In this hand-drawn diagram, we zoomed in 3 OKR examples for the first quarter of 2020 (Q1 2020):
- Company/top-line OKR: 2 Objectives (O) and 5 Key Results (KR)
- Operations (Ops) OKR: 2 O and 4 KR
- Human Resources (HR) OKR: 1 O and 2 KR
The Ops OKR and HR OKR are often called department or division OKR. The terms department and division are used interchangeably here.
A division OKR is formulated to support and align with the top-line OKR.
Let's highlight the importance of the colorful arrow lines in the diagram above. They are connecting each division's KR with the top-line KR.
Each arrow line explicitly represents an alignment.
About the blue arrow lines in the diagram
The blue arrow lines represent a (vertical) alignment from the Ops OKR to top-line OKR.
Examples:
- The arrow line connecting from OPS KR 1.1 (or in short, OPS1.1) to top-line 1.1. This means, OPS1.1 was formulated to support the company to achieve its KR 1.1
- OPS2.2 points to two (2) top-line KR. In other words, achieving OPS2.2 will help the company to achieve the target in top-line KR1.3 and KR2.1 i.e. 2 top-line KR at the same time
About the green arrow lines in the diagram
The green arrow lines represent a (vertical) alignment from the HR OKR to top-line OKR.
Examples:
- The same concept in Ops also applies here: HR1.1 aligns with one (1) top-line KR2.1, and H1.2 to top-line KR2.2
Further thoughts
An organization typically has a few departments such as Ops, HR, Product, Sales, Marketing, and so on. The alignment above is expected to happen for those departments as well.
Once a division OKR is formulated and aligned with the top-line OKR, that particular division will independently* have a choice whether to adopt OKR to individual level. If they did, many positive benefits await them.
*A division might start adopting individual OKR in its own division whenever it is ready. That is, it does not need to wait until all divisions are ready.
