What Is an OKR Champion?

Imagine steering your organization towards clear, ambitious goals while ensuring everyone stays on the same page. It might sound like a tall order, but that's precisely what an OKR champion can achieve. An OKR (objectives and key results) champion, also known as an OKR shepherd, plays a pivotal role in successfully implementing OKRs, driving alignment, accountability, and performance throughout the organization. Not every company has an OKR champion, but those that do often find this role instrumental in achieving its strategic goals. Let's explore the role, responsibilities, and benefits of having an OKR champion in your organization.

What is an OKR champion?

An OKR champion is a dedicated individual within an organization who oversees the implementation, success, and management of the OKR system. Their primary purpose is to ensure that the OKR approach is effectively adopted and integrated across all teams. Unlike managers or team leads who focus on their specific departments, an OKR champion has a broader scope and works to maintain coherence and alignment throughout the organization.

OKR champions act as the custodians of the OKR process, guiding teams in making progress toward ambitious yet achievable objectives and key results. They are the go-to experts on OKRs, providing support, education, and encouragement to ensure everyone stays on track.

Key responsibilities of an OKR champion

The responsibilities of an OKR champion are wide-ranging and can significantly enhance the success of the OKR system—the more people understand how to use OKRs, the more confident they'll be in pursuing those goals. 

Here are some of the ways an OKR champion can support teams:

1. Facilitating the development of OKRs: OKR champions can guide teams in setting clear, measurable, and aligned OKRs. They'll help you understand that the best objectives are ambitious yet attainable and that key results are specific and quantifiable.
2. Tracking progress: Regularly monitoring progress is essential for maintaining momentum and staying motivated—not to mention accomplishing the goals! OKR champions may help track the progress of OKRs and guide people through understanding how to best track their own progress.
3. Ensuring alignment: One key role of an OKR champion is ensuring that OKRs across all levels of the organization align with the company's overall goals. This responsibility involves facilitating cross-departmental communication and collaboration so that everyone is on the same page.
4. Providing support and training: OKR champions offer continuous support and training to team members, helping them understand the OKR system and how to use it effectively.
5. Encouraging accountability: By fostering a culture of accountability, OKR champions help teams take ownership of their objectives and results. They promote transparency and regular check-ins to keep everyone on track.
6. Facilitating retrospectives: OKR champions can lead retrospective meetings at the end of each cycle to review what worked and what didn't and how to improve processes for the next cycle.

Illustrating the role: PulseWave Dynamics OKR champion

To help bring this to life, let's imagine Sarah, the OKR champion at the fictional company PulseWave Dynamics. 

The company's overarching goal is to become the market leader in a non-invasive, AI-powered device that continuously monitors patients' vital signs, such as heart rate, respiratory rate, and blood oxygen levels, providing real-time data to healthcare providers. 

Recently, Sarah worked with the marketing department to align its objectives with those of the company. During a workshop Sarah hosted, the marketing team set their objective to "Enhance brand visibility in the European market within Q3." To support this, they defined key results as: 

1. Achieve 5,000 new social media followers from healthcare professionals in Europe by the end of Q3.
2. Secure a mention in a European healthcare publication each month in Q3.
3. Increase website traffic by 30% from healthcare-related searches in Europe by Q3.

Throughout the quarter, Sarah facilitated tracking these key results through a transparent OKR dashboard where all teams could see each other's objectives and progress. She organized bi-weekly check-ins with the marketing team to review their progress, discuss challenges, and adjust strategies as needed. 

For example, when the team faced difficulties increasing social media engagement, Sarah guided them in organizing a brainstorming session to generate new content ideas and strategies.

Sarah also ensured alignment by organizing a quarterly alignment meeting with department heads. In this meeting, the sales team shared their objective to "Expand customer base in Europe by 10% by Q4," which complemented the marketing team's efforts to increase brand awareness in that region. This cross-departmental collaboration fostered a unified approach to achieving the company's strategic goals.

Sarah coordinated continuous training to further support the marketing team, including creating an internal resource hub with guides, FAQs, and video tutorials on OKR best practices. 

At the end of Q3, Sarah led a retrospective meeting with the marketing team to review their achievements and challenges. They analyzed the success of securing media mentions and identified strategies that worked well, such as personalized pitches to journalists. They also discussed ways to improve, like enhancing their social media strategy to engage followers more effectively.

Through Sarah's efforts as an OKR champion, PulseWave Dynamics saw a significant improvement in alignment, accountability, and performance. The marketing team met their objective and felt more engaged and motivated, knowing their work directly contributed to the company's success.

Skills and qualities of an effective OKR champion

An OKR champion needs a mix of hard and soft skills to excel in the role. Here are some beneficial skills and qualities you should look for when asking employees to take on the responsibilities.

• Data analysis: An effective champion should be comfortable working with data, analyzing progress, and identifying trends. This skill helps them provide actionable insights and make informed decisions.

• Project management: Strong project management skills enable champions to coordinate efforts across different teams and ensure that OKR processes run smoothly.

• Communication: Excellent communication skills help explain the OKR system, provide feedback, and facilitate alignment across the organization.

• Leadership: Champions should exhibit strong leadership qualities, inspiring and motivating teams to strive for their objectives and take ownership of their results.

• Adaptability: Given that organizational needs and goals can change, an OKR champion should be adaptable and ready to adjust strategies and plans as needed.

• Empathy: It is important to understand and address team members' concerns and challenges. Empathy helps OKR champions support and guide teams effectively.

These skills and qualities are beneficial and can significantly enhance one's effectiveness, but the journey of becoming an exceptional OKR champion is ongoing. What truly matters is their eagerness to learn and develop in the role. A dedicated and motivated individual can develop these capabilities over time, contributing to their and the organization's success.

Benefits of having an OKR champion

Having someone take on these responsibilities can be beneficial in several ways. 

One of the primary benefits is improved goal alignment. An OKR champion can support teams as they align their objectives with the company's overarching goals. This alignment fosters a sense of unity and direction, enabling everyone in the organization to move forward together. With clear objectives, employees understand how their daily tasks contribute to larger company goals, enhancing focus and productivity.

Accountability is another critical advantage. Teams are more likely to take ownership of their objectives and key results knowing that someone is invested in their progress. This accountability leads to higher performance, as employees are motivated to achieve their targets and contribute to the organization's success.

Moreover, an OKR champion can boost overall performance. The champion helps teams stay on course and make necessary adjustments by continuously tracking progress and providing feedback. 

This proactive approach helps tackle potential issues quickly, preventing them from growing and slowing down progress. The regular retrospectives led by the OKR champion also play an important role in performance improvement, as they allow teams to reflect on their achievements and challenges and identify areas for future enhancement.

Case Study: Light for the World's OKR champion

Several organizations have successfully implemented OKRs with the help of an OKR champion. A notable example is the global NGO Light for the World. What Matters, the companion website to John Doerr's book, "Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs," shares this real-life case study demonstrating the tangible benefits of the role of an OKR champion.

Eva Hammer, the OKR shepherd for Light for the World, facilitated the roll-out of OKRs across several countries amid a global pandemic. Light for the World operates in 15 countries, advocating for disability rights and providing people in rural and hard-to-reach regions with eye health services, inclusive education, and tools for independent living. 

Hammer introduced OKRs in early 2020, and it took three weeks to set the first organization-level OKRs. She initially faced skepticism and resistance, as people feared they would have to learn yet another tool and one that leadership might use OKRs to exert control. Hammer's empathy and communication skills helped the team to understand the benefits of OKRs. The NGO had to re-prioritize its objectives due to the COVID-19 pandemic, quickly creating a set of OKRs to kick-start its response programs.

Hammer also faced resistance from geographically dispersed teams. Still, she overcame this by creating a comprehensive playbook that included stories of the individuals the nonprofit helps, which resonated with the teams and helped shift their perception of OKRs.

Through Hammer's efforts, Light for the World saw increased motivation, improved quality of work, and better visibility of the country offices' contributions. OKRs triggered attitudes that strengthened the organization from the bottom up, illustrating the profound impact an OKR champion can have.

Source: https://www.whatmatters.com/articles/okr-shepherd

Upskill your entire organization to champion OKR goal-setting

While having an OKR champion is immensely beneficial, fostering a culture where everyone is engaged in the OKR process is also crucial. Agile organizations, in particular, can benefit from empowering all team members to participate actively in goal-setting and tracking. Picture a workplace where interns and executives understand the OKR system and contribute to setting and achieving goals. This level of engagement can lead to even greater alignment, motivation, and performance.

To achieve this, consider investing in training and development programs that educate all employees about OKRs. For those eager to upskill their teams, our Agile OKRs microcredential course offers comprehensive insights and practical knowledge on implementing and championing OKRs within agile environments. While it doesn't specifically include champions, which is an optional OKR feature, this course equips your teams with the skills to navigate the OKR approach effectively and drive organizational success.

Learn about Agile OKRs