What to Present for (OKR) Objectives & Key Results Standups

Looking for a way to improve alignment on objectives, encourage clear communication within your team, and optimize success? OKR standups are your best bet. 

These regular OKR check-ins are necessary for a successful OKR cycle. They keep the team focused, aligned, and accountable.

But how exactly do OKR standups work, what should you present, and how can you channel insights from the meeting to improve your OKR goals? Read on to find out.

What Is An OKR Standup?

An OKR standup is a short meeting (about 25-20 minutes) where you and your team can reflect on the progress of team OKRs and adjust priorities and objectives where necessary. This structured way of having OKR discussions is vital to implementing the Objectives and Key Results methodology.

OKR standups are similar to daily standups, but one should not be used to replace the other. Just as daily standups are touchpoints for ensuring that your team’s task management is on track, OKR standups ensure that your team’s strategic objectives are on point.

What Is The Goal Of An OKR Standup? 

An effective OKR standup goes beyond ‘standing up’. The main goal is to keep everyone aligned. By having every team member know what everyone else is working on, they can all be on the same page and work in synergy. This also ensures that everyone is making adequate progress on tasks and deliverables. With OKR standups, managers can ensure that each individual is accountable for their goals and objectives.

Another goal of an OKR standup is to improve communication within the team. It creates an opportunity for everyone to share feedback, ask questions, and suggest solutions to blockers. This also helps keep the team focused on achieving key results.

What Information Should You Present At Your OKR Standup?

1. Progress towards achieving the objectives: This includes any updates on the tasks or milestones completed, as well as any challenges or roadblocks encountered.

2. Impact of the OKR results on the team's work: It is important to share any insights or learnings from the OKR results, as well as how they may impact the team's work moving forward.
   
   
3. Any blockers or issues: Share any blockers or issues that may be impacting your ability to achieve your OKR objectives, so that the team can work together to find solutions.

4. Next steps for the OKR: This includes any action items or tasks that need to be completed to continue progressing towards the objectives.

5. Questions or concerns: If there are any questions or concerns about the OKR results, this is the time to address them and ensure that the team is aligned and moving forward.

How often should you hold OKR standups? 

Unlike daily standups, OKR standups do not need to hold every day. Depending on the length of the OKR cycle, you can have your standups weekly or once every two weeks. This will give ample time to team members to work on their assigned tasks and record progress on each goal. It’ll also ensure that the meeting is not repetitive, monotonous, or boring. 

How often should you check in on OKRs?

It is generally recommended to check in on OKRs at least once a quarter or every three months. This gives the team enough time to make progress toward its goals and adjust as needed. 

How To Effectively Present Your OKR Standup

Before presenting your OKR standup meeting, ensure everyone is on the same page about the current OKR cycle. Once that is out of the way, you can start planning your OKR daily standup workflow. Here are some tips for effectively presenting your standup and ensuring you maintain OKR best practices:

1. Ensure that every key participant knows what OKRs they are working on. They should be able to clearly explain how well they are progressing. And if not, they should be able to communicate their challenges. This will save everyone’s time and help keep the team on track.

2. Keep the meetings as short and simple. Just like regular standups, OKR standups should not last more than 10 to 15 minutes. This helps keep participants engaged. Keep track of time, so the meeting doesn’t derail.

3. Avoid turning OKR standups into status update meetings. The sole aim of the meeting is to check on team progress and clear blockers. It is not the time to go over every detail of each team member’s work. Be sure to create other avenues for status updates or schedule another meeting if there’s a need to brainstorm or figure out any other issues.

4. Take notes during the meeting and use them to write a summary at the end of the meeting. This ensures that key points, good ideas, and lessons learned are remembered and helps you get the most out of your standup.

5. Make plans for the next day at the end of each OKR standup. Having a clear action plan for the next day helps solidify the team’s focus. If you have weekly OKR standups, you can encourage your team members to try new things and get creative when setting priorities for the coming week.

6. Try not to do all the talking. Structure your meeting so that each participant can share their thoughts and ideas. This helps you see things from different perspectives and benefit from their varied experiences. Take note of those who struggle to engage during the OKR standup, and make time to draw them out and have a friendly discussion to figure out ways you can support them or get them to participate actively.

Improve Your OKR Goals With Standup Feedback

One way to make your OKR goals more effective is to manage feedback effectively. As a manager, keeping track of your OKR standup feedback will put you on the right track—but you’ll need to take specific steps to make this happen.

Here’s how:

• Define the outcome you want to achieve from your OKR standup. You can do this by drafting a detailed OKR meeting agenda.

• Document everything that was discussed during the OKR standup. If it’s a virtual video conferencing meeting, record the meeting so you can always go back to it. For physical meetings, take notes and make them accessible to other participants. This helps you keep track of all lessons learned and any new ideas that can be used to improve your OKRs. 

• Take note of new priorities set during the meeting and follow up to ensure that they are properly assigned to team members and added to their plans. 

• Openly discuss the progress of OKR goals and review the effects that the completed plans have had on the set objectives.

• Directly ask your team members for specific OKR feedback and take note of suggestions and ideas that can positively affect your OKR goals.

Effective use of questions can help you gain vital insights from team members. Here are some questions you can ask:

• Are you satisfied with the results of your OKRs?
• What tasks did you priortize last week?
• What are your next steps?
• Are there any challenges hindering your progress? What are they?
• Do you have any suggestions for the team? 

Once you’ve done these, you can go back to the drawing board and review the suggestions made. Decide which ones are worth implementing and use them to improve your OKR goals.

Shortcut Your Team’s Learning Process With OKR Standups

OKRs are very useful for achieving organizational, departmental, and personal goals. However, it takes patience, agility, and a healthy feedback culture for OKR usage to become effective. 

With regular and well-presented OKR standups, you and your team can adequately improve on your OKR goals, ensuring that you successfully attain your key results at the right time.