Top companies using OKRs and their success stories
In the 1970s, OKR was developed by former Intel CEO Andy Grove who remained focused on one important point. Tell me the best possible route for getting there?
Objectives and Key Results has since been used by many leading companies to expand their businesses and achieve targets regularly. John Doerr states that “95% of OKR users in the US knew how their work aligned with the company they worked with compared to 79% of people who were able to state this without using OKRs.
What companies were the first to use OKRs?
OKRs were first used by Andy Grove, third employee in Intel's leadership team and eventual third CEO. Andy was previously aware of the shortcomings of the predecessor OKR's Management By Objectives (MBO).
MBOs link employee compensation to employees' capability to accomplish their objectives. The results of this failed to reflect the evolving business. In a new product shift from memory to micro processors, OKRs gave Intel the flexibility to anticipate an important new technological innovation. This is an important innovation and successful culture for Intel employees.
1. Google on Objective and Key Results
Google has been using OKRs since 1999 and they have been crucial in helping the company achieve its targets. In the early days, OKRs were used to track the progress of individual teams but they have since evolved to cover the entire company.
Some of the company’s early OKRs included “launching Gmail” and “doubling the number of AdWords advertisers”. These days, Google’s OKRs are focused on more long-term goals such as “increasing the number of active Google+ users”.
How Google uses Objectives and Key Results?
The search engine company Google has become the biggest tech company in the United States IT market. Initially this was an ambitious OKR but after much quarter-century of OKR and years later it has surpassed all other websites, with nearly 60% of the browser market. The company expanded to a single staffing level of 40 in 2020 and has experienced rapid growth in products & services acquisitions and partnerships on every continent since 1998. During its early stages, Google OKR was expected to look: Objective: Make a search engine that can attract more customers. Key result - increase internet traffic to 20m per week.
How does Google set goals with OKRs?
OKR success lies in their aggressive, yet achievable targets. Google is targeting an 70% success rate in its OKR, allowing for learning from failures. Google has a new tool called "Work" to help you set and achieve your goals which are sometimes called “stretch goals”. Creating unattainable goals is challenging as they may be perceived as setting teams to fail. Of course, these objectives tend to attract the best people and provide a more stimulating workplace. When the goal of achieving the highest level is achieved, it can lead to considerable advancement of a particular outcome.
2. LinkedIn - How LinkedIn mastered OKRs
LinkedIn also uses OKRs to keep track of the company’s progress and ensure that everyone is working towards the same goals. The company’s OKRs are divided into four categories: business, product, technology, and people.
Some of LinkedIn’s recent OKRs have included “growing membership to 2 billion” and “increasing engagement by 10%”. The company has also used OKRs to track its progress in areas such as diversity and inclusion.
How does LinkedIn use OKR?
“More urgent urgency” - Founder Jeff Weiner. In the last year LinkedIn reached more than 774 million active users across the world with nearly 1 billion active. It's an important site to recruit and network with employers. The OKR team and their executives have always been impressed with the quality. He believes OKR is incredibly important in the development of an effective plan for the future. His goal is to personalize his employee relationships with positive energy. When questioned about OKRs, he began to boost employee performance. LinkedIn's best practices for using OKR effectively.
3. Amazon and Objective Key Results
Amazon is another company that has been using OKRs since the early days. The company’s OKRs are divided into two types: quarterly and yearly. Quarterly OKRs are focused on shorter-term goals while yearly OKRs are more long-term.
Some of Amazon’s recent OKRs have included “increasing Prime membership” and “launching new products and services”. The company has also used OKRs to track its progress in areas such as sustainability and customer service.
How does Amazon use OKRs?
A lot of Amazon teams use OKR as a tool for organizing their work. As CEO Jeff Bezos explains : We have the aim of becoming the world’s most customer-centered business”. OKRs follow company policies with ambitious targets. Obviously, when you decide to do only what you believe will work then you have many chances. Several years ago it was the first step in developing the new diversity targets.
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OKR Examples from well known companies?
Below are typical OKR examples that can help you construct your own business Objective and Key Results. The key is to first choose a high level objective - then select at least three key results that will help you drive that objective.
Google Objectives and Key Results
Some of the company’s early OKRs included “launching Gmail” and “doubling the number of Google Search users”. These days, Google’s OKRs are focused on more long-term goals such as “increasing the number of active Google+ users”.
- Objective: Launch Gmail
- Key Results:
1. Send invitations to the first 1,000 customers
2. Achieve a sign-up rate of 10%
3. Gmail users send an average of 1,000 emails per day
- Objective: Double the number of Google Search users
- Key Results:
1. Recruit 100 new users per day
2. Achieve a satisfaction rate of 95%
3. Google Search users perform an average of 1,000 searches per day
Amazon Goal Setting OKR Examples
Some of the company’s early OKRs included “launching Amazon Prime” and “ doubling the number of AmazonFresh customers”. These days, Amazon’s OKRs are focused on more long-term goals such as “increasing the number of active Amazon Prime users”.
- Objective: Launch Amazon Prime
- Key Results:
1. Send invitations to the first 1,000 customers
2. Achieve a sign-up rate of 10%
3. Amazon Prime customers spend an average of $100 per month
- Objective: Double the number of AmazonFresh customers
- Key Results:
1. Recruit 100 new customers per day
2. Achieve a satisfaction rate of 95%
3. AmazonFresh customers spend an average of $100 per month
Objective and Key Results (OKR) Examples by Facebook
The company’s OKRs are focused on building the products and features that will make the site more engaging for users. Some of the company’s early OKRs included “launching the News Feed” and “developing the Facebook Platform”.
- Objective: Launch the News Feed
- Key Results:
1. Develop the News Feed algorithm
2. Test the News Feed with a small group of users
3. Launch the News Feed
- Objective: Develop the Facebook Platform
- Key Results:
1. Build the Platform
2. Launch the Platform
3. Developer adoption of the Platform
LinkedIn OKR Example
LinkedIn’s early OKRs were focused on building the platform and expanding the user base. Some of the early OKRs included “launching LinkedIn” and “growing the number of registered users”.
- Objective: Grow the number of registered users
- Key Results:
1. Recruit 1,000 new users per day
2. Achieve a registration rate of 2%
3. LinkedIn users spend an average of 5 minutes per day on the site
OKR examples from Netflix
- Objective: Launch Netflix streaming
- Key Results:
1. Send invitations to the first 1,000 customers
2. Achieve a sign-up rate of 10%
3. Netflix users stream an average of 1,000 hours per month
- Objective: Double the number of Netflix subscribers
- Key Results:
1. Recruit 100 new subscribers per day
2. Achieve a satisfaction rate of 95%
3. Netflix subscribers spend an average of $100 per month
