Companies large and small use the OKR technique to align, measure and achieve better results faster. Use these OKR resources to plan and launch your own program and transform alignment and accountability into organization super powers!
Hear from business, function and process leaders at other organizations about their OKR journeys and what they learned along the way.
“Our whole company could see that our senior leadership team had used OKRs to help them clarify, crystallize and focus our attention, and that was really cool. It didn’t feel like some external bureaucratic process. It felt like really a way that we could collaborate more successfully and do that at scale and across the company.”
“One shift that I’ve seen now in moving to OKRs is simplicity. Making sure that we have a small handful of things that we’re focused on, rather than a laundry list of a hundred different metrics.”
“OKRs have driven a massive amount of transparency between teams that are actually striving towards the same goals — people are actually saying to each other, ‘Oh, I didn’t know you were driving that. I thought I was driving that.’ Being able to rally all of our resources into one common direction has been great.”
“Happier employees who understand where the company is going and are aligned to its strategic intent will absolutely build better outcomes.”
“Getting and staying aligned is one of the management panaceas that every company is striving for. OKRs helps us make sure that we strive toward that alignment.”
“As the CEO, I can tell everybody what my priorities are for the business, but OKRs ensure that those are meaningful to every individual in the organization.”
“The personal reward and satisfaction that comes from focusing on the right things — the things that matter and make a difference — was missing. With OKRs, there is now a clarity of purpose around where everyone should be spending their time, which has relieved a lot of stress.”
“We have come a long way from being a very siloed group across those functions, and the framework of OKRs is creating an environment for our teams to have conversations that they wouldn’t have been having otherwise.”
“When we rolled out OKRs to our top leaders, there was so much energy in aligning the top of the organization on what the quarterly objectives and key results are, and then a burst of momentum to drive the team forward.”
“To really bring OKRs to life, it really works when you can start looking at them every single week. So in our staff meetings every week, we will start off with a Biz Review dashboard inside of WorkBoard.”
“Process and efficiency initiatives are iterative by nature. The sooner you start your OKR initiative, the sooner you learn, and the faster you progress to perfection.”
“OKRs quickly became a part of our vocabulary, and you started seeing it in team meetings and monthly briefings and so forth — people incorporated this language. That was really exciting to see. It’s also been exciting to see how much others explore.”
If you’re just starting to explore OKRs and what they can do for your organization, these resources will help you get up to speed and educate other stakeholders in your organization.
Just starting to explore OKRs and what they can do for your organization? Use these resources to learn more about what OKRs are, how they work, and to cultivate other OKR champions.
“The most addressable barrier to our growth was alignment"
— Gee Rittenhouse, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Security Business Group, Cisco
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OKR PrimerLearn the basics of OKRs, important principles, and see a catalog of examples by function. |
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The Power of OKRsWorkBoard CEO Deidre Paknad and former Olympian and Drift Director of Product Management Maggie Crowley explore why OKRs matter, how they inspire momentum and how to engage others in the movement. |
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OKRs and the Competitive Advantage of AlignmentLexisNexis Special Services & Risk Solutions Government CEO Woody Talcove talks about using the alignment and focusing power OKRs to create customer value faster than competitors, even in tough conditions. |
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What Goes Wrong with OKRs?Like all new things, adoption of the OKR process takes time, effort and commitment and you can improve every quarter. Learn about the 5 most common pitfalls that can occur — and how to avoid them. |
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Practical Guide to Enterprise OKRsGet answers to the most common questions about OKRs like how they connect to compensation, what threshold to set, how they align, and more in this easy-to-read guide. |
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New Alignment and Accountability at JuniperMichael Marcellin, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Juniper Networks discusses how the successful and timely launch of their OKR program helped them manage the sudden move to work from home Spring 2020. |
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Aligning Unlocks Growth at Cisco SecurityHear how Cisco accelerated results by transitioning from Strategy on a Page (SOAP) to OKRs. |
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Get Certified as an OKR CoachCertified OKR coaches help their organizations adopt the methodology and set high quality objectives and key results. Join over 2,000 certified coaches in building OKR expertise with this certification program. |
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As you develop a rollout plan, you’ll want to draft OKRs for OKRs with your executive sponsor, anchor on OKR best practices, consider your overall scope, chat with a coach, and hear other organizations’ launch insights.
“When I think about scaling OKRs out to thousands of employees... we couldn't do it without a tool."
— Anna Birch, Chief of Staff, Cisco Security Business Group
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Who Needs to Have OKRs?OKRs help drive alignment — so the question is where is the opportunity to improve it in your organization. This 2-minute sound bite gives you context to consider. |
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Lead the Charge on ChangeThis communication guide for change agents can help you get key stakeholders on board and build momentum. |
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Set Up Your Core Team and Steering CommitteeUse this packet to create your operating team, support structure and governance. Job descriptions help identify who to tap into your initiative. |
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Planning for OKRs in Large, Mature Enterprises (IBM)Sarah Davis, Dir of Portfolio Programs at IBM, shares her “why” for OKRs and how they’ve institutionalized them in their global and distributed organization. |
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Planning for OKRs in Young, High Growth Companies (Zuora)Tien Tzou, CEO at Zuora, shares his “why” for OKRs and how they launched and ramped their OKR program globally. |
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Choosing an OKR SolutionTo reap the transparency, velocity and alignment benefits of OKRs, you’ll need a system where everyone can see the OKRs, how they align laterally and overall, and get instant progress views. This BGIN article provides a requirements and vendor checklist. |
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Expert OKR & Launch Services to Accelerate SuccessFriends don’t let friends do OKRs alone the first time! Rather than wasting several quarters, potential momentum and employee good will with trial and error, companies turn to expert service providers to ensure a fast, successful first OKR cycle and a sustainable practice. |
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There are four keys to launching OKRs successfully: A smart communication plan, coaching so teams set high integrity OKRs the first time around, OKR transparency to unlock x-org alignment, and a weekly calibrate/celebrate cadence.
“We left our launch event as a completely unified organization."
— Tien Tzuo, CEO, Zuora
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Launching OKRs - Zuora's PlanZuora sets the bar for internal and external communications, and their OKR launch was no exception! See the launch and communications plan and results in their first two quarters. Zuora has been named one of the best places to work in Silicon Valley for the last several years. |
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Launch Readiness and Plan - Workday’s Initial Program FocusSee the launch perspective, initial program resources and change management plan Workday shared with the BGIN community in June 2019 after its first two quarters of OKRs. Workday's launch approach reflects its #5 spot on Fortune's list of best places to work in 2020. |
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Building Momentum for Using OKRs at Juniper NetworksJudy Dutton, VP of Talent Management at Juniper Networks, shares how the company drove a successful OKR program launch with support and buy-in from the top of the organization. |
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Building Results Rituals at ZendeskBrian Manougian, Director, HR Strategy & Planning at Zendesk, shares how his organization built their OKR program onto Zendesk's already strong company culture to drive focus on results. |
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Launch Props and ToolsPosters, flashcards and OKR workshop tools you can use or personalize to your company. |
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Outcome Mindset™ Seminar for EmployeesUse this seminar recording to help technology and product teams and others understand the difference between output and outcome, why an Outcome Mindset is so powerful and how to measure results effectively. Contact us to arrange a similar seminar for your organization. |
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After you’ve launched your OKR program, make results a habit across the organization by modernizing accountability practices so key results are line of sight.
“Results should be habits, not New Year's Resolutions."
— Sarah Davis, Director of Portfolio Programs, IBM
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Author Great OKRs and Communicate for ImpactAvoid doing OKRs in name only with these tips to unlock the real potential of your OKR program. Perfect for leaders that want coaching. |
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OKRs as a Transparency Game Changer at MicrosoftJason Unger, Director of Support Planning at Microsoft, shares how they are using OKRs to keep team culture and conversations focused on outcomes. |
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Building Alignment and Accountability with OKRsJudy Dutton, Head of Talent Management at Juniper Networks, shares how their OKR program elevates leader effectiveness and drives employee engagement and competitive advantage. |
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Driving Efficiency and Transparency at VMwareMary Brett, Senior Director, Strategic Programs and Analytics Office of the CTO at VMware, shares how their quarterly OKR process has driven greater efficiency and cross-functional alignment. |
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Achieving OKRs – Beyond Setting ThemSo you set OKRs, now what? Hear how to operationalize them and achieve your best key results. |
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Don’t Ask for Updates — Ask for FocusWhy asking for “KR updates” may be undermining your actual results. |
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Quarterly OKR Retrospective and ResetIntrospection is the key to great OKRs and outcomes. See how smart teams use OKRs to celebrate, learn, and improve. |
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The OKR – MBR Connection for Team AccountabilityHear Ryan Padilla, Director of Global Strategy Execution at GHX share how his organization achieves better outcomes and transformed their monthly business reviews. |
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Linking Output to Outcome at Greenfield GlobalConnie Deyo, VP Business Excellence, Greenfield Global and her team live and breathe results by linking their outputs to outcomes. She shares how the team uses WorkBoard to efficiently manage the outputs that connect back to their OKRs. |
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Calibrate and Celebrate WeeklyAlign on key results on Monday, then celebrate progress on Friday. |
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Simple Guide to Better 1on1sBuild dashboards easily with WorkBoard |
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Doing OKRs in spreadsheets and not reaping the benefits or finding that people have slipped into task lists? Or maybe you’re humming along and want to harness real intelligence from a well-functioning OKR process. This section can help you take your game up!
“If you have a KR and it’s green, you have success. If you pushed yourself and you fell short, as long as you have learning, then that learning lets you succeed next time."
— Andrew Kisslo, Chief of Staff, Microsoft Azure
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Achieving OKRs by Driving with MBRsAndrew Kisslo, Chief of Staff at Microsoft Azure Marketing, shares how his team improved results by using Monthly Business Reviews to drive focus, follow through and accountability for key results. |
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Using OKRs for OKRs to Drive a Successful ProgramCaroline Cochran, VP and Chief People Officer at Secureworks, shares how their OKR program team connects their quarterly OKRs to the company's top-level objectives to ensure best outcomes. |
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OKR Insights 6 Quarters LaterThink beyond the quarter to results achievement over time. Workday shares facts on improved results, employee sentiment and performance patterns. |
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Choosing an OKR SolutionIt’s hard to do OKRs well at scale or capture the full alignment benefits without a results platform. Use this checklist to get started. |
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Why use an OKR platform?The drivers for doing OKRs are undermined with a non-digital process. See how an OKR platform can help you accelerate results at scale. |
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The Focusing Power of OKRsNanci Taylor, VP of Business Agility at IBM explains how sharp focus drives smarter decisions and outcomes. |
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Aligning Execution to OKRs at Dell SecureworksTony Merritt, Director of Global Professional Services at Dell Secureworks, discusses how his company uses OKRs to increase alignment, empower employees and make better decisions across teams. |
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Taking Time to AlignSarah Frew, People and Culture at Plenty of Fish, shares how this fast-growth startup drives fast, full cross-team alignment with a formal OKR Week in which the whole company gives attention to purposeful alignment. |
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Lean into the RedIn OKRs, as in life, talking about the hard things is vital to achieving your goals. |
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Leadership and OKRs Fuel GrowthChris Cravens, former CIO of Zynga and Uber as well as former VP, Software Engineering for Splunk, shares what he learned about OKRs from Zynga, his passion for clarity, and how servant leadership leads to better business outcomes. |
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Learn about the three inflection points enterprises commonly experience along the OKR Journey, and how they kept moving forward.
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Shifting to an Outcome MindsetEnterprises make the shift from output to Outcome Mindset when leaders have the visibility to see that not all work is driving results and that getting things done isn’t the same as moving the needle. |
| Shift to an outcome mindset » |
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Operationalizing OKRsAs OKRs move from theoretical to concrete, strategic priorities are aligned, localized, integrated, and made flexible for optimization — and enterprises achieve those priorities in a more systematic and data-driven way. |
| Increase the impact of your OKR program » |
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Harmonizing Team OKRs with Individual PerformanceOrganizations use both team and individual OKRs to drive great performance; connect OKRs and performance management to drive best possible outcomes. |
| Connect OKRs and performance management » |
Erin Rifkin
General Manager, Microsoft
Erin Rifkin leads Cloud+AI Content & Learning at Microsoft, which is the team responsible for all Cloud+AI documentation, training, and architectural guidance. Her team’s charter is to make it easier for customers and partners to leverage online content to learn and adopt Microsoft technologies. Erin and team create online experiences for Microsoft like docs.microsoft.com, dev.microsoft.com, Microsoft Learn, Cloud Adoption Framework, and the Azure Architecture Center. They are excited to support and contribute to open source platforms, tools, and processes as they develop documentation and training platforms on GitHub and use open source tools and workflows to develop and deploy content. They pride themselves on enabling developers, administrators, and architects to do what they love: write, code, automate, and learn.
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