10 Company OKR Examples and Steps to Write Them

Have you ever set ambitious goals at work only to find out midway that everyone is running after a different goal?

I’ve been there before. Everyone is busy, people are making progress but it looks like progress in ten different directions. OKRs changed everything for us. OKRs changed our focus from scattered directions to clear prioritization. In this blog I am going to share with you 10 examples of company OKRs and a step-by-step process for writing OKRs that actually work for you: simple, focused, and actually designed to drive progress.

What are Company OKRs?

Company-level OKRs are trackable targets that describe the strategic goal prioritization and focus of an entire organization. They articulate what the organization is trying to accomplish over a defined timeframe – typically quarterly or annually – which then informs every team’s direction and focus. Company-level OKRs will encapsulate the organization’s largest focus areas such as, growth in revenue, market expansion, customer satisfaction, product innovation, or building organizational culture. Company-level OKRs are a bridge between the vision and execution of the organization helping each individual employee understand how their actions contribute to the company-level objectives. In other words, company-level OKRs keep the organization aligned – so all decisions, projects and milestones are aligned and focused on working toward the most important organization-based objectives.

How can OKRs Help You Solve Company Challenges?

OKRs enable teams to remain organized and focused by turning the company’s overall strategy into manageable goals. Below are five ways OKRs streamline daily work and get things done effectively:

1. Aligning Plans with Action

OKRs provide a way to convert company wide plans into actionable steps. This way everyone knows what they need to do and how it impacts the overall plan.

2. Keeping Everyone in the Loop

When goals are transparent and visible, it helps allow teams to work better together. OKRs makes it visually see what the company is trying to accomplish.

3. Helping Teams Focus on the Right Things

OKRs help prioritize work as opposed to simply doing too many things at once. Teams can think and focus on the work that would have an actual impact on the outcomes.

4. Build Accountability

OKR’s help to make it clear who owns what. This level of ownership empowers people to be more accountable for their work and produce a better quality.

5. Allowing Some Flexibility to Shift

OKR’s allow teams to adjust OKR goals as the needs of the business change. You can refocus on an established goal without losing sight of what matters most.

How Should You Set Company-level OKRs?

Here are some simple steps to set effective OKRs:

Step 1: State Your Business Priorities

The first step to setting company-level OKRs is to state your company’s primary goals for the year or quarter, grounded in your broader business strategy. For instance, if your e-commerce business wants to pivot from discount-centric sales to long-term customer value your OKR could be: Objective: Increase loyalty from customers. Key Result: Increase customer lifetime value by 15% with personalized product recommendations.

Step 2: Include Teams in the Conversation

OKRs should never be a top down exercise. Get input from different departments across the organization, they will be close to the action. For example, if you want to “become the best in customer service” ask the sales, marketing, and support teams what they could help with. A shared KR might be achieved around “reducing the support ticket volume by 20%.”

Step 3: Align Leadership on Company OKRs

Bring the leadership team together to collectively agree on the company-level OKRs. These discussions put a stake in the ground so that every department is aligned to the same outcome. Conduct these meetings annually and/or quarterly so that their alignment maintains top of mind.

Step 4: Continually Review and Make Adjustments

Business priorities can shift. Be sure to continually review the OKRs, either monthly or quarterly, to measure progress, and adjust if necessary. Business prioritization with okrs keeps the goals realistic and ensures relevance when or if the market conditions shift.

10 Company OKR Examples Based on The Challenges and Goals

Here are ten company OKR examples that provide insights into how organizations can use OKRs to tackle real business problems- such as growing revenue, improving the customer experience, and creating a better culture. Each one connects a common issue with a working OKR so you can see how to go from identifying a challenge to be solved to a clear goal for quality of outcome.

1. Challenge: Business growth is stagnant

Goal: GROW the company faster.

Key Results: – Increase revenue by 20% quarter-over-quarter. – Open up 2 new regional markets. – Launch one new product line with high margins.

2. Challenge: Few customers do repurchase

Goal: INCREASE customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Key Results: – Increase customer satisfaction score (CSAT) to 90% from 75%. – Reduce churn by 15%. – Start a customer loyalty program with 1,000 enrolled customers.

3. Challenge: Poor internal operations

Goal: ALIGN all teams to common company objectives and interests.

Key Results: – Run OKR workshops across company departments. – 100% of company teams will commit one OKR to a company-level goal or objective. – Each month, we will review our progress at cross-team meetings.

4. Challenge: Ineffective Sales Process

Goal: Improve the sales process and generate better outcomes.

Key Results: -Increase average deal size by 10%. -Reduce the sales cycle from 45 to 30 days. -Increase conversion rate from 25% to 35%.

5. Challenge: Low Brand Awareness

Goal: Create more brand awareness in the marketplace.

Key Results: -Increase social media reach by 50%. -Create 10 thought leadership articles this quarter. -Get 3 media placements in leading industry publications.

6. Challenge: Decreasing Employee Engagement

Goal: Increase employee morale and engagement.

Key Results: -Increase engagement score from 70% to 85%. -Introduce quarterly employee recognition and feedback initiatives. -Have at least 90% participation in companywide opportunities.

7. Challenge: Product Quality Issues

Goal: Improve product reliability and performance.

Key Results: -Reduce product defect rate by 25%. -Fix at a minimum 95% of bugs in 7 days of reporting. -Continue product experience satisfaction score of 4.5/5 or higher.

Guidelines for Creating Effective Company OKRs

Creating OKRs is less about elaborate phrasing and long lists, and more about clarity of focus and teamwork. Here’s a guide to making yours effective:

1. Keep it Simple

Choose 3–5 priorities that you truly care about and want to achieve. Too many OKRs mean no OKRs.

2. Make it Measurable

Your key results should have some specific number or expected outcome associated with them — no “I think” or “about.”

3. Involve Your Teams

OKRs resonate better when people feel involved in the process, not just told what to do.

4. Be Flexible

Continuously revisit the OKRs. If priorities change in your organization, your OKRs should as well.

5. Celebrate Progress

Acknowledge actions achieved or achieved milestones along the way, regardless of their size — celebrating progress keeps the team feeling engaged and motivated to accomplish more down the road.

Conclusion

OKRS is the bridge between big ideas and everyday action. If you have teams doing the work and certainly working hard, but the team isn’t necessarily all working towards the same objective, OKRs can bring the clarity you need that might be missing. Start small and remain steady, and quickly, you’ll see how clear goals can turn productive energies in differing directions into forward movement.