How to improve management ability by using OKRs

Google once conducted a research project called Project Oxygen, which measured key management behaviors for several years. There are many refreshing views on how to improve management ability. For example, you should authorize subordinates, ignore details and communicate effectively. In addition, they think the most important thing is that managers should be "good coaches" of the team.

The role of the manager is changing. In the past, I just needed to ensure the completion of the project at hand and be a project manager. Now, it is more important to make your team members achieve more. When communicating with HR, we found that there is a big gap between what managers do and what they want to do. The most important thing is how to teach the team well and become a "good coach".

What exactly does a good team coach mean?

To answer this question, we must first talk about OKR. At BetterWorks, we often discuss OKR:OKR makes tasks clearer, collaboration more efficient, and can increase effective feedback among colleagues. OKR provides a transparent working atmosphere, and every employee can see the most ambitious vision of the company. OKR management mode is both top-down and bottom-up. The goals set by OKR can fully demonstrate the ambition of the enterprise and boost the morale of employees.

The following is a five-step framework that managers can refer to when setting OKR:

First, guide the team to aim at the target.

A good leader will set a goal for the whole team and let the team members discuss the best way to achieve this goal. OKR provides a way for managers to communicate their goals, and can judge whether the goals are achieved by quantifying the key results.

How to set a lofty goal for the team? First of all, we should know the position of the team in the overall strategy of the company. Set goals, let the team progress and the company develop, instead of just finding a goal.

Questions to be clarified:

What is the strategic direction of the company? How can my team work together to contribute?

What is the biggest chance for the team next year?

Where is the biggest shortcoming of my team?

Second, cultivate team professional skills.

A good manager will set a long-term OKR for the team and provide the path to achieve the goal. In addition to allocating OKR, managers should take "training teams" as one of their goals. As a team coach, one of your key goals is to find the right people to build the team together and give full play to their strengths.

You need to have an insight into what kind of professional knowledge and skills the team needs, and as a coach, you should ensure that the team has the opportunity to cultivate and develop these professional skills. If the team doesn't have these skills, it will start to recruit people.

Questions to be clarified:

What are the unique professional skills of my current team?

What skills do team members need to develop in the next stage?

What skills do we need to release the efficiency of the whole team?

Third, instill willpower in the team.

Intrinsic motivation is a powerful driving force. In 20 14 years, less than one-third of the employees actually participated in the work, 5 1% of the employees did not feel involved, and even 17.5% of the employees chose to take the initiative to avoid the work. In a word, they have no enthusiasm for their work and don't care about the result.

As a manager, how to make employees really devote themselves to their work? We believe that 50-60% of the key results need to be completed from the bottom up. As mentioned above, OKR is managed from top to bottom, and people at all levels will actively contribute, so employees will participate in the work more actively. Through OKR, everyone thinks he is a real part of the company.

Questions to be clarified:

What can I do to improve the sense of ownership of every employee? Do I give the team enough freedom to set their own goals?

Do I encourage employees to set some bold challenge goals? Am I fully empowered to my direct reports?

How can we build a corporate culture that dares to take risks?

Fourth, recruit team members and support collaboration.

Let people within the team cooperate with each other to improve the output of the team. Everyone in the team should participate in the role of "coach". "Reviewing the set goals regularly" is one of the most effective cooperative guidance methods. Tom Lodes, product manager of Intuit, believes that the periodic review of goals is carried out when the work is completed, which is where the strategic direction is transformed into practical work.

Questions to be clarified:

Are all the goals on track?

How can the team and I help each team member achieve their respective goals?

Have any tasks become the highest priority? Are there any changes in the set key results?

Fifth, find time to reflect.

It is simple to establish OKR, but it needs to accumulate experience to establish a quality OKR that can help enterprises' business. A good team coach can continue to improve and improve goals with the team.

Even if OKR is marked, reflection is very important. An article in the First Round Review said, "The most unbearable thing for the management of startup companies is the low learning efficiency. They must learn the biggest lesson from every experience, and reflection is very important in accelerating the learning curve. "

Questions to be clarified:

What have I accomplished?

What means and methods do I use to achieve my goal?

If I reset the goal I just finished, what will I modify?

I hope this framework can guide managers to become better managers.