At a Glance
OKRs Aren’t the Problem. It’s How We Use Them.
Most teams adopt OKRs to improve focus, alignment, and impact. But too often, they become performance theatre — vague goals, vanity metrics, and forgotten check-ins.
The issue isn’t the framework. It’s the environment around it: disconnected strategy, overloaded goal-setting, and zero rhythm for reflection.
It’s time to move from box-ticking to behaviour-shifting.
Start small. Anchor to strategy. Measure what matters.
Because OKRs only work when they’re lived — not just listed.
It usually starts with good intentions.
A leadership team wants sharper focus. They want better alignment across departments. They want teams to stop shipping features for the sake of it and start driving real outcomes.
So they roll out Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) to connect strategy to execution.
But somewhere between the town hall announcement and the end-of-quarter review, things fall apart.
The objectives are vague. The key results are hard to measure, or worse, no one’s looking at them. Teams aren’t sure how their work ladders up. Leaders aren’t sure how to course-correct without disrupting delivery.
OKRs aren’t the problem. But the way they’re implemented often is.
What Are OKRs?
OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) are a goal-setting framework used by teams and organisations to align effort with strategic priorities. Popularised by companies like Google and Intel, OKRs help teams focus on what they want to achieve (the objective) and how they’ll measure success (the key results).
A simple OKR example might be:
- Objective: Improve user engagement
- Key Result 1: Increase daily active users from 5,000 to 7,500
- Key Result 2: Boost feature adoption by 25%
- Key Result 3: Reduce churn by 10%
When used well, OKRs give teams clarity, focus, and a shared understanding of what success looks like.
When OKRs Become Theatre
When done well, OKRs are a powerful alignment tool. They help organisations translate strategy into meaningful goals, and connect those goals to what teams actually do.
But too often, we see the signs of “OKR theatre”:
- Objectives so broad they could belong to any company
- Key Results focused on activity, not impact
- Teams forgetting their OKRs by week three
- Quarterly reviews that feel like report cards, not course corrections
Instead of driving clarity and momentum, OKRs become a tick-box exercise. Everyone’s doing the motions, but no one’s making better decisions because of them.
OKRs Aren’t the Only Option
It’s worth saying: OKRs aren’t a silver bullet and they’re not the only option.
Depending on the business context, teams might also use:
- KPIs to monitor ongoing performance against core business goals
- North Star Metrics to focus product teams on a single leading indicator of customer value
- Balanced Scorecards to align financial, operational, and learning goals across the organisation
- V2MOM (Vision, Values, Methods, Obstacles, and Measures), used at Salesforce to cascade strategy
- AARRR Pirate Metrics (Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Referral, Revenue), often used in startups to optimise growth
Each framework offers a different lens — some are better for tracking, others for alignment, some for experimentation. What matters most isn’t the format. It’s the function:
- Are your goals anchored in strategy?
- Are they realistic and measurable?
- Do they influence decisions?
OKRs are a popular choice because they offer structure with flexibility. They can help align teams across the organisation while giving room for context at the team level. But they take discipline, clarity, and coaching to get right.
From Theatre to Impact: Making OKRs Work
Here’s how to give OKRs a fighting chance.
1. Start small
Don’t try to cover everything. Focus on 1–3 Objectives that really matter. Choose Key Results that measure progress not perfection.
2. Anchor to strategy
Every Objective should have a clear strategic “why.” Help teams understand how their goals ladder up and why they matter now.
3. Make Key Results outcome-oriented
Avoid task lists. Instead of “Ship feature X,” try “Increase adoption of feature X by 20%.” Focus on behaviour change or business impact.
4. Connect OKRs to actual work
OKRs shouldn’t sit in a slide deck. Tie them to planning, roadmaps, rituals, and retros. Make them part of how the team operates week to week.
5. Review regularly
Don’t wait for the quarter to end. Run short monthly or fortnightly check-ins. What’s on track? What needs adjustment? What have we learned?
6. Treat it as a learning loop
OKRs take time to master. The first cycle might
feel awkward. That’s fine. Use each review to improve the next and keep the feedback flowing.
Visibility Matters — Don’t Let OKRs Disappear
Setting OKRs is just the first step. The real value comes from how consistently teams engage with them.
Too often, OKRs live in a document or slide deck that’s forgotten by week three. To stay relevant, they need to be visible, trackable, and part of the rhythm of work.
- Make progress transparent. Whether it’s a dashboard, shared workspace, or check-in ritual, create ways for teams to see how they’re tracking against objectives — not just at the end of the quarter, but in the day-to-day.
- Link goals to work. OKRs should connect to the initiatives and tasks teams are actually delivering. When planning, prioritising, or reviewing work, the objectives should be part of the conversation.
- Create shared ownership. Visibility isn’t just for leadership. When teams can see progress — or blockers — they’re better equipped to make informed decisions and support one another.
Tools like monday dev by Monday.com can help operationalise this — by making OKRs accessible, integrating them with team workflows, and helping leaders and teams alike stay aligned on what matters most.
The Bottom Line
OKRs can be powerful but only when they’re lived, not just listed.
Whether you use OKRs or something else, the real test is whether your goals help teams focus, align, and deliver outcomes that matter. If not, it’s time to rethink the process.
Less theatre. More impact.
