If you’ve been hearing a lot about OKRs lately, you’re not alone. Many companies are adopting OKRs within their organization, and EAs have a lot to contribute. Keep reading to learn more about what OKRs are, their purpose, and the importance of goal setting as an executive assistant.
What are OKRs?
OKRs, or Objectives and Key Results, are a basic structure for how a company conducts goal setting. The objectives are the actual goals a team or organization is setting. Key results are the metrics that will show whether or not they’ve achieved the Objectives. Every Objective should have 3-5 Key Results.
For example:
Objective: Strengthen the corporate culture
Key Results:
- Create and launch a performance review process by the end of Q3
- Maintain an average employee satisfaction score of 7 or higher
- Roll out weekly 1:1 meetings to encourage feedback and communication
The Purpose of OKRs
The easiest way to think about OKRs is that it helps connect and align an organization’s daily actions with it’s intentions — or it’s core mission, vision, and values. By setting OKRs, companies are forced to step back and prioritize the 3-5 most important things that will move the business forward.
As you know, your executive is responsible for a lot (that’s why they need you, right?). On any given day, they could be fielding hundreds of messages, problems, or distractions. As their Executive Assistant, you are expected to help with those things.
OKRs for Executive Assistants
By aligning yourself with your executive’s OKRs, you can help keep them on track with their goals — thus adding more value to your role.
For example, if you know your executive is expected to roll out weekly 1:1s with their direct reports, you can go beyond just setting up those meetings on the calendar. Instead, you can become a more strategic partner by:
- Removing and/or re-organizing meetings that do not align with their OKRs
- Implementing a 1:1 meeting framework that improves communication
- Following up with their direct reports to ensure they are feeling positive about the 1:1s
You can also set up your own OKRs to propel your career forward as an EA and make you a more essential employee to your company.
If you’d like to learn more about OKRs, goal setting for executive assistants, and setting up OKR processes within your organization, check out our OKR Alignment Summit!
