrasing and ambition level you want to pick for your objectives.

When a team has understood the mechanisms of how to pick good signposts along the way (the kind of metrics that tell them whether they are on the right track to reach their strategic goals), it opens their thinking to much more creative ways to reach their goals. OKRs done well provide teams with a high level of autonomy. It asks teams to develop their strategic thinking muscles, and to come up with great ways to reach their goals. It means that projects and activities are not prescribed top down, but truly emerge from the wisdom and insight of each team member.

However, this only works if there is a conversation culture in the team that allows for diverse viewpoints, that knows how to brainstorm well, that does not shame or ridicule the person who comes up with what may at first look like a “crazy idea” and that definitely allows everyone to keep asking clarifying questions of each other. It requires leadership to have a much more open minded discussion with teams around their goals, and definitely requires a leader to step back from thinking that they are the only one who may come up with smart ways to reach a common goal.

This does not mean that you should delegate strategy making or the definition of your company’s vision into every team’s OKR process. There is a directing role asked of the leader in a team making OKRs. But I think of that one as a much more educational, explanatory, clarifying role in describing what the end goals for the organization are. Leaders should clarify direction, but not prescribe down to the level of initiatives how these goals can best be reached. If you as a leader did a good job clarifying overall vision and strategy, then teams will come up with very good, efficient, creative and innovative ways to reach a well understood and aligned joint goal.

All of this requires trust. Trust from leaders that their teams are competent, motivated, creative and innovative co-creators. Trust from team members that their leadership is setting the right vision and overall strategy. Trust that there will be dialogue when the communication or content of strategy leaves rooms for questions. Trust that sometimes you may not know the full picture and you need to ask curious questions to understand before you judge an implementation tactic or an overall strategic direction. Trust that leadership values their team members contributions. Trust that team members will want to pull their full weight.

So what are you doing today to make sure that you build trust into your teams? Without trust, goal making will be a highly flawed process to go through. And quite likely be one that leaves all sides frustrated in one way or another. And teams who are confused about, or distrustful of strategic goals, will certainly not be the best contributors towards them.