TL;DR: To use OKRs effectively, set three to five objectives, give each about three measurable key results, and connect them to the work people do every day. Make them visible across the organisation, check progress several times a quarter, and keep them separate from pay. Expect the first few cycles to be messy, and improve your version over time.

Last updated 11 October 2026.

Key takeaways

• OKR stands for Objectives and Key Results, a goal-setting method created by Andy Grove at Intel and introduced to Google’s founders by John Doerr in 1999.
• Google’s re:Work guide recommends three to five objectives, with around three key results for each one.
• On Google’s 0 to 1.0 grading scale, an average of 0.6 to 0.7 is the sweet spot for ambitious OKRs.
• OKRs work at company level and at team level, as long as every team OKR connects to at least one company objective.
• Google’s re:Work guide states that OKRs are not synonymous with performance evaluation, so keep them apart from ratings and bonuses.

What are OKRs?

OKRs, or Objectives and Key Results, are a goal-setting framework. The objective names what you want to achieve, and the key results measure whether you got there. Andy Grove created the method at Intel, and John Doerr introduced it to Google’s founders in 1999. Today, companies, teams, and individuals all use it to focus on a few priorities.

According to What Matters, the site founded by John Doerr, Grove built OKRs on Peter Drucker’s management by objectives. However, he changed two things that still define the method: OKRs run quarterly rather than annually, and they are divorced from compensation. Doerr later coined the name “OKRs” and described the method in his 2018 book, Measure What Matters.

What is the structure of an OKR?

An OKR has two parts: one objective and a small set of key results underneath it. The objective is qualitative, ambitious, and easy to remember. Each key result is a number, a date, or a clear yes or no that proves progress. What Matters suggests three to five key results per objective.

A simple way to check the structure is the sentence What Matters uses: “I will (objective) as measured by (key results).” For instance, “We will delight customers, as measured by a Net Promoter Score of 42 or better and an order rating of 4.6 out of 5.” If the sentence reads awkwardly, the key results probably describe activity rather than outcomes.

Key results should describe impact, not tasks. Google’s re:Work guide warns that words such as “consult”, “help”, and “analyse” signal an activity. So “publish customer satisfaction levels by 7 March” beats “assess customer satisfaction”. If you want a ready-made format, the sample OKR template walks through each part with a worked example.

How do you set good OKRs?

Good OKRs are few, measurable, and connected to day-to-day work. Write the objective as a clear destination, then add key results that anyone can score at the end of the period. Next, link each team’s OKRs to a company objective, so people see why their work matters. Finally, share them openly across the organisation.

One of the great things about the OKR framework is how flexible it is. As a result, you can create and phrase OKRs in a variety of ways. Like any goal, OKRs should be measurable. However, to effectively use OKRs, you also need to connect them to your day-to-day work.

That connection is where most goal setting falls down. Many teams set goals at the beginning of a year or quarter, then never revisit them again. By contrast, OKRs work because people can see the line between their work and the company’s objectives. When employees have that clarity, engagement, motivation, and a sense of belonging soon follow.

Google’s re:Work guide adds two practical rules. First, an objective should describe an end state, such as “ship feature Y”, rather than an ongoing activity, such as “keep hiring”. Second, OKRs should be public within an organisation, so everyone can see what other teams are working on.

How do company and team OKRs connect?

In addition, effective use of OKRs means using them at both a company and a team level. For example, if the company’s objective is to increase revenue by 30%, your marketing team’s OKR might be to find a new inbound lead channel that grows the number of potential buyers. The team goal is different, but it clearly feeds the company goal.

Google’s re:Work guide suggests committing to organisational objectives first, so teams can set their own in service of them. Not every company OKR needs a matching team OKR. However, each team OKR should connect to at least one of them, and OKRs should never become a shared to-do list.

What are examples of company OKRs?

Company OKRs guide high-impact, long-term goals for the whole organisation. A good company OKR names one ambitious objective and a handful of key results that leaders can track, report, and grade. Real examples help, because they show how abstract ambitions such as “delight customers” become numbers a team can actually move.

Here are a couple of real-world examples to help you frame your own company OKRs, plus one Australian scenario.

Zume Pizza

John Doerr’s book Measure What Matters includes this customer OKR from Zume Pizza, and the What Matters site reproduces it.

Objective: Delight customers.

• First key result: Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 42 or better.
• Second key result: Order rating of 4.6/5.0 or better.
• Third key result: 75% of customers prefer Zume to the competitor in a blind taste test.

Notice that each key result is a score, so nobody has to argue at the end of the quarter about whether it was met.

Allbirds

According to What Matters, one of footwear company Allbirds’ top-level objectives involves a carbon-neutral promise to customers. Its supporting key results track emissions targets across the supply chain, manufacturing, shipping, and retail operations. So a values-led objective still gets measured, step by step, through the parts of the business that produce the emissions.

An Australian mid-size example

Suppose a 600-person Australian services business wants to grow without burning out its people. Its objective might be “grow profitably while keeping our best people”. Key results could cover revenue, the retention of high performers, and an engagement survey score. The numbers are yours to set, so start from your own baseline.

What are examples of team OKRs?

Team OKRs translate company objectives into the functional work of marketing, product, HR, and sales. They are equally effective below the C-suite. Just as OKRs direct strategic thinking, they guide functional work too. Each team example supports a company objective, and every key result can be scored at the end of the quarter.

The figures are illustrative, so replace them with targets that suit your own baseline.

Marketing

Objective: Increase brand awareness.

• First key result: Drive 1 million web visitors.
• Second key result: Increase social media following by 10 times.
• Third key result: Recruit and onboard 1,000 community members.

Product

Objective: Launch a major product initiative by the end of the quarter.

• First key result: Reach a recommendation score of 8 or above.
• Second key result: Have 40% of monthly active users use the new feature.
• Third key result: Increase the sign-up-to-conversion rate from 15% to 25%.

HR

Objective: Drive employee impact and engagement.

• First key result: Increase employee satisfaction by 20%.
• Second key result: Achieve 90% employee participation in the engagement survey.
• Third key result: Double positive manager feedback.

Sales

Objective: Increase recurring revenue.

• First key result: Reach $2 million in monthly recurring revenue.
• Second key result: Increase annual renewals by 25%.
• Third key result: Reduce churn by 10%.

Why does effective OKR usage take years?

Effective OKR usage takes years because the first cycles teach you how to write, track, and grade them. Early on, most organisations set too many OKRs, write key results that cannot be measured, or forget them halfway through the quarter. Each cycle fixes some of that, so patience matters more than a perfect launch.

Reality check time. If you are getting started with OKRs, be aware that your initial implementation will probably suck. You may have too many, or they may not be measurable, and some chaos and complaint will happen.

However, remember you are not alone. Google has used OKRs for more than two decades, and its re:Work guide still lists the mistakes teams make. So keep at it, and make your version of OKRs better each quarter.

Be patient. A sensible first step is a single company objective with team OKRs in two or three teams, rather than a full rollout to every employee at once.

How often should you check and score OKRs?

Most organisations set OKRs quarterly, check progress several times during the quarter, and score them at the end. Google grades each key result from 0 to 1.0. For ambitious OKRs, an average in the 0.6 to 0.7 range is the sweet spot. Consistently scoring 1.0 usually means the goals were not ambitious enough.

According to Google’s re:Work guide, Google sets both annual and quarterly OKRs and meets company-wide each quarter to share and grade them. Some teams revisit their OKRs a few times a quarter, and a mid-quarter check-in helps before the final grade. Short check-ins keep OKRs alive, because a goal reviewed only at the end has already been forgotten for ten weeks.

What Matters also separates committed OKRs from aspirational ones. Committed OKRs, such as finishing a system migration by 30 June, are expected to be met in full. Aspirational OKRs, sometimes called stretch goals or moonshots, are expected to fall short. So tell people which kind each OKR is before the quarter starts.

What mistakes stop OKRs from working?

The most common OKR mistakes are business-as-usual objectives, sandbagged targets, low-value objectives, and too few key results to prove success. Google’s re:Work guide names these, along with miscommunicating which OKRs are stretch goals. A further mistake is tying OKRs to pay, which encourages people to set safe goals.

Business-as-usual OKRs describe work the team would do anyway, so they change nothing. Sandbagging means holding back capacity, so a team meets every OKR without stretching. Low-value objectives might be achieved in full, yet nobody would notice the difference. Meanwhile, insufficient key results leave room to “succeed” on paper while missing the point of the objective.

Pay is the trap that catches HR teams. If a bonus depends on a score of 1.0, people stop setting ambitious goals and start negotiating easy ones. Instead, use OKRs as one input to a performance conversation, alongside behaviour, capability, and development.

How do OKRs fit with performance management?

OKRs set the direction for each quarter, while performance management covers how people are developed, reviewed, and supported throughout the year. Google’s re:Work guide says OKRs can summarise what someone worked on and the impact it had. So use them as evidence of contribution in a review, not as the rating itself.

That way, ambitious goals stay ambitious, and reviews still reflect the whole person. Goals are only one of the elements of effective performance management, next to regular feedback, recognition, and development.

Most mid-size organisations run OKRs in a spreadsheet or a dedicated goals tool at first. That works for a few teams. However, at 200 employees or more, goals scattered across files drift out of date, and managers walk into reviews without the history. Our guide to goal setting and performance tracking software explains how teams keep goals and reviews connected.

If you want goals and reviews in the same HR system as your people records, Worknice is a sensible option for Australian organisations of 200 to 5,000 employees. Its Goals feature, available to accounts with the Performance add-on, records each goal with an owner and a period, then tracks progress updates marked On track, At risk, or Completed. Review cycles run in the same performance management software. Goals are tracked one by one rather than as objectives with nested key results, so an organisation that wants a full OKR cascade scored across every team may prefer a dedicated OKR tool.

Frequently asked questions

What are OKRs in simple terms?

OKRs are a way of setting goals. You write an objective, which is what you want to achieve, and a few key results, which are the numbers that prove you achieved it. For example, “delight customers” might be measured by a Net Promoter Score of 42 or better and an order rating above 4.6.

What are the two parts of an OKR?

An OKR has two parts: the objective and the key results. The objective is a short, qualitative statement of where you want to go. Underneath it sit three to five measurable key results that show whether you got there, each scored as a number, a date, or a clear yes or no.

How long does it take to implement OKRs well?

Expect it to take several quarters before OKRs feel natural. Early cycles usually have too many objectives, key results that cannot be measured, and patchy check-ins. Start with one company objective and a few teams, review progress often, and refine how you write and grade OKRs after every quarter.

What is the difference between company OKRs and team OKRs?

Company OKRs set the few organisation-wide priorities for the year or quarter, and leaders own them. Team OKRs translate those priorities into the work of one function, such as marketing, HR, or sales. Every team OKR should connect to at least one company objective, but not every company objective needs a team OKR.

How often should OKRs be reviewed?

Most organisations set OKRs quarterly and score them at the end of each quarter. Google’s re:Work guide says some teams revisit them a few times a quarter, and a mid-quarter check-in helps. A short progress check in an existing team meeting every two to four weeks keeps OKRs visible without adding meetings.

About the author

Graham Martin is Co-founder of Worknice, an Australian HRIS built for mid-to-large organisations. He has spent more than a decade working with Australian People and Culture teams on HR systems, performance management, and payroll integration.

Related reading

• Sample OKR template: a free template with worked examples, OKRs versus KPIs, and how to score them.
• What is effective performance management?: the elements that make goals, feedback, and reviews work together, and the Australian rules on underperformance.
• What is a continuous performance management tool?: how regular check-ins replace the once-a-year review.
• Performance management vs talent management: where goal setting sits in the wider people strategy.

Sources

1. Google re:Work Editorial Team. “Set goals with OKRs.” Google re:Work, originally published 2016. Retrieved 11 October 2026. https://rework.withgoogle.com/intl/en/guides/set-goals-with-okrs
2. Panchadsaram, Ryan. “What is an OKR? OKR Meaning, Definition and Examples.” What Matters. Retrieved 11 October 2026. https://www.whatmatters.com/faqs/okr-meaning-definition-example
3. Doerr, John. Measure What Matters. Portfolio, 2018. Zume Pizza OKR as reproduced in What Matters, “Customer Service OKRs: What are Some Examples?” Retrieved 11 October 2026. https://www.whatmatters.com/faqs/customer-service-okrs-examples
4. Schwartz, Evan I. “OKRs for Building a Culture of Innovation” (Allbirds). What Matters, 1 April 2024. Retrieved 11 October 2026. https://www.whatmatters.com/articles/okrs-for-r-and-d-research-development