OKR-Beratung, mit der Ihre Strategie messbar Wirkung entfaltet

A strategic reality check:

Do you recognize these patterns in your organization?

The problem is not a lack of will.
The problem is a lack of strategic control – and therefore a lack of strategy implementation.

In the AI era, a lack of control is not forgiven – it becomes visible.

9 out of 10 companies fail to implement their strategy

OKR as a solution approach – the benefits of Objectives and Key Results

Our customers

Companies that have already benefited from our OKR experts – OKR consulting, coaching and seminars

as well as numerous other start-ups and SMEs in German-speaking countries.

Customer feedback:

Benefit from our many years of practical experience

Hand on heart

Turbulent times: Your company’s success put to the test

In this ever-changing world, the stability and success of your organization can quickly be challenged.

Avoid irreversible and costly mistakes. Take advantage of the security offered by the many years of experience of our OKR experts.

Increasing business agility and resilience

In an increasingly volatile, complex and uncertain world, we not only need new methods and approaches, such as OKR, but above all a new mindset.

New business and working models are inevitable. What is needed is a consistent and coherent approach that involves the entire organization in a transformation journey and contributes both holistically and sustainably to increasing business agility.

Our holistic and sustainable approach

This is not just about adapting or introducing methods, processes and tools. At least as important is a change in thinking, culture, values and possibly even the entire organizational structure. The focus is not only on retaining talent and winning the ‘war for talent’, but also on integrating new technologies in a meaningful way.

Our aim is to make the world of work as a whole a place that promotes high performance and is meaningful and fulfilling at the same time.

We are valued by our customers

We were twice awarded the
“Best of Consulting” Award
of the WirtschaftsWoche

We are the authors of the OKR bestselling book:

In addition, the authors of the comprehensive OKR work:

Our offer

We provide you with individual and customized support during the introduction of OKR, supported by our modular and tried-and-tested introduction process. Our approach is efficient: We put in as much effort as necessary – but also as little as possible – to make OKR a success in your organization and thus contribute to your sustainable business success.

Have you already implemented OKR? Then we will support you with the optimization. Difficulties in the application of OKR often result from a lack of experience, incorrect application or incorrect objectives.

Our competent, experienced and communicative OKR experts ensure successful OKR implementation and improvement through holistic support. This includes competent OKR consulting, coaching at eye level, modern training and workshop formats and our bestselling books.

We provide you with practical and needs-oriented advice on publishing and tracking your OKR targets – whether with Excel, a special OKR tool, an OKR software solution or an existing IT tool. Our neutral and independent OKR consulting ensures that the focus is always on the people and not the tools.

Our mission is to empower you to implement agile strategies and achieve operational excellence through OKRs. Our goal is to ensure your company’s long-term success, even in turbulent times.

Our guarantee promise

We assure you of this – we promise!

The OKR experts not only provided us with competent and targeted support during the rollout of the OKR methodology, but also raised the effectiveness of OKR in our organization to a new level.

The key success factor here was the consulting approach tailored specifically to our organization and culture based on in-depth expertise and many years of experience in business processes, business models and innovation.

Thanks to their expertise, we were able to develop the OKR framework emergently at our company. This enables us to use the customized OKR method more efficiently and effectively than ever before, for example to open up new business areas.

Hans-Martin Hellebrand, Member of the Board of Management Badenova

We are very happy with the OKR experts, who have helped us enormously as a scale-up in our challenging growth phase to bring OKR and other tools for our scaling to the next level!

Super fit on a personal level, great workshop methods and lots of practical experience with pragmatic rather than dogmatic implementation.

Thore Backen, Chief of Staff (CoS), SoSafe

The OKR seminar by the OKR experts was enormously informative for me as a manager and for the other participants.

Thanks to the didactically well thought-out structure, we were able to directly apply and deepen what we had learned in group exercises.

The seminar documents provided are comprehensive and valuable.

It was impressive how OKR was presented not just as an isolated method, but in a holistic context in order to understand the interrelationships.

Carsten Meinders, Managing Director of Hermes Einrichtungs Service

In our OKR in-house training courses, the OKR experts not only conveyed the OKR method in a professional and competent manner, but also presented it in a lively way using many concise industry examples.

Their dynamic approaches, including numerous group exercises, made the topic tangible, tangible and perceptible with a lot of fun and enthusiasm.

Pedram Asadi, Product Management ADOIT Team, BOC Group, Vienna

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OKR – More than just a trend: Objectives and Key Results as a sustainable success strategy

Focus – concentrating on the right and essential things – is a problem for many companies. In addition, employees are often dissatisfied and unmotivated. Many are overworked – some are on the verge of burnout. This puts pressure on the mood of the entire company and on the results.

OKR began at Intel and Google – derived from the MbO management method

The OKR framework, the OKR process and the OKR system were once developed by Intel CEO Andy Grove (Andrew Grove) under the name iMbO (Intel Management by Objectives). John Doerr, a former employee of Andy Grove and later investment manager at Kleiner Perkins, introduced OKR at Google and further developed OKR in the process. With clear results: OKR has helped Google grow 10-fold – over and over again – according to Larry Page. Today, the OKR method is not just a trend, but a worldwide recipe for success. Companies such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Spotify use OKR.

The first OKR publication in the book “High output Management”

Andy Grove first introduced “OKR” in 1984 in his book *High-Output Management*, in just two pages.

Setting agile goals with clarity and full transparency

OKR – Objectives and Key Results is a further development of Management by Objectives (MbO). MbO works purely according to the “top-down” approach and relies on extrinsic motivation. OKR, on the other hand, awakens intrinsic motivation through the “bottom-up” approach. A shorter cycle – usually 3 months – also makes the process more agile. There are “ritualized” meetings, such as OKR Planning, OKR Check-In or OKR Weekly, OKR Review and Retrospective – all of which create clarity and promote communication. This does not require completely new meetings to be set up – for example, the OKR Weekly can become part of an already established weekly meeting. The transparency of all targets is a basic principle.

Introduction with a system, modular and customized

Based on our extensive experience implementing OKRs, we have developed a highly effective, customizable implementation process. This ensures that OKR is implemented as quickly, smoothly, and successfully as possible in companies of all sizes and organizational structures. This process has now proven itself time and again in practice at startups, scale-ups, SMEs, and large corporations.

Involving all employees in the corporate strategy and objectives – OKR as the perfect tool for participation

With OKR, you ensure that all employees in your organization are pulling in the same direction—rowing in unison. Strategic initiatives aligned with the corporate strategy are effectively and efficiently implemented at all levels of the organization based on top-level goals (corporate goals, organizational goals) according to the top-down principle. This ensures that the focus remains on the most important initiatives—the corporate and organizational goals—and that all business units, departments, and teams have a much clearer understanding of the strategy.

Leading with goals – through servant leadership

OKR is the ideal method for leading teams with meaningful goals and for managers to be able to see at any time where their teams stand and whether they need support, impetus or feedback.

Not just top-down – OKR as the perfect tool for implementing employee participation and alignment

In addition to the top-down approach, the bottom-up principle is used to create important division- and department-specific or team-specific targets and negotiate them on an equal footing with the level above. This is participation in action.

The OKR cycle – an iterative process – learning from success and mistakes – the journey is the destination

The OKR cycle is an iterative process that aims to measure the benefits of activities and projects and thus learn from successes and failures according to the motto: the journey is the destination. It consists of an OKR planning phase, an execution phase and a final phase with a review.

OKR cycle – a cycle similar to the PDCA model or Deming circle – the control loop of agile methods for iterative work

Similar to the PDCA cycle is the Lean Startup cycle, a model consisting of the phases: “Build, Measure, Learn.” At the beginning, a hypothesis—a mini-vision—is formulated in the form of a set of OKRs, outlining the most important goals. The implementation (Build)—working on the tasks—generates output. Progress and benefits are measured (Measure), and data is generated (and tracked in the Key Results). Lessons are continuously learned from this data (Learn), including what the right goals are. These insights feed directly into the next cycle—a cycle with a beginning and an end that repeats endlessly. Initiatives with a project duration of more than 3 months (for a 3-month OKR period) must be divided into phases—this also makes projects more agile. For implementation, teams can also work using agile methods such as Scrum or Kanban —these complement OKRs perfectly.

Does OKR replace Scrum or is Scrum a supplement to OKR? Why another method?

Scrum and Kanban are ideal complements to OKR—though they are not strictly necessary for OKR. These agile methods can be seamlessly integrated and work perfectly in tandem: OKR typically follows a 3-month cycle, while Scrum typically involves sprints lasting 2 to 4 weeks.

Good OKR sets and good key result metrics are critical for a successful introduction of the OKR method – Example OKR sets – Examples from different departments

Creating good OKR sets isn’t that easy, but it can be learned and requires practice. In our seminars, we place special emphasis on this—and show participants a system they can use to systematically develop optimal Key Results with optimal metrics. This is because 90% of all failed OKR implementations result from poorly formulated OKR sets—in particular, poor Key Results, which are often not even quantitative, meaning they are not measurable. You can find examples of OKR sets here: OKR Examples.

With OKR, think strategy not from the perspective of individual departments, but from the perspective of the customer to ensure sustainable success

The application of OKR enables companies to develop their strategy more from the customer’s perspective rather than just from the point of view of individual departments. By focusing on measurable results that reflect the actual value and benefits for customers, OKR aligns the entire company to focus on customer expectations and needs. This promotes a customer-oriented corporate culture and helps to break down silo thinking, as business units and departments are encouraged to act in a cross-functional and collaborative manner in order to achieve common, customer-focused goals.

Achieve operational excellence with OKR – focus on processes – focus on process optimization

OKR is not only suitable for implementing strategy (“change the business”), but also for achieving operational excellence (“run the business”), for example, by optimizing processes. In this context, KPIs are used to identify areas where there is potential and a need for improvement. With OKR, the focus is then placed on a specific topic in a cyclical manner, and the progress and benefits of the improvement are measured. This enables the management of ambidexterity—here, the advantages of OKR become apparent through the tracking of OKRs for both strategy implementation and improvement initiatives.

Difference between the OKR and MbO methods – what are the respective advantages and benefits?

OKR and MbO are both referred to as management methods. In MbO, achieving goals—coupled with extrinsic motivational factors—plays a decisive role: bonuses, pay raises, or promotions serve as incentives to meet the goals. In recent years, it has become clear that annual goals can quickly become obsolete. This was particularly evident in 2020 and 2022. In 2020, the COVID-19 lockdown occurred, and in 2022, the war in Ukraine began—both as early as spring—meaning that the annual goals were already untenable by that point. With OKR, the focus is on employees’ intrinsic motivation to achieve a goal—the target level of goal achievement is 70% (based on the Pareto principle)—whereas with MbO, it is (at least) 100%. OKR goals are published transparently—unlike with MbO, where goals are typically treated confidentially between supervisors and their employees or are only partially disclosed for cross-functional alignment. With regard to Generations Y and Z, as well as the increasingly volatile world of work, OKR offers several advantages over MbO.

What are MOALs?

MOALs stands for “Mid-term GOALs”: mid-term goals that bridge the gap between a company’s long-term strategies and OKR goals. As such, MOALs have a slightly longer time horizon, typically ranging from one to three years. They help companies focus on mid-term priorities and ensure that teams are not solely fixated on short-term results but are also working toward sustainable progress and longer-term visions.

What is the difference between OKR and KPI or KPIs?

OKRs set focused goals for an OKR cycle, which is usually a quarter. KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), on the other hand, are metrics that are continuously measured and monitored. Thus, the OKR goals established for the OKR cycle—which represent the prioritized, most urgent, and most important objectives—provide direction (similar to a car’s navigation system), while KPIs indicate progress or status (similar to the gauges on a dashboard, such as the battery/fuel level and temperature; in a business context, for example, KPIs include revenue, employee turnover, the current Google rating, the App Store rating, or the NPS) or define operational objectives.

Is OKR introduced into the entire organization immediately or step by step?

We recommend starting at top management level and then introducing it step by step, level by level, cycle by cycle. Alternatively, you can start with a pilot department or a pilot team in the first OKR cycle.

The OKR Master or OKR Coach – role, tasks and experience

The OKR Master or OKR Coach is responsible for the application of the OKR Framework in the organization. She/he supports teams in setting objectives and in the correct implementation of OKR events and OKR meetings. Through coaching, he ensures that obstacles are tackled in good time. Her/his leadership promotes a culture of continuous improvement. OKR coaches and masters must have as much experience as possible in the application of OKR.

What is the difference between OKR and BSC?

OKR (Objectives and Key Results) and BSC(Balanced Scorecard) are both management methods for setting and tracking objectives. While OKR focuses on clear, measurable results with a rapid feedback cycle, BSC offers a holistic view of an organization or company through performance indicators from four perspectives: Finance, Customers, Internal Processes and Learning & Growth. OKR tends to be more agile, while BSC offers a more structured approach to strategic planning. This allows the BSC and OKR to complement each other perfectly.

Motivation, Satisfaction, and Confidence

Your employees will gain motivation and satisfaction through clear, meaningful goals – and confidence in times of crisis. This is because they know exactly what contribution they can make to the organization or the company. The “bottom-up” approach also contributes significantly to the commitment and intrinsic motivation of team members.

Further information about OKR – Articles about OKR

On the following page you will find a more detailed article and further information on the OKR method. Further reading: 30 minutes OKR and More focus, motivation and success with OKR – both books by our OKR experts.

Does Microsoft no longer use OKR?

No, Microsoft has only discontinued the VIVA Goals product. Presumably due to the low market share and the strong competition from OKR software solutions and OKR tools.

Should OKR measure people’s performance?

We prefer to introduce OKR at team level – but not at personal level. OKR is intended to promote team spirit and increase the performance of the team, but the individual performance of each employee should not be measured and made transparent.

In this way, you can ensure that your company achieves sustainable success.