Agility in practice: successfully implementing OKR in the company

Today's fast-paced working world is characterized by constant change and thus challenges organizations in their flexibility and adaptability. If you want to remain competitive, you must be able to react quickly to external and internal changes. The OKR method represents an opportunity that organizations can use to remain agile and adaptable and to be able to react to these changes. Although the principles of OKR are easy to understand, there are always hurdles during implementation. At linkyard, we have been working successfully with OKR for many years and at the same time strive to continuously improve ourselves and to be able to pass on our know-how in the process. We'll show you what the introduction of OKR can look like and not only sound innovative, but actually works in practice. Together with our experienced experts, we create and design your agile ecosystem and make your company ready for change.

The basic principles of OKR

OKR is a modern management goal-setting system. It is an effective way for companies to set goals and verify their achievement. OKR is based on two basic elements: Objectives and Key Results. In a first step, an objective is formulated, which represents a qualitative description of a goal. In order for these qualitative goals to be measurable, they are linked to the key results. The key results provide information on the extent to which goal achievement is progressing within the framework of an objective and make this process measurable. We have exactly what the objectives can look like as part of the OKR method and everything else you need to know here summarized for you.

Set ambitious goals to evoke innovative ideas

The OKR method offers many advantages for companies, which is why we at linkyard also successfully use the principles of OKR in our agile team structures. As a result of the clear objectives, we benefit from a joint focus on our goals and, as a result, more clarity and focus in this process. Another decisive point is that we can evoke even more commitment and motivation through our ambitious goals. As required by the OKR method, we also assume that innovative ideas can only arise when goals are deliberately set high. When it comes to key results, the primary goal is therefore not to be able to fulfill them one hundred percent. We strive much more to inspire new and creative ideas and approaches with ambitious goals that would never have come about without them. Key Reults therefore aim to achieve goals of around 60-70%. Continuous monitoring is required so that the achievement of goals can be checked. At linkyard, we have a fixed plan for how we can track our OKR, check its progress and thus react to changes. The right tools are very useful for this. We use Jira to record and manage our OKRs.

‍Agile transformation in your company - integration into a functioning management system

At linkyard, agility is put into practice and we work effectively with the appropriate methods. However, creating an agile ecosystem requires time and planning, as no company becomes agile from now on. In addition, existing and well-functioning processes do not have to be abandoned solely for the sake of change. In our advice on agile transformation, we therefore start from the idea of integration. For example, we consider it relevant to success that companies maintain proven management system principles, such as taking KPI and PDCA cycles into account, when switching to OKR. Accordingly, KPI's continue to provide information about performance and OKR's support an effective and efficient change process in terms of continuous improvement. Together, we evaluate which processes work for your company and where we can generate additional added value with agile methods.

As part of an agile transformation, a company is faced with various challenges. On the one hand, the introduction of agile methods is associated with high expectations, which often cannot be met directly in reality. Because although agile methods can demonstrably generate added value, they are not a magic formula for guaranteed success. Agile transformation can also fail due to a company's lack of adaptability. Every change entails both benefits and costs. A company and its employees must be prepared to support them and develop a fundamental willingness to change. A strong corporate culture is therefore regarded as a necessary condition for agile transformation. The sole change towards agile methods cannot be fruitful if, in the course of this, people are forgotten to include the human factor in this process and focus on it as a decisive factor. To make this a success, linkyard offers appropriate coaching services and training for your company to support you in the process of agile change. In addition, we also have the technical knowledge and experience with regard to the necessary system support in this transformation.

‍Brilliant ideas but short on time? - Get to know OKR Big Room Planning at linkyard

Daily business is stressful and time-consuming, which is why other tasks are often neglected and pushed back in the list of priorities. But so that the brilliant ideas of our employees are no longer left behind, we at linkyard have set up the OKR Big Room Planing. This creates a space in which large, cross-departmental OKRs can be picked up and developed. Impressions from our previous Big Room Planning show that this is a collaborative planning process. For this purpose, we have brought all teams together with the task of jointly defining and coordinating the OKRs for a specific period of time. Each project must clearly show what meaning and benefits it has for us as a company and what effects it has. In this interactive process, ideas could be brought in, discussed and further thought about. It is relevant that collective opinion formation takes place with regard to priorities. With the help of big room planning, we ensure that priorities for various projects are set together with all employees. At the end of the first big room planning, three large OKRs have now been worked out, which various employees from different teams will continue to work on in the coming weeks.

At linkyard, we benefit from big room planning that our employees, who are based in different teams or different pillars of linkyard, can work together on major strategic goals. By working with different teams to develop specific goals and their key results, we can improve our coherence and strengthen our joint direction. Through the Big Room Planning process, we also benefit from greater collaboration, as mutual feedback and exchange regarding OKRs is promoted. Overall, this also achieves greater transparency, as all teams are involved in the development and achievement of our strategic goals. In this way, we can achieve a clear orientation of our corporate goals across the various pillars of linkyard.

We support you throughout the process of agile transformation

Do you also want to use the benefits of OKR in your company? We will help you with this and support you throughout the process of agile transformation! An agile transformation presents a number of hurdles for a company and strongly challenges its adaptability. However, together with our know-how, initial start-up difficulties can be overcome. We support you in the process of agile change by allowing you to draw on our consulting services, offer the appropriate training and equip you with the necessary system support. Our goal is to strengthen your company's adaptability and build your agile ecosystem together. Benefit from the in-depth experience of our experts and discover what opportunities agile management has in store for your company. For more information, visit our page about agile management.