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Looking for a treasure trove of OKR examples? We've assembled 20 road-tested OKRs that can inspire you as you implement an OKR framework within your business.
Over several recent posts, we’ve covered the OKR framework in a detailed way. So in this post, we won’t spend much time at all talking about what OKRs are or why to use them. Instead, we’ll jump straight into how to create them, then launch into all sorts of example OKRs to give you ideas of how to incorporate the framework into your business.
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Tips for creating a good OKR
Creating high-quality OKRs (both team OKRs and company OKRs) is vital because defining goals is one key to success (for teams of all varieties, including remote). Your team or organization can use OKRs as a framework or methodology for understanding outcomes.
But first, if you want to get the most out of your organization’s OKRs, you’ll need to create them properly. Use these four tips when setting OKRs to create stronger, more measurablemetrics that move your organization forward.
Choose the right tools (like Teamwork.com)
First, as you get into the OKR process, you’re going to need a place to store and track the various KPIs, metrics, and data that feed into individual OKRs.
Many specific KRs tie to one or more metrics — so if you want to track them properly, you need to track those metrics and log the data.
Using the right software tools is key for keeping track of this information (while staying sane). Teamwork.com makes project and team tracking simple, yet our capabilities are robust enough for even the most complex projects.
Check out Teamwork.com's free OKR template to help you start tracking progress toward your goals.
Get the whole team involved
Next, involve the entire team in the OKR process. Your team members are often closer to the work itself and may have valuable information and ideas to contribute. You’ll also get far stronger buy-in when team members are involved in the OKR creation process.
Remember, one reason to use the OKR framework is to align teams and companies behind a shared vision. The “shared” part gets a lot easier when the team is involved from the start.
Consistently track your OKRs
You want your OKRs to have teeth, staying power, and presence. To do that, they have to stay accurate and up to date. Using OKR tracking software is a great choice here. For OKRs with a numerical component, you’ll be able to display progress as a percentage or in a progress bar.
Seeing incremental progress toward those KRs can be a powerful motivating factor for your team.
Celebrate when you reach 70% of your OKRs
Last, your entire team must understand what’s realistic in the OKR framework. It’s practically unheard of to reach 100% scores on OKRs if those OKRs are properly calibrated. (Remember, OKRs need to be aspirational and motivational, which means they shouldn't be easy or describe the status quo.)
Google was an early adopter of the OKR framework and is the most prominent and arguably most advanced organization using it. On their re:Work hub, they suggest that 60% to 70% is the sweet spot.
Make sure not to assume that your teams know this: Many of us are accustomed to thinking of 60% as a failing grade. So celebrate success — which you should define as somewhere in the 60% to 70% range. Doing so will help prevent teams from feeling like they’re always coming up short when in reality, they’re demonstrating growth.
Organization OKR examples
We’ll get to some OKR examples from key roles or business functions in a minute, but first, it’s worth discussing organizational or company goals.
Organization-wide OKRs serve a slightly different purpose most of the time: They help set a company-wide vision, and they tend to be even more aspirational (even moonshot-level) goals.
Also, where possible, you want your lower-level OKRs to stem out of one of your organization-wide ones, adding even more vertical alignment through your business.
Organizational OKRs also usually run on an annual cycle, while team or individual OKRs tend to run in three-month (quarterly) cycles.
Let’s look at a few organization-wide examples.
Objective: Become the most delightful business in our market.
Key results
Key result 1: Achieve a net promoter score (NPS) greater than 8.
Key result 2: Achieve a customer retention rate of 90%.
Key result 3: Increase the percentage of five-star reviews by 25%.
Objective: Become the revenue leader in our region.
Key results
Key result 1: Marketing increases the number of marketing-qualified leads (MQLs) by 25%.
Key result 2: Sales team grows average customer value (ACV) by 20%.
Key result 3: Customer success team increases retention rate and customer satisfaction scores by 20%.
Objective: Be the most desirable place to work in our industry.
Key results
Key result 1: Host four all-hands open Q&A meetings to hear directly from employees.
Key result 2: Conduct structured one-on-one feedback sessions with 90% of employees in each department.
Key result 3: Review and enhance compensation, benefits package, and annual incentive plans to reach +20% market average.
Key result 4: Implement four quality-of-life improvement initiatives.
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Sales OKR examples
Sales are at the heart of just about every business, and there’s always room for growth and expansion. Using quality, motivating OKRs is one strategy that can make your sales team more effective.
Remember that your sales team is likely already performance-motivated and focused on results. Don’t be afraid to set your sales OKRs on the aggressive side — but also remind your team that even 70% completion equals success.
Objective: Grow year-over-year sales by 65%.
Key results
Key result 1: Reach $1.65 million in total sales.
Key result 2: Train new and underperforming account leads in updated tactics.
Key result 3: Increase sales from new customers by 75%.
Key result 4: Grow recurring customer revenue by 30%.
Objective: Exceed the quarterly sales quota by 50%.
Key results
Key result 1: Book 40 new client meetings in the quarter.
Key result 2: Achieve 20 new SQLs from those meetings.
Key result 3: Bring in $25,000 in cross-sell revenue.
Objective: Increase average [contract value/deal size/cart value] by 20%.
Key results
Key result 1: Spend greater than 50% of sales effort on leads from larger, deeper-pocketed clients.
Key result 2: Implement three new sales scripts and two website automations to increase cross-selling and upselling.
Key result 3: Sell our most expensive add-on to 15 clients this quarter.
Objective: Improve sales in our newest market by 200%.
Key results
Key result 1: Hire 10 new localized / in-market sales representatives.
Key result 2: Reach 100 new prospects with one-to-one meetings.
Key result 3: Onboard two regional, language-localized resellers to bolster footing in the region.
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Marketing OKRs example
Your marketing team is responsible for numerous wide-ranging initiatives that bring in leads and supercharge sales efforts. But it’s all happening so quickly that it can be hard to know what’s going on — let alone track and prioritize efforts according to company-wide goals. Better marketing project management can certainly help, but so can some marketing-specific OKRs. These will act as a guiding star, keeping your marketing personnel calibrated to what’s important and what’s just noise.
Here are four marketing OKR examples that might make sense for your organization.
Objective: Reach Top 3 results in Google and Bing search for 10 highest-priority keywords.
Key results
Key result 1: Research and rank target keywords by priority and fit.
Key result 2: Catalog existing site content and enrich it with top 10 keywords.
Key result 3: Raise the website’s domain authority (DA) and domain rating (DR) scores by 25%.
Objective: Increase monthly unique website visitors by 33%.
Key results
Key result 1: Conduct a review of current SEO efforts.
Key result 2: Capture five Featured Snippets on Google for highly relevant search terms.
Key result 3: Increase social posts 1.5x.
Add one additional blog post per month.
Objective: Reach 10,000 cumulative subscribers / followers across active social channels.
Key results
Key result 1: Conduct a best practices review of current social strategy.
Key result 2: Create a content calendar for all active social networks.
Key result 3: Increase social media engagement rate by 6%.
Objective: Raise conversion rate to a 9% average across all lead generation channels.
Key results
Key result 1: Review and refine keyword strategies to draw in more conversion-ready traffic.
Key result 2: Launch three new email funnels and build customized conversion-optimized landing pages for each.
Key result 3: Increase marketing spend on top three lead gen channels by 25%.
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HR team OKR examples
OKRs can improve goal-setting in human resources as well. Employee engagement, churn, and other internal-focused initiatives can all be targeted with a good HR OKR.
Let’s look at a few OKR examples in the HR realm.
Objective: Reduce employee churn by 50%.
Key results
Key result 1: Conduct monthly onboarding and training sessions to orient new employees.
Key result 2: Hold four HR roundtables to identify employee satisfaction issues.
Key result 3: Create an upskilling/reskilling program.
Objective: Hire 12 new employees this quarter.
Key results
Key result 1: Modernize job descriptions for 25 open roles.
Key result 2: Launch job postings on two new external placement websites.
Key result 3: Enter into a contract with a recruiting agency specializing in our industry.
Objective: Reduce workplace injury claims by 75%.
Key results
Key result 1: Complete a comprehensive review of safety procedures in physical and manual environments.
Key result 2: Conduct four WorkSafe seminars during the quarter.
Key result 3: Set up an anonymous safety concern hotline or reporting system.
Objective: Increase efficiency across all HR processes.
Key results
Key result 1: Identify three to five HR processes to automate.
Key result 2: Transition five paper-based workflows to digital.
Key result 3: Reduce time-to-hire by 25% on average.
Product team OKR examples
The OKRs we’ve looked at so far are a great start for many aspects of an organization. But what about the people who actually make stuff?
Product management OKRs have a slightly different focus — on the products themselves. Their KRs can be directly related to product development or milestones, or they can, in some cases, connect to other areas of the business (such as when a product OKR might affect NPS or revenue growth). Some overlap here is fine as long as you don't muddle the big-picture direction.
Objective: Develop a new category-leading product.
Key results
Key result 1: Concept selected and tested via focus groups.
Key result 2: Complete a working prototype.
Key result 3: Exceed the features of competing products.
Key result 4: Release the new product to sales or retail partners.
Objective: Improve the reputation of Product X.
Key results
Key result 1: Resolve the top three user complaints when designing version 2.0.
Key result 2: Marketing forms relationships with 10 influencers who generate positive brand awareness for the product.
Key result 3: Add two new features or capabilities customers and prospects are asking for.
Objective: Launch [a specific new feature or service] within our flagship digital product.
Key results
Key result 1: Develop and test the new element internally.
Key result 2: Release a beta to selected users and gather user experience data.
Key result 3: Optimize the new element and release a public beta.
Key result 4: Resolve remaining issues and fully launch the new element.
Objective: Achieve parity with competitors when designing version 2.0 of Product X.
Key results
Key result 1: Inventory competitor product capabilities and perform a gap analysis to determine what to add.
Key result 2: Create a priority matrix for missing features and capabilities based on customer feedback.
Key result 3: Create a roadmap for developing the missing features over the following year.
Key result 4: Successfully design and implement three features this quarter.
Create better OKRs and track them with Teamwork.com
We hope that through these many OKR examples, we’ve given you the information you need to transition your organization to an OKR framework.
We’d also like to give you the right tools.
Teamwork.com is the ideal project management platform for businesses that want to track projects, tasks, resources, and OKRs — all from one central platform using a shared pool of data.
With Teamwork.com, your OKRs and the data and metrics feeding them live in the same platform, giving you the power to track OKRs with ease.
Ready to see how Teamwork.com supports OKRs for your business? Get started with our OKR template now.
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