OKRs are an effective tool for setting business goals and tracking progress in an organization. They provide a clear and measurable framework for defining what needs to be achieved and how your team can make it happen. However, setting OKRs is just the first step. To determine if your OKRs are performing well, you need to learn how to score them.

Anyone setting goals at work is familiar with Objectives and Key Results (OKRs), a goal-setting framework used by teams to strategically achieve specific outcomes. Objectives are the overarching goals, and Key Results are the specific metrics used to measure progress toward those goals. OKRs ideally provide a way to align individual and team goals with the organization’s overall strategy. And to score them or evaluate their efficacy, teams should have a system in mind.

6 steps to score your OKRs

OKR scoring is the process of evaluating progress towards accomplishing the stated objectives and key results – it helps to ensure that the team stays on track. The process of scoring OKRs involves amalgamating available data, assessing the level of progress made, and pivoting to address existing pain points.

1. Hold a review meeting

One of the critical factors for effectively scoring OKRs is to set up regular meetings discussing how the OKR (or multiple OKRs) is going. This could be weekly or monthly, depending on the nature and complexity of the project. The purpose of these meetings is to review progress, discuss challenges, and outline what you can be doing better in the future, so there should be a tight agenda every time.

2. Assign a score to each key result

The next step in OKR scoring is to assign a score to each key result. The score should reflect the level of progress made in executing the key result. Standard practice for OKR scoring is to use a scale of 0-1.0, where 0 indicates no progress and 1.0 indicates complete achievement of the key result. It is also possible to use a scale of 0-100% or a 5-point scale, depending on your team’s preference.

3. Calculate a score for the objective

After assigning a score to each key result, the next step is calculating a score for the objective. This overall score is a weighted average of the scores assigned to each key result. The weight given to each key result should reflect its importance in fulfilling the overall objective.

For example, if there are three key results, each with equal weight, the total score would be the average of the three key result scores. But if one key result is substantially more important than the other key results, that should be weighed accordingly. Teams should always be on the same page about how high of a priority or how relevant certain key results are, and that should be determined when the key result is formed.

4. Review all scores

Once the scores have been calculated, the team should review them to determine if they accurately reflect their progress in completing their objectives. If there are significant discrepancies between the scores and the actual progress, the team should review their key results and adjust them as necessary. And if there are any glaring challenges, blockers, or pain points that may be hindering progress toward reaching the objectives, teams should outline those as well.

5. Identify areas for improvement

Finally, the team should come up with solutions to the various issues that might be plaguing their OKRs. Their areas for improvement should hone in on pain points or recognize creative places to pivot their current approaches. The team should also consider how the OKR will look in the next few weeks and how their changes might alter its timeline.

6. Assign and execute

This is where the meeting ends, team members are assigned clear responsibilities, and individuals either dive into head-down work or follow up with others about their deadlines. By the next meeting, whenever a team sees fit to schedule it, the cycle begins again, teammates follow up on the work they’ve accomplished, and more adjustments can be made.

Tips for scoring OKRs

Now that you have a roadmap, there are a few extra things to keep in mind when OKR scoring to ensure you give it a fair grade.

Be as specific as possible

To guarantee you’re scoring the OKR fairly, you should make sure that it’s very clear why you’re giving the OKR the grade you are. If work is unsatisfactory, outline what about it needs to be changed. Or, if something isn’t completed by a deadline, be precise about what exactly was missing.

Focus on results

Rather than scoring your OKR based on how many hours your team has worked on a project, your scores should revolve around fulfilling the desired outcomes. Completing tasks is important, but if they don’t reflect progress, they shouldn’t be considered productive in the accomplishment of the OKR.

Take all stakeholders seriously

Team members will have differing opinions about scoring an OKR, which should be welcomed rather than ignored. Everyone’s input is valid in these cases, as differing perspectives can provide new and innovative solutions. To ensure fairness, scoring OKRS should be a democratic process rather than the staunch opinion of one team member or manager.

Using Hive To Set Your Goals

Are you ready to start making strategic goals with your team? You’re in luck — Hive’s newest (and most exciting) feature is Goals. Everyone wants to know how they’re moving their organization forward, and your team is more than just a project. With Goals, you can set various goals, visualize progress, and keep everyone aligned in one centralized dashboard. You can also:

• Create one, ten, twenty, or more goals for your team, so everyone understands what they’re contributing to.
• Centralize and automate your goal tracking and reporting.
• Pull data from other systems into Hive to streamline operations and reporting.
• Share your goal or goals, assign the goal to relevant teammates, track activity, and give yourselves a deadline.
• Understand how your team and organization are pacing towards an individual goal or a set of goals.
• Color-coded designations allow an easy understanding of “on-track” items.
• When it’s time to review progress, accomplishments, and achievements, easily export all relevant information.

Get started, today!