OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) is a goal-setting methodology that focuses on outcomes, empowering teams to figure out how to make the business successful.
Science has proven that effective goal-setting empowers Managers to frame specific, measurable, actionable, relevant, and timebound Goals for their teams.
Understanding company Goals creates an aligned workforce, which helps to better achieve broader organizational Goals by tackling them one at a time.
Goals: A visual
Members can see all organization Goals, all Team Goals, and all individual performance Goals linked to Team or organization Goals. Members cannot modify another Member's Goals; this is a view only. Their Managers and Executive Managers can see their development goals, but other Members cannot.
SMART Goals vs. OKRs — What is the difference?
Officevibe's Goals tool, built for OKRs, promotes Goal visibility and company alignment across the organization around Teams and Individual OKRs. With this, we give Executive Managers the ability to set organizational goals to align and empower the entire company.
Officevibe's SMART Goals for Individual Goals are for Self-Development and are only visible to Managers and Team Members.
Setting Individual Member Performance Goals for every Team Member can then build and align with the Goals of the team and, ultimately, the organization's goals. Creating this alignment drives the overall performance of a workforce and gets everyone working towards a shared vision.
Here are some tips to help define Goals:
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Set your Goal by including a title — this is a mandatory step.
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Set one owner for your Goal.
- Link a maximum of 20 Key Results to a Goal.
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Know that all other fields are optional when setting a Goal.
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Link any Goal to a parent Goal.
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Save your Goals as drafts or published.
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Make changes at any time if necessary.
- Track, evaluate, and adjust goals with members regularly.
Organization OKRs
Organization OKRs, which Executive Managers can only create, are visible to everyone to set and enact their strategies.
Not only can they be linked as Parent goals for Team and Individual OKRs or other Organization OKrs, but these OKRs will also be reflected as the root in the tree view and the concerned Teams can be invited to create sub-goals linked to this org goal.
How to set up an Organization Goal?
As mentioned above, you'll need Executive Manager access to set Organization level Goals. On your home page, go to the Goals section from the left-hand side, click "New Goal," and then Organization Goal.
From here, you will give your goal a title, and a description, assign an owner, and set a timeline for which you would like to achieve this goal.
To measure the outcomes required to reach your goal! Define the Key Results (KR) by choosing a numeric, percentage, or binary metric.
Lastly, under the Alignment tab, you can link a parent Goal corresponding to another Organization Goal.
Regarding Sub-Teams, you can invite Teams to create Sub-Goals, which must correspond to this Organization's Goals.
Once everything is defined, click on publish to make your Goal; visible, trackable, and linkable for all Organization members — Voilà!
Team OKRs
What can you do with Team OKRs? Everything you can do with Organisation OKRs.
Team OKRs are visible to everyone in the Organization. They can only be created by Executive Managers and Managers and used by Teams to connect their work with the Organization's Goals to gain deeper alignment.
This option is accessible to all Team members, and the Goals can be linked as Parent Goals for Individual OKRs or other Team OKRs and reflected in the tree view , if linked to Organization goals.
How to set up Team Goals
Set clear, motivating, and attainable goals for your Team to connect their work with the Organization's Goals – doing this effectively grounds every other element of your role. Team alignment supports you in coaching members, prioritizing initiatives, strengthening collaboration, and maintaining healthy team dynamics.
Executive Managers can access the Goals section from the left-hand side by clicking New Goal followed by Team Goal. Team Managers will go to the Goals section from the left-hand side and click New Team Goal.
From here, you will give your goal a title, and a description, assign a team to it, assign an owner, and set a timeline for which you would like to achieve this goal.
Additionally, although each OKR has one owner, this doesn't mean that this person only is responsible for delivering on it but rather that they're responsible for tracking it.
Define the Key Results (KR) outcomes required to reach your goal by choosing a numeric, percentage, or binary metric.
Lastly, you'll want to align your Goal by choosing a Parent goal, if applicable, and assigning one or more Teams directly responsible for reaching the goal. The Team Manager of a Team that a Goal is assigned to will be notified and thus able to create sub-Goals to align with it.
Once everything is defined, you can click on publish, making your goal visible, trackable, and linkable for all team members — voilà!
Team Goals will be visible to all members of the team. This will increase the quality of your 1-on-1s by clarifying expectations and promoting discussions that focus on coaching and development. You can read more about 1-on-1s here.
Every Organizational OKR does not need to be reflected in every Team OKR. A Team's OKRs may focus on just one of the Organizational OKRs, and if no connection exists, the Team OKR will only be visible in the list view.
Managing your Goals
Clicking on the left-hand menu Goals tab will lead you to a list of all Team Goals you can access. This is the All Teams view — you can easily filter and sort the page to view exactly what you want to see by; team, status, end date, or name.
The first dropdown option allows you to filter out the Goals by Organization or by a specific team. With this view, you can see all goals related to an individual team — Executive Managers can see all team goals, while Team Managers can only see goals for the teams they have access to, as well as Organization Goals.
You can also sort goals by the target end date or by name, and the second dropdown option allows you to filter out the goals by status:
- On track
- Completed
- Delayed
- At-risk
- Abandoned
- Archived
Although OKRs are visible to everyone in the company without any permissions-based restrictions.
Self-Development Individual Goals are restricted in visibility.
Views
You can view Goals and OKRs in list form or Tree view. The list provides goals in your account, and the tree view provides a full hierarchical view of all OKRs within the organization.
There are layers to the tree view, which provide visibility as a key component of the OKR framework and an easy-to-use way to navigate your Goals.
Clicking on the arrows on the side of your Goal opens the next layer, and clicking on the Goal title opens a sliding panel, which provides more information on the Goals and allows you to see Key Results, sub-goals, and update progress.
Individual OKRs
Members are prompted to link their Goals to a Team OKR, but this step is optional if the Member cannot find a Team Goal to contribute to — as a Manager, you will have access to the following;
Individual Goals cannot be linked as a Parent goal but can be added as subgoals to Team Goals. If added, they will be reflected in the tree view only if linked to a Team goal.
How are Individual Goals set?
When ready, your Team Members can set their Individual Goals by heading to their homepage and clicking on Goals from the left-hand side.
For all the details, we cover the Individual goal creation process in our Member article, Create and maintain goals as a Team Member.
To set Individual Goals for (or with) your team member(s), select the desired Team Member at the bottom of the left-hand side of your profile, then click on the Goals tab and + New Goal.
We recommend you collaborate with your Team Member(s) to create Individual Goals.
Team Contribution triggers the creation of an Individual OKR, whereas the Self-development option allows the creation of a SMART goal.
Officevibe provides a step-by-step guide on defining Individual SMART goals and allows members to link their individual goals to Team or Organization goals to stay aligned.
Goal progress can be updated, similarly to Organization and Team OKRs — feel free to return to a Goal at any time to add more precision whenever you see fit.
A collaborative approach to goal setting will help you leverage your Team Members’ strengths and inspire a sense of personal commitment and accountability from members. We’re here to help develop clear, actionable goals that motivate individuals and contribute to team objectives.
This is why members are encouraged to set their own goals in-app. Setting Individual Goals is about finding the connection between a Team Member’s professional development ambitions and the company’s bottom line.
When achieved, it nurtures a sense of purpose for members, who feel their role contributes to something bigger than themselves.