From OKR Overload to Impact Focus: A Growth Team's Transformation

Situation

• A growth team at a well-known tech company was struggling with their approach to goal-setting despite following "best practices"
• The team had invested significant time creating elaborate OKR documentation with 5-7 objectives, each with 5-7 key results
• They meticulously followed the OKR process - creating detailed slide decks, assigning owners to each key result, and conducting thorough scoring sessions
• Despite this effort, the team had lost sight of how their work connected to the company's primary growth goal of acquiring one million new users
• The OKR process had become a bureaucratic exercise rather than a tool for driving meaningful impact

Actions

• A consultant (Matt LeMay) asked a simple but powerful question: "How does this all add up to the company level growth goals?"
• This question revealed a critical disconnect - the team couldn't clearly articulate how their detailed OKRs contributed to the company's primary objective
• The team leader recognized the problem and took immediate action:
  • Drew a simple timeline on a whiteboard with the company goal (1 million users) on one end
  • Marked their current position on the timeline (a smaller number than the goal)
  • Established a new decision-making principle: "If you are 51% sure that a different approach is going to get us 1% closer [to the goal], I expect you to advocate for that approach"
  • Declared that all future conversations must start with this direct connection to the company goal

Results

• The team shifted from a complex, disconnected OKR framework to a simple, impact-focused approach
• Decision-making became clearer and more aligned with the company's primary growth objective
• The team gained a shared understanding of what success looked like and how their work contributed to it
• Team members were empowered to advocate for approaches that would move them closer to the goal, even if it meant changing direction
• The simplified framework made it easier to communicate progress and impact to company leadership

Key Lessons

• Simplify goal frameworks: Complex cascading goals often create distance from what truly matters. One clear, visual goal can be more powerful than elaborate frameworks.

• Make impact visible: Physically displaying the goal (like on a whiteboard) creates a constant reminder of what matters and prevents teams from getting lost in process.

• Empower decision-making: When everyone understands the primary goal, they can make better decisions independently without needing constant guidance.

• Avoid "OKR theater": Goal-setting frameworks should serve the business, not the other way around. If you're spending more time on the process than driving toward outcomes, you've lost the plot.

• Connect to company goals directly: Teams should be able to explain their goals in terms of direct contribution to company objectives, with minimal translation layers.

• Encourage advocacy: Create a culture where team members are expected to speak up when they see better approaches to reaching the goal, regardless of existing plans.